Here's how you can maintain a steady income as a self-employed application developer.

Diversification is going to hurt you. Talking from personal experience. As a self-employed developer, you have to relay on getting projects, getting clients - why? Because building a product aka app sales is hard and does not guarantee you will succeed or make enough money to support yourself and the business. And even if you do, it will take a few years to achieve this. You want to put all of your eggs in one basket. Once you start making a ton of money from your freelance gig or consulting whatever, same thing... then you can invest money and build a product. You should 10x on one source of income, which should be freelancing in the early stages of your career, and make the most money as you can - then you can diversify.

being a self-employed developer is not something easy, and it's risk by any mean. what I can advise for the junior or who they're thinking to start a private business is to make it on the long run or as a side hassle. working in big frames is good and beneficial on your knowledge and financial.

Diversification is certainly an important topic. However, securing follow-up orders is also an important issue. If you have satisfied customers, you increase your chances of follow-up orders and satisfaction often results in recommendations. Diversification can therefore also be achieved at a later stage. It can be helpful to have a broader base. For example, if you have Java and React skills, you will be able to find work as a backend or frontend developer. So, “technology diversification” can also be a useful tool.

Whether you are a freelance developer or working at a company, diversification should be done in different aspects of your life not to trust current situation. For me, it is best to have different projects in different platforms which do not need much maintain is better. It may be util applications in mobile, an online video downloader app etc.. These examples can be diversified.

Diversification is key for financial stability. As a self-employed developer, avoid relying on one project or client. Diversify income through multiple streams like app sales, freelancing, or consulting.

You could be the best developer in the world, but if no one is aware of you, you'd find yourself in a world where you're unknown. Building a strong network isn't easy; it requires time and patience. Participating in open-source projects, writing blogs on specific topics, and speaking at developer conferences can all help you build your next professional network.

Building a robust professional network is vital for self-employment success. It's about fostering relationships for future opportunities. Engage in industry events, online forums, and developer communities to discover new projects and clients.

Be on top of your game, choose one or a few languages to be proficient, for example: Java, Javascript, Go, Python. If you choose Java, be updated with the latest versions (17, 21) and deliver using modern frameworks like Quarkus or newest versions of SpringBoot. Keep your git source repository updated and have a couple of public projects to be referenced. Talk with your peers to be aware of the trends and what's the market is asking for.

Continuous learning is essential in the fast-evolving tech industry. Stay updated with new languages, tools, and emerging technologies like AI or blockchain. Enhance your value to clients and command higher rates.

See, if your goal is to diversify income, and build a product aka an app... Then you will want to know just enough how tech works, but actually stop learning it and focus on business, marketing, sales and all that. You can always hire somoene that knows more than you, as long as you can mold things in a high quality, you're going to provide better software than someone who tries to do it all.

In tech, staying ahead is essential. Invest time to learn new programming languages, explore AI, blockchain, & latest tools. By being at the forefront, you increase value to clients & can charge higher rates. Stay sharp, stay relevant, stay ahead

To stay at the forefront, it is important to follow emerging technologies and be open. It means exchanging ideas and accepting feedback, but also looking to the right and left. We can learn from everyone. Therefore, go out and learn new programming languages, methods, possibilities of AI, etc.

Effective marketing is marketing that talks to the audience that you want as customers. Figure out what your target audience is, and tailor your message to them. You will need to iterate over and over to see what works. I for example started making more of joke posts, and it doesn't seem as effective as when I make say a technical one for getting people to contact me and asking if I'm available to do some work. Blog, YouTube etc... is always good as its authentic and people can connect with you more - than being just another CV.

Effective self-marketing is crucial for client retention. Build a professional portfolio, engage on social media, and maintain a blog or YouTube channel to showcase expertise. This ensures a consistent client flow.

Financial management is something to be aware of. Business oxygen is money - you run out of it... and BOOM! There is nothing you can learn off a small post like this, except to educate yourself properly by reading books, articles and seeing how other people manage this. That being said, people always talk about hourly rate vs fixed price. You can make more money on fixed-price, but that depends how you manage your money and what your strategy is. You can always combine the two together (DUHH!), have fixed price for ig portfion, and after e.g. 3rd change or such apply a hourly rate to it. Whatever works for you.

Effective financial management ensures income stability. Monitor earnings, expenses, and taxes. Save for downtimes, invest in efficiency tools, and consider professional financial assistance. This empowers informed decisions on rates and work selection.

Good financial management is part of success. If you keep an eye on your income and expenditure, you can manage them better and make more informed decisions.

Client satisfaction starts from day 1. When the client paid you money, and there is no work, communicatoin is the key. You don't want the client to worry on the start of the project if they been screwed or not, after they pay you upfront. Sending them updates, and emails on when you'll be dong the work or what you're doing at the start can be a good thing to do. I found that you have to be straight up with clients and put your foot down, otherwise you can be easily ovverun and issues might arrise that otherwise would never happen would you had the confidence to just talk and defent what you said. Again, communication is the key in client satisfaction, as well as setting realistic project expectations.

Remember to always give your best effort when working on projects and be willing to go the extra mile to assist clients. In addition to your regular work, if you can offer guidance or help solve some of the client's urgent issues, they may extend your contract or return to you for future opportunities. If you find yourself finishing your planned work ahead of schedule, consider using the extra time for learning and researching new industry trends.

Someone once said to me “ Who writes, stays”. Communication is the be-all and end-all. Transparency and openness are the key to success. Of course, good, high-quality work is a must. But if you talk to your customers regularly and carry out satisfaction measurements, you know where you stand and can actively work on improvements and optimizations.

Something to consider is that posts like these on LinkedIn aren't in depth, but maybe can open up some doors into different perspective. You have people like below, Vishal Bhat saying he markets himself well and does good work - DUH! How do you do it? Seems more like a self-promotion than anything else. Either way, you get to learn mostly by reading about other people experiences, and actually doing this yourself - harder than it sounds. If you haven't started on this yourney already, there is othing for you to read, as paralis is the biggest destroyer of any business. You're going to screw things up that you read on how to do them properly ^^

To keep money flowing as a self-employed app developer, I market myself well, make sure I have different clients, do good work, and keep learning about what's new in the industry.