23 ms·

How about freelancing? I've been doing that since 1995 -- and my income and happiness have never been higher. Pros: - Work on what you like, with the people yo

by reuven 9y ago

How about freelancing? I've been doing that since 1995 -- and my income and happiness have never been higher. Pros: - Work on what you like, with the people you like - Potentially very high salary, definitely more than you would get as an employee - Want to work on side projects (e.g., software, books, and courses)? Go for it, and benefit from multiple income streams. Cons: - You're running a business. That requires time, as well as skills/knowledge (often learned the hard way) that are completely separate from programming. - You have to market yourself (until you're good enough that people contact you). No marketing, no work. No work, no salary. - It's harder to do when you're married and have children. (I started when I was single.) In many ways, freelancing is like the "founder" described in the article. However, the article also talks about teammates and a financial plan (including funding). Plenty of successful freelancers make good money just by themselves (or maybe 1-2 junior people). And I definitely never intend to take investment money. Not everyone is cut out to be a freelancer. But it's a very viable option, beyond being a founder, executive, or employee. And I can tell you that many of the founders, executives, and employees I meet as I travel the world teaching Python are quite jealous of my satisfaction.

dceddia 9y ago
This seems like a better option to me than the "founder" role in the article. How did you find your first clients? You mention you're traveling the world teaching Python (which sounds awesome!) -- do you consider that "freelancing" or are you taking client work in addition to the teaching?
- reuven 9y ago
  I was lucky, but my story isn't unusual: When I started freelancing, my former employer hired me to do some projects. This gave me a financial cushion to start finding clients. Most of them came through word of mouth, although speaking at conferences and user groups helped. For most of my career, I did development work, with some occasional training. But over time, I found that training (a) was more fun, (b) paid better, (c) allowed me to schedule in advance, and (d) didn't mean getting angry calls about bugs in the middle of the night. Plus, it was a great way to specialize and thus become better known for one thing. When I started to call myself a trainer, rather than a consultant, I started to get calls from companies I hadn't heard of. Not only does being a specialist with a clear focus make you stand out in companies' minds, but my former students remember me, too -- so they recommend me when they switch jobs, which is pretty common in the high-tech world. I definitely consider training to be freelancing. I have someone who works for me, doing day-to-day development on projects, and I'll occasionally do that myself. But right now, I mainly do training, a bit of consulting, and am working on products (including http://WeeklyPythonExercise.com/ http://WeeklyPythonExercise.com/) that I want to supplement my consulting/training income.
Radim 9y ago
Plenty of successful freelancers make good money just by themselves (or maybe 1-2 junior people). Great point. The underappreciated thing is how much stress bringing a few other people to your freelancing brings. Suddenly, you realize that all these things that are obvious to you (when you "flow" working alone) need explanations and coordination and planning and checking and ... You may find yourself at a substantially reduced income (because you have to pay these extra people), but without the increased productivity / revenue to show for it. There's like this uncanny valley between freelancing and having a stable team / process structure (aka company). For me, building a proper consulting company around machine learning / Python services took the better part of 4 years. Along with considerable stress & hair pulling. Sometimes I long for the solo freelancing days...
- mgkimsal 9y ago
  > There's like this uncanny valley between freelancing and having a stable team / process structure (aka company) Perfect one-liner. I've found myself at the edge, and sometimes going in to that valley, for years. Finding the combination of people and process to get through that is more work than most people imagine, and a whole lot of risk. You get to the point where you can hire/contract one other person? That person better tick a lot of boxes, or you better be able to ramp up to X people quickly. Having a whole lot of effort in to one person, then to have them leave, loses you a whole lot of time/money/effort. Getting to a team of 4-5, which I've seen folks do, reduces that risk a lot, but figuring out how to get there and remain stable ... haven't done it myself, and have seen others try and fail (and some succeed, to be sure).
- pjungwir 9y ago
  If you freelance, there are three ways to earn more: work more, charge more, or hire. A few years ago I made a spreadsheet to model charging more vs hiring some people. The problem with hiring is that you have to spend a lot of time on unbillable work, and also suddenly you have to sell enough projects to keep 3-4 people busy. The risks are higher and you might need to hire 3 others just to break even. I decided that I would focus on just charging more. :-) But I've also started a small partnership with two other excellent developers, and that has been working very well. I don't have to manage anyone, but I have help when I need it. And as a firm we avoid some of the "market for lemons" freelancer stigma, so we can charge more. Also with 3 of us the chasm to eventually hiring others is maybe easier to leap. I think this is a great way to go!
s73ver_ 9y ago
Cons: Insurance and pre-existing conditions. Not to put a damper on your post, as it sounds like you have had good success. But this is a very real thing for many people. When I graduated and went out into the world, I needed insurance, and this was before the ACA, which meant that my pre-existing condition was not something that would be insurable, at least at any decent rate. The ACA fixed that, but now you have the GOP attempting to return things to how they were before, especially for pre-existing conditions. They failed now, but they're not going to stop. So, for many people, currently the climate is not one where they could go without a group plan that they'd get at their employer.
- reuven 9y ago
  You're 100% right... in the United States. In other countries, this isn't even a consideration or thought, because health care cannot be denied, and is independent of your job. I grew up in the US (through college), and returned in graduate school. Paying for health care as a grad student + independent consultant was horrifyingly expensive, and I'm lucky that I was able to do it. In Israel, where I've lived since 1995 (except for grad school), there are lots of reasons not to be a freelancer -- but health care isn't one of them, I'm happy to say.
- mgkimsal 9y ago
  Getting political for a moment... it's disturbing that we've had health care fundamentally tied to employment (in the US) for decades now. I don't quite know how you break this down. I wouldn't think it has to be 'single-payer' to get past this but... I don't know. > for many people, currently the climate is not one where they could go without a group plan that they'd get at their employer. It's been this way for decades. 20+ years ago I remember talking to people about freelancing, or starting their own business, and the same reasons came up "Oh, i've got this medical condition" or "we can't afford to lose this insurance". I can't speak to the 60s or 70s, but for the bulk of my adult life where I've been aware of this issue, it's been like this. :(
  - eru 9y ago
    > I wouldn't think it has to be 'single-payer' to get past this but... I don't know. For a start, eliminate the tax discrimination that makes employer paid health insurance cheaper.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
calebm 9y ago
I actually look at the "employee" strategy as very similar to freelancing. As an employee, I see myself as a single-person business, and the companies that I work for are my customers. Just like a freelancer, I choose what companies I want to work for (though I only work for one company at a time). One of the perceived downsides of being an employee is that you can't "be your own boss", but I don't think it's very different for an employee to be accountable to his/her employer than for a founder to be accountable to his/her customers or a freelancer to be accountable to his/her clients. The only way to truly "be your own boss" is to become wealthy enough that you don't need to be accountable to anyone (for financial well-being).
emerged 9y ago
I've done freelancing and have worked remotely as an employee. Though the former brought in more money (which is heavily dampened by the increased tax and loss of various benefits), I so loathe the administrative hassles that I'd gladly take half the overall pay in order to avoid it.
- alien_at_work 9y ago
  I don't know where you live but consulting agencies usually also offer payrolling: they manage all the admin/tax/pension stuff and charge less than 10%. Some even charge a flat rate (I paid about 120% of a single day's wage, but I've heard of people paying 80% or so).
  - OpenDrapery 9y ago
    I'd be interested to know where you've seen this. The consulting agencies I've seen will typically bill $90 - $100 an hour, and then give you $50 an hour. This comes with 2 weeks PTO and 5 holidays. The rest of the time you better be billable. Sick days are not factored in. Also, the health insurance is bundled in to the compensation package, and if you don't need it, they're not going to increase your salary. When you say "charge less than 10%", do you mean to say that if they bill the client $100/hr, that you will get $90/hr ?

