How to become a successful Angular consultant?

9 tips and tools an Angular consultant and freelancer can use to become wildly successful.

The consulting economy is in the middle of a tremendous boom. 💥

Some call it the gig economy.

Last year saw an upward growth curve in consulting opportunities of all kinds. And with all the opportunities there’s never been a better time to build your own Angular consulting or Angular freelancing business then NOW.

During the last 3 years I’ve spent thousands of dollars and many hours building my own consulting business. As an Angular consultant, I wanted to figure out how to take my developer skills and turn it into consulting income. 💰💰💰

But just because opportunity is at its best doesn’t mean you can flip a switch and leap from a 9-5 job as an Angular developer to a successful Angular consultant. If becoming an Angular consultant was easy then everyone would do it.

So what can you do to become a more successful Angular profession and consultant?

1. Watch Ng-Conf Talks (Hey, they’re free!)

ng-conf.webp

Ng-Conf is renowned as the world’s first and original conference for Angular developers. And they bring in the best Angular guys and team members to discuss the latest advancements and best practices. All kinds of topics are covered like…

• Angular Universal
• Angular Language Service
• NgRx
• RxJS
• Ivy
• Enterprise design patterns.
• Case studies
• Q&A sessions
• Angular Material
• Monorepos
• Angular SSR
• Planned features for next Angular version
• Angular best practices
• And more...

I’ve learned oodles about Angular and the best practices, design patterns and solutions to consider when building an Angular application by simply watching all the NgConf talks and learning with the experts. NgConf will give you a tool bag that your clients will appreciate and admire. A high-earning Angular freelancer will know the latest, greatest, coolest Angular stuff. And NgConf is the best place that I know of to keep your skills lubed.

2. Get a Pluralsight Subscription

The internet is clogged with all kinds of online learning platforms, universities and mini colleges. And deciding where to spend your time learning might look rather boggy.

You can use Udemy.

Or spend money on Udacity courses.

And hours on Coursera.

But none of the learning platforms that I’ve given a whirl match the quality of Pluralsight.

Of course, don’t take my word for it. Go out and experiment to find what works best for you. But if you’re an Angular developer wanting a great place where you can learn the latest stuff on the fly then I can’t recommend Pluralsight enough.

As of now, Pluralsight has more than 260 courses about Angular alone. Not to mention any other kind of development topic that you might wish to explore.

They offer a free trial so if you’re looking for boost your capabilities zip over there and check them out.

3. Farm for potential clients. Instead of hunting them.

Smart consultants never go hunting for clients. It’s the broke consultants that run silly circles all over the web hunting for new clients.

Why are they silly? Because hunting doesn’t create trust.

So how do you farm? A great way to start your own farm is to by creating your own blog or YouTube channel and proving your expertise to potential clients. There are all kinds of ways to build your own farm on the internet. The point is your own farm where people can see your expertise. And the more eyeballs your content gets the better.

Personally, I prefer to write, so my blog is my farm. Some say that the blogging industry has been exiled. And that content doesn’t rank anymore. But they couldn’t be further from wrong. With a bit of SEO expertise you can get a small blog to start ranking fast. If you do start your own blog make sure to link it with Google Search Console that way you can keep an eye on search performance.

In fact, during the first 6 months of my blog it received 1,700 visits.

Also. I know you’ve read this before but be consistent. Consistency wins. Always. Regardless of what "farming technique" you choose.

4. Consider buying a consulting course

Going from a normal j.o.b to consulting and freelancing seems to be everyone’s dream these days.

Hey, wouldn’t YOU love to work from the comfort of your own bed? Sipping cool-aid from a nightstand and pecking that keyboard? Making $1,382/hr?

Ha! ha! Let’s get real! It’s not that majestic.

Becoming a successful consultant takes hard work. And even more crucial than all the hard work is the mindset change.

It’s like letting a tamed zoo lion out of his cage. All the lion’s ever known how to do is eat the food that’s been consistently given him all his life. But now without any preparation he has to run out and hunt his own food. Of course he'll get a few scares! And he might even die of starvation if he doesn't figure out how to get his own food.

To go from an employed Angular developer to a successful Angular consultant is similar stuff. You’ve got to be trained how to hunt and survive in the wild by your own. Otherwise, you'll die.

There are some great courses out there that will help train you to become a roaring consultant. I realize that some people hate the word “online course” because they’ve been burnt by snake-oil marketers. And the courses I’m going to mention have their critics, for sure. But the critics are never the success stories and are always avoid self-responsibility. So take responsibility for yourself and consider investing in something that will help you grow.

The most popular and greatest consulting course that I know of is from Sam Ovens on How to become a highly paid consultant. This course has more than 3,760 terrific reviews and success stories. As well as 105 hours of video content which means that if you watched it every day for 8 hours a day it would take you almost 2 entire weeks to complete the course. It is definitely a beast of expertise and if you’re serious about becoming a high paid consultant then check it out.

