I had a decent client back in May/June but on June 1st rent was due and the client hadn't paid so I let them know development would cease till I received payment. I then got an email I was removed from bit bucket and slack and then ghosted.
I've been trying to find a new client ever since but for some reason it's been hard going. Usually they find me and I've had to turn them down.
I've reached out to all previous leads and clients and nobody has any work right now.
We just moved into a cheaper apartment but spent all our savings on deposit, first and last months rent, one month of storage and a uhaul, and groceries and gas.
Today my Internet bill came due $247 for August and July plus a moving fee.
I'm flat broke, our credit isn't great. I don't have anyone to borrow money from. I even tried r/borrow on Reddit.
Without internet I can't even work on my side project I'm trying to build (a Reddit tool for scheduling across multiple accounts, view all inbox messages across multiple accounts, view all slack/twitter DM's, and a scrumboard that I can add leads to via one click and autofollowup with them in a few months. Basically it'll make managing job and freelance on slack and Reddit much easier.)
I just need one good client my hourly is $80 but I've even tried dropping back down to $50 and no takers. I'm almost 40 with two boys under 3 years old and at the end of my rope. I'm trying to fight back depression but it's getting harder each day. Imposter syndrome is starting to set in even though I know I'm a solid developer.
I know react, Vue, express, ionic, node and laravel. I can also get around in a rails app. What I don't know I can learn.
Willing to do weekly pay where I might work an average of 50-60 hours per week for 1800/week.
How often does this sort of thing come up in freelancing? On average, do freelancers make as much as full time employees over say a 5 year span?
(For absolute emergency cash, you could hit up a temp agency and probably be working tomorrow while you wait for new contracts. The pay would be terrible but its also almost zero commitment - you could leave the day you sign your next contract)
edit: based on your submission history since at least 2014, it sounds like things have been bumpy for a while now.
"Ask HN: About to be homeless, any ideas for a junior dev?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7854029
"Ask HN: How to get first Dev Job with no shipped code" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9827867
"Ask HN: How would you raise $200 in 3 days?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7727241
I'm not sure what the answer to your short term problem is, but you may need to look at some bigger-picture solutions in the long term. I hope things work out for you!
Best Athan
John @ curtisdigital.com