by reuven 9y ago

dceddia 9y ago

This seems like a better option to me than the "founder" role in the article. How did you find your first clients? You mention you're traveling the world teaching Python (which sounds awesome!) -- do you consider that "freelancing" or are you taking client work in addition to the teaching?

reuven 9y ago
I was lucky, but my story isn't unusual: When I started freelancing, my former employer hired me to do some projects. This gave me a financial cushion to start finding clients. Most of them came through word of mouth, although speaking at conferences and user groups helped. For most of my career, I did development work, with some occasional training. But over time, I found that training (a) was more fun, (b) paid better, (c) allowed me to schedule in advance, and (d) didn't mean getting angry calls about bugs in the middle of the night. Plus, it was a great way to specialize and thus become better known for one thing. When I started to call myself a trainer, rather than a consultant, I started to get calls from companies I hadn't heard of. Not only does being a specialist with a clear focus make you stand out in companies' minds, but my former students remember me, too -- so they recommend me when they switch jobs, which is pretty common in the high-tech world. I definitely consider training to be freelancing. I have someone who works for me, doing day-to-day development on projects, and I'll occasionally do that myself. But right now, I mainly do training, a bit of consulting, and am working on products (including http://WeeklyPythonExercise.com/ http://WeeklyPythonExercise.com/) that I want to supplement my consulting/training income.

