I’ve been building Bubble apps for quite some time now and not too long ago I had the liberty of being super selective of who I work with; but that’s not the case anymore. I feel like the number of jobs I can apply to, or the number of people approaching me has gone down a lot. Is it just me or do you guys feel it too?
PS. I primarily gain clients from Upwork (sometimes LinkedIn as well)
I think it’s temporary though, expecting requests to spike later this year
Yes and no. I’ve come to feel that Bubble is cyclical, maybe not by months or anything time related, but to their own efforts in marketing I believe. I’ve seen drops in template sales in the past around times when Bubble began new marketing efforts that saw less emphasis on their template marketplace.
I expect right now all bubble marketing is going toward AI and mobile.
There is definitely less easy pickings though, something I had been expecting for the past 18 months as the rise of AI was going to detract the more DIY types, who would be more inclined to use freelancers for smaller tasks or to take over a project, from engaging paid development help, and when AI is not able to build fully, I imagine, the user would be more likely to turn to a larger agency with a better client funnel.
It is more important now than ever for Bubble developers to be actively seeking client work through their own continued efforts and a big part of that is developing a solid client funnel, and not relying on the ‘rising tide raises all ships’ mentality that Bubble as it grows will continue to bring in enough new clients for freelancers to continue to have the same income.
This will not just continue due to AI or Bubble marketing, but also because as developers get faster at shipping bubble apps to clients due to AI improving their speed to development, the costs of projects will dip, which for me, would mean, that a developer earning 100K a year last year on 10 client projects, might need 20 client projects to earn the same 100K next year because each project will bring in less money as agencies and developers begin to charge less.
I could be wrong and my ability to read the tea leaves may be fading as is my normal eyesight, but at least for me, that is what I am expecting and how I am focused on pivoting my approach to earning a living as a bubble developer.
Interesting take. Any tips on how I can develop a solid client funnel?
Pick a niche and go after it. There are so many different ways in which a bubble developer can create a client funnel for themselves. Most of the ways in which you do it will depend on who you target for clients and why. The why part should be mostly answered as because you enjoy working on the project types or for the client types. You would want to know what type of projects you enjoy and which you’d excel at and which would be needed in the AI environment. Highly technical feature set additions, or debugging broken AI developed Highly technical features may be the types of projects that are plentiful, but may or may not suit your desired style of working.
And a lot of what should you do to build a client funnel for your business depends a lot on you and what you want to do to earn a living. One thing I believe not many are focused on now, is realizing as a highly skilled Bubble developer, your ability to earn a living leveraging that skill is not solely dependent on your ability to develop apps for clients, as you can have various approaches to how and for what you charge clients.
I also feel that. Is summer usually slower?