If the course is way too expensive then consider purchasing the book SELL LIKE CRAZY: How to get as many clients, customers and sales as you can possibly handle.

Or another book Stop Thinking Like a Freelancer: The Evolution of a $1M Web Designer.

5. Pay attention to the Angular experts

Listen to them and make sure you’re aware of what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. The Angular community is full of great people to follow. There’s too many of them to be able to credit them all but keep your eyes open.

At the time of this writing Pete is the top Angular contributor. There’s also Stephen Fluin who is currently the developer advocate for Angular and writes frequently on Medium. Then there is the so called Father of Angular.

Outside of the Angular team there are other experts who have a strong influence on the Angular Community. There are people like John Papa. And Netanel Basal who has written oodles of posts on Medium about Angular. Another Angular expert that has influenced me tremendously is Christian Lydemann.

The Angular community is busting with great people and experts that you can learn from. So keep those ears and eyes open and the wiser you’ll get.

“The more he saw the less he spoke. And the less he spoke the more he heard. And the more he heard the more he knew.” - A story about an old owl.

6. Learn how to raise your rate FAST!

Consider how you would earn more at a corporate job.

First, you would spend weeks preparing a speech about how valuable you are to the company. Then you rehearse it a few times. And then finally you get the courage to walk into your boss’ office. Awkwardly you clear your throat and say your speech while attempting to put on your best smile without portraying your fear of being rejected. And if you caught your boss in a good mood - you got a 5% raise! Well done.

If you’re earning $40 an hour, that means you now earn a total of $42.00 per hour. But now you’re stuck and can’t ask for another raise for at least another year or more.

It’s common for a freelancer or consultant to start at some random rate and waste the next 15 years making small raises until they’ve reached a rate that’s sorta satisfying. But as a consultant, this is a silly approach. I started freelancing and consulting at $25/hr and within a few months had raised my rate to $65/hr.

If you are your own boss, who decides your rates?

Who decides how much you’re going to make as an Angular freelancer or consultant?

You do!

To many consultants or freelancers leave the corporate world without shedding the corporate mentality. Seth Godin, the king of ethical internet marketing, says that a huge mistake consultants make is they think they have a job with no boss, when in fact, freelancers _do have a boss—it’s themselves. You are the boss and you decided how fast your rates will climb. You’re the one that decides when you get a raise.

Of course, climbing comes with risks. If you don’t position your expertise properly your prospects and clients will run away and chase cheaper options.

7. Trade Sophisticated Cleverness For Empathy

An ugly mindset that nerdy software engineers can overlook is thinking that you can impress others with sophisticated answers and solutions to their problems.

I get it. We’re software engineers and can discuss all kinds of nitty gritty cool things that just float over most people’s heads. It makes us feel smart and accomplished, but it won’t impress your client.

Your client wants a solution to his problems. And the simpler the solution, the better.

So what should you do instead?

Give them empathetic answers instead of some nerdy, silly answer. Empathize with their problem.

A freelancer I know told me that his empathy level affects his bank balance. The more empathy he shows, the higher his bank balance. But back before he realized the power of empathy, he always tried to impress others with his nerdy sophisticated answers and logic, and as you’ve already guessed, his bank balance was usually scraping bottom.

8. Become a Typescript ninja

Typescript is Angular’s backbone. In my opinion it’s a huge part of what makes Angular so awesome. None of the other frontend frameworks and libraries out there embrace Typescript as wildly as Angular does.

Given that Angular lives and breathes Typescript, you’ll want to make sure you master it.

Make sure you know and understand how to configure the TypeScript compiler. Take 5 minutes during a coffee break to read the Do’s and Don'ts page.

If you want to really master Typescript then I recommend the book “Typescript in 50 Lessons”. This book was written for seasoned and not-so-seasoned developers who know enough JavaScript to be dangerous and want to dive deeper into Typescript. This book does a fascinating job of taking great Typescript features that you might not be aware of and breaking them down into short lessons. If you’re serious about mastering Typescript then this is a book you’ll want to keep close.

What about Angular books? I've written an in-depth review that covers the best Angular books worth your money.

9. Learn how to charge a monthly retainer

One of the lines that divides the good consultants from the bad ones is how they charge their clients.

They bid on a job, land a contract and have work for a while until that contract ends. Then they're scrambling to find the next contract before they run out of money.

This is mad logic! No Angular consultant needs to live this kind of consulting lifestyle.

If you only charge a per hour fixed prices you'll end up with less money and less stability. That's why you need to find a problem that you solve for your clients that they would be willing to pay a monthly service fee for.

Maybe it's teaching their Angular developer team once a month. Or keeping dependencies up to date?

Whatever it is, look for ways to set up monthly retainers. All the smart consultants agree with me.

Conclusion

And that, my friend, is 9 ways you can become a highly paid Angular consultant. The consulting economy is in the middle of a tremendous boom. 💥 There is no time better than now to get started.

Questions? Comments? Interested in chatting with me? Then here's how to contact me.

Angular Consultant