Radim 9y ago

Plenty of successful freelancers make good money just by themselves (or maybe 1-2 junior people). Great point. The underappreciated thing is how much stress bringing a few other people to your freelancing brings. Suddenly, you realize that all these things that are obvious to you (when you "flow" working alone) need explanations and coordination and planning and checking and ... You may find yourself at a substantially reduced income (because you have to pay these extra people), but without the increased productivity / revenue to show for it. There's like this uncanny valley between freelancing and having a stable team / process structure (aka company). For me, building a proper consulting company around machine learning / Python services took the better part of 4 years. Along with considerable stress & hair pulling. Sometimes I long for the solo freelancing days...

mgkimsal 9y ago
> There's like this uncanny valley between freelancing and having a stable team / process structure (aka company) Perfect one-liner. I've found myself at the edge, and sometimes going in to that valley, for years. Finding the combination of people and process to get through that is more work than most people imagine, and a whole lot of risk. You get to the point where you can hire/contract one other person? That person better tick a lot of boxes, or you better be able to ramp up to X people quickly. Having a whole lot of effort in to one person, then to have them leave, loses you a whole lot of time/money/effort. Getting to a team of 4-5, which I've seen folks do, reduces that risk a lot, but figuring out how to get there and remain stable ... haven't done it myself, and have seen others try and fail (and some succeed, to be sure).
pjungwir 9y ago
If you freelance, there are three ways to earn more: work more, charge more, or hire. A few years ago I made a spreadsheet to model charging more vs hiring some people. The problem with hiring is that you have to spend a lot of time on unbillable work, and also suddenly you have to sell enough projects to keep 3-4 people busy. The risks are higher and you might need to hire 3 others just to break even. I decided that I would focus on just charging more. :-) But I've also started a small partnership with two other excellent developers, and that has been working very well. I don't have to manage anyone, but I have help when I need it. And as a firm we avoid some of the "market for lemons" freelancer stigma, so we can charge more. Also with 3 of us the chasm to eventually hiring others is maybe easier to leap. I think this is a great way to go!

s73ver_ 9y ago

Cons: Insurance and pre-existing conditions. Not to put a damper on your post, as it sounds like you have had good success. But this is a very real thing for many people. When I graduated and went out into the world, I needed insurance, and this was before the ACA, which meant that my pre-existing condition was not something that would be insurable, at least at any decent rate. The ACA fixed that, but now you have the GOP attempting to return things to how they were before, especially for pre-existing conditions. They failed now, but they're not going to stop. So, for many people, currently the climate is not one where they could go without a group plan that they'd get at their employer.

reuven 9y ago
You're 100% right... in the United States. In other countries, this isn't even a consideration or thought, because health care cannot be denied, and is independent of your job. I grew up in the US (through college), and returned in graduate school. Paying for health care as a grad student + independent consultant was horrifyingly expensive, and I'm lucky that I was able to do it. In Israel, where I've lived since 1995 (except for grad school), there are lots of reasons not to be a freelancer -- but health care isn't one of them, I'm happy to say.
mgkimsal 9y ago
Getting political for a moment... it's disturbing that we've had health care fundamentally tied to employment (in the US) for decades now. I don't quite know how you break this down. I wouldn't think it has to be 'single-payer' to get past this but... I don't know. > for many people, currently the climate is not one where they could go without a group plan that they'd get at their employer. It's been this way for decades. 20+ years ago I remember talking to people about freelancing, or starting their own business, and the same reasons came up "Oh, i've got this medical condition" or "we can't afford to lose this insurance". I can't speak to the 60s or 70s, but for the bulk of my adult life where I've been aware of this issue, it's been like this. :(
- eru 9y ago
  > I wouldn't think it has to be 'single-payer' to get past this but... I don't know. For a start, eliminate the tax discrimination that makes employer paid health insurance cheaper.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

calebm 9y ago

I actually look at the "employee" strategy as very similar to freelancing. As an employee, I see myself as a single-person business, and the companies that I work for are my customers. Just like a freelancer, I choose what companies I want to work for (though I only work for one company at a time). One of the perceived downsides of being an employee is that you can't "be your own boss", but I don't think it's very different for an employee to be accountable to his/her employer than for a founder to be accountable to his/her customers or a freelancer to be accountable to his/her clients. The only way to truly "be your own boss" is to become wealthy enough that you don't need to be accountable to anyone (for financial well-being).

emerged 9y ago

I've done freelancing and have worked remotely as an employee. Though the former brought in more money (which is heavily dampened by the increased tax and loss of various benefits), I so loathe the administrative hassles that I'd gladly take half the overall pay in order to avoid it.

alien_at_work 9y ago
I don't know where you live but consulting agencies usually also offer payrolling: they manage all the admin/tax/pension stuff and charge less than 10%. Some even charge a flat rate (I paid about 120% of a single day's wage, but I've heard of people paying 80% or so).
- OpenDrapery 9y ago
  I'd be interested to know where you've seen this. The consulting agencies I've seen will typically bill $90 - $100 an hour, and then give you $50 an hour. This comes with 2 weeks PTO and 5 holidays. The rest of the time you better be billable. Sick days are not factored in. Also, the health insurance is bundled in to the compensation package, and if you don't need it, they're not going to increase your salary. When you say "charge less than 10%", do you mean to say that if they bill the client $100/hr, that you will get $90/hr ?