Spotlight: Meet @sarah_builds - From Bootcamp to $120k Freelance in 18 Months

Sarah (@sarah_builds) joined our community 18 months ago as a bootcamp student. Today, she’s a six-figure freelance developer. Here’s her story.

The Background

Age: 29
Previous career: Marketing coordinator
Salary: $48k/year
Pivot trigger: “I realized I was building marketing sites but couldn’t code. Felt powerless.”

Decision: Quit job, enroll in bootcamp (Le Wagon, 9 weeks), go all-in on dev career.

Month 0-3: Bootcamp

Program: Le Wagon (Paris)
Cost: €6,900 (~$7,500)
Curriculum: Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, SQL, Heroku deployment

What she learned:

HTML/CSS/JS fundamentals
Rails MVC architecture
Git/GitHub
Basic SQL

What bootcamp DIDN’T teach:

How to get clients
How to price
How to manage projects

Graduation project: Built “FitTrack” (workout logger app). Still online, still on her portfolio.

Month 4-6: The Struggle

Job applications sent: 87
Responses: 12
Interviews: 3
Offers: 0

The problem: “Entry-level” jobs wanted 2+ years experience.

Pivot moment: “I stopped applying for jobs and started offering free work.”

Strategy shift:

Posted in community #opportunities: “I’ll build you a landing page for free”
8 responses in 24 hours
Built 3 landing pages (no payment, portfolio only)

Result: 3 portfolio pieces in 2 weeks.

Month 7: First Paid Client

How she got it: Previous free client referred her to their network.

Project: Redesign existing website (WordPress to static site)
Payment: $800
Hours worked: 40 (~$20/hour)

Her reaction: “I cried. Someone paid me to code. This was real.”

Month 8-12: Building Momentum

Clients acquired: 7
Revenue: $18,400
Average project: $2,600

How she got clients:

Referrals from previous clients (4 clients)
Community job board (2 clients)
Cold outreach on Twitter (1 client)

Pricing evolution:

Project 1: $800
Project 3: $2,000
Project 5: $3,500
Project 7: $5,000

The lesson: “Raise prices every 2-3 projects. Worst case, client says no. Best case, you get paid more.”

Month 13-18: Six Figures

Current status:

Monthly revenue: $10k (~$120k annualized)
Active clients: 3-4 at a time
Projects/month: 2-3
Average project value: $4,500

How she hit $10k/month:

Raised prices to $5k minimum
Focused on retainer clients (recurring revenue)
Specialized in Webflow (faster dev = more projects)
Automated onboarding (Notion templates, contracts, questionnaires)

Her Tech Stack

Development:

Webflow (no-code for speed)
Next.js (when client needs custom functionality)
Tailwind CSS
Vercel (deployment)

Business:

Notion (project management, CRM)
Stripe (invoicing)
Calendly (scheduling)
Loom (async communication)

Why Webflow: “I can build a site in 8 hours that would take 40 hours in code. Clients don’t care how it’s built.”

The Mistakes She Made

Mistake 1: Undercharging

Early projects: $800-1,500
Hours worked: 30-50 hours
Actual hourly rate: $16-30/hour

The fix: Doubled prices after project #3. No clients complained.

Mistake 2: Scope Creep

Client: “Can you also add a blog?” (after site was done)
Sarah: “Sure!” (didn’t charge extra)
Result: 15 extra hours unpaid

The fix: “Additional features require a change order. Here’s the cost.” Now uses strict contracts.

Mistake 3: Not Vetting Clients

Bad client red flags (learned the hard way):

“I need this by Friday” (unrealistic timeline)
“My budget is flexible” (means they have no budget)
“We’re a startup, but exposure!” (never pay)

The fix: Qualification call before accepting project. Ask budget upfront. No budget = no project.

Mistake 4: Doing Everything Herself

What she did: Design, development, copywriting, SEO, hosting setup
Burnout: Month 10, almost quit

The fix: Hired copywriter ($300/project), designer ($400/project). Now focuses on dev only.

Her Client Acquisition Strategy (Current)

80% referrals: Happy clients send more clients
15% community: Job boards, networking
5% cold outreach: Twitter DMs (low success rate but occasionally works)

Referral system:

Ask every client: “Who else needs a website?”
Offer referral bonus: $200 Amazon gift card
Result: 2-3 referrals/month

The Numbers Breakdown

Monthly revenue: $10,000
Monthly expenses:

Webflow subscription: $42
Notion: $10
Hosting/domains: $50
Contractor costs (designer/copywriter): $700/project (~$1,400/month)
Health insurance: $350 (freelance, USA)
Taxes (set aside): $2,500 (25%)

Take-home: ~$5,500/month

Compared to previous marketing job: +$17k/year net income, but with freelance flexibility.

Work-Life Balance Reality

Hours/week: 30-35 (vs 40-50 at corporate job)
Schedule: Flexible (works 10am-4pm, no meetings before 10am)
Vacation: Took 6 weeks off last year (unpaid but possible)

The trade-off: No paid vacation, no 401k match, healthcare expensive.

Her verdict: “Worth it. I’d take flexibility over benefits.”

Advice for Aspiring Freelancers

Do This:

✅ Build 3-5 portfolio projects (free if necessary)
✅ Specialize (she picked Webflow, you pick your niche)
✅ Raise prices regularly (every 2-3 projects)
✅ Use contracts (protect yourself)
✅ Join communities (most of her clients came from networking)

Don’t Do This:

❌ Accept “exposure” as payment
❌ Work without deposit (50% upfront minimum)
❌ Take on toxic clients (no amount of money is worth it)
❌ Compete on price (there’s always someone cheaper)
❌ Try to do everything (outsource what you hate)

What’s Next for Sarah

Current goals:

Scale to $15k/month (by raising prices to $6-8k/project)
Build productized service (website in 2 weeks, fixed scope, fixed price)
Hire VA (virtual assistant for admin work)
Launch course (“Bootcamp to Freelance in 6 Months”)

Long-term vision: Agency (team of 3-5 developers), recurring revenue via retainers.

Resources Sarah Recommends

Learning:

FreeCodeCamp (free coding practice)
Webflow University (free Webflow tutorials)
“The Freelance Manifesto” (book)