Ask HN: How can I start a web development side-business?

What I did a couple years ago was this:

- Go to yellow pages or something similar in your country

- Search for companies nearby where you live in a specific sector (for example hairdressing, car repair shops etc.)

- look for a template on themeforest or another site in this sector

- download theme, make for every company a version with their logo

- Cold email them with the demo page and tell them you would like to implement their site for xy amount. Well add a little more text :)

I only did this twice but both times I sent like 5-6 mails and got one company accepting my offer.

Just think to something which will improve your life.

Code it for yourself.

And if you still think it solves the problem, make it available for anyone with a subscription fee.

There are hundreds of thousands of other web development businesses out there, so you need something to differentiate yourself.

Whether that's a great social media presence, better branding, or working in a niche then you need to focus on that.

Most of your business will initially be through your network so start talking to friends/family/contacts about the fact that you're looking to do some freelance development work. Chances are that you'll be able to get a job or two out of that.

As you get bigger and more experienced, you'll likely find that clients come back to you and refer you to others. That's your network providing organic growth.

I'm now working on freelance web dev amongst some other side projects so feel free to ping me an email to discuss if you want. My portfolio is https://codefox.io and email contact is there :)