Going freelance

Recently I was made redundant as a network engineer / IT / EPOS support, and although have had several job offers.

I think this may be an opportunity to go freelance.

Thought I would contact business owners and ask if they would keep me in mind, if they don't already have support in place..

My question is :

How would you go about this
Who would you contact - HR, Owner...

Really not sure the best approach would be, so any positive advice would be welcome.

Probably linkedin, a nice web of your company talking about your experience. And perhaps avoid HR and go directly to owners and decision makers.
Not sure if there are any major events in your industry to network, that may help as well.

Go and use sites like workana, freelancer, and so. There are a lot of options so you can go and work.

There's a lot of places you can go to for work as a freelancer. Several websites where employers would post openings that require freelances of varying fields so you can look around those. If you plan to approach business owners, it's paramount you've got a portfolio of your previous works. A repertoire, if you will. Consider LinkedIn if you haven't already. Best of Luck!

Hey,

So you're in a position to offer unique things. And that gives you an edge.

I'd recommend that along with traditional networking - you upskill yourself in terms of the common redundant use cases of the web industry. (I don't know if you're already experienced in this)

> Setting up and Managing servers at Cloud Farms (DO, Vultr, Linode)
> Server Optimization
> Server Hardening
> Variant Stacks (LAMP, LEMP)
> Apache, Nginx, Tomcat etc.
> Setting up and managing optimized environments for WordPress

What this would give you is an added edge and allow you to offer "managed services" as a Freelancer.

I know for a fact that there are a tons of webmasters with little to no experience in managing servers, who'd like to move to the likes of DO and Vultr for their attractive pricing and redundancy and wouldn't mind paying a small fee for management.

You could also, approach Web Hosting companies and offer to be a server admin on a retainer - managing their servers, checking error logs, updating/upgrading when needed. Answering L3 escalations for them.

Work as a contractor or consultant even better full-time. By freelancing as a engineer/support you will severely lower your income.

It is best that you send an email to your direct superior or directly to the owner. Remember, email first. And then make a follow-up through phone call after a day or 2. If not, make an appointment and pay them a visit.