I run workshop (a service mentioned already: http://letsworkshop.com that delivers freelance consulting opportunities)
I've seen this question come up a lot and its part of the reason I started workshop. For me emailing companies who specifically said they were looking was great because I was able to control it directly.
Since starting workshop I've helped hundred of freelancers make a lot of money, but some continue to make nothing. It mostly has to do with the emails they send and a few big common mistakes:
-- emails too long
-- blab on about themselves
-- obviously scripted
-- don't propose a next step
It's easy to focus on the wrong things. "What's the Best job board?" "There's not my exact perfect match" "there's not enough opportunities"
But if you focus on emailing one person everyday that needs help, and write an email focused on their problem and not you, you CAN and WILL make a lot of money.
I have mailed atleast a dozen people with visible PHP errors on their website and a convincing reason that I am capable of helping them out but never got a response. Is there anything else you suggest that might work?
The PHP errors may not be enough on their own to convince them that there's a problem worth fixing.
You need to tie those errors to business problems/benefits. A client may not know / care what a php error does to their site unless they know that it's losing them money, conversions, visitors, etc.
You're the one saying your clients would get "snitty" if you gave them a document like this. Maybe you should work on getting better clients instead of being "snitty" yourself.
I've been running the service for almost 12 months now. I know job boards have you accustomed to using a fake email to deal with all the spam but there's no need here because it's not posted anywhere publicly. If you want to learn more about how it works, go here: http://letsworkshop.com
I've seen this question come up a lot and its part of the reason I started workshop. For me emailing companies who specifically said they were looking was great because I was able to control it directly.
Since starting workshop I've helped hundred of freelancers make a lot of money, but some continue to make nothing. It mostly has to do with the emails they send and a few big common mistakes:
-- emails too long -- blab on about themselves -- obviously scripted -- don't propose a next step
It's easy to focus on the wrong things. "What's the Best job board?" "There's not my exact perfect match" "there's not enough opportunities"
But if you focus on emailing one person everyday that needs help, and write an email focused on their problem and not you, you CAN and WILL make a lot of money.
I've seen it with hundreds in your position