5 ms·

The requirements to start as a freelancer, in any kind of economic climate: * You have an accountant * You are not afraid to draw up a contract * Have a skil

by dep_b 7y ago

The requirements to start as a freelancer, in any kind of economic climate: * You have an accountant * You are not afraid to draw up a contract * Have a skill that has higher demand than supply and will remain so for a foreseeable time * Have worked on paid side projects a few times * One existing customer is interested in hiring you for 3 months (worth of money) or more Ensure you set aside 50% of which 2/3rds for tax and 1/3 for bad times. Maybe you pay less tax in the end. Yay! "Free" money! Never get in the reverse situation. If you don't have customers: don't do it. I have been making a lot of contacts in the 15 years+ I have as a professional and it's still hard to find work right now. If you're good for a few months then we're out of the pit in terms of demand for sure.

themodelplumber 7y ago
Huh. I know a lot of people who did almost none of this and freelanced their way into successful businesses. Why is having an accountant necessary? Where I live, even simple books from the office supply store and basic tax software will tell you what you need to know as a beginner. Personally I operated my business just fine for 15 years without an accountant. Drawing up a contract, similar, but here I would certainly mention that you can also consult a professional if needed, like a business consultant or attorney. You can also write a letter contract and communicate well enough that contracts don't matter that much in the end, which is the case for a lot of freelancers, guessing the majority. Knowing what skill has high demand is less important than finding a team or business that likes you and needs you. If you are in tech, someone probably needs your help. Many times they will find a way for you to stick around anyway, if it's a good psychological complement. If no one can pay you for three months worth of money, you get to decide how long you hang in there. Personally I found a veteran graphic designer who was excited to work together and started sending work immediately. Within 3 years of that I was turning down more work than I was accepting. But there was never any promise of income. Setting aside 50% would have been impossible due to medical bills at the time. I was lucky to have free rent via the in-laws and a wife who was working as well. Still, when freelancing picked up the problem quickly became burnout and setting boundaries. This has been the same with many of my peers. Many of us went through 2008 and even the dot com crash together. Demand was never really a problem except at the very start, but the perception of an urgent need to hustle for every last client can easily break you.
- dep_b 7y ago
  My accountants saved me enough money every year to be basically free, while I don't need to worry about all kinds of stuff. I did my taxes myself often as well, but I didn't like to do it (instead of doing billable work or having spare time). Contracts: I really suck at them. I rarely do them. I got lucky so far, perhaps 2 clients that managed to pinch me but then again assholes will be assholes with or without contracts. But hourly work is easier than fixed price. Especially when it goes sour. > Knowing what skill has high demand is less important than finding a team or business that likes you and needs you True. I'm a specialist in mobile remote communication solutions which should be somewhat sought after right now but I can't find matching clients. I should have networked way more the last years than I did, and I don't consider myself a bad networker. > Still, when freelancing picked up the problem quickly became burnout and setting boundaries. The worst thing that always happens that after a slump in work I'm going basically YES YES YES YES YES YES to all work and I've never been in the situation that when one job finally came through at least two others I've YES'ed came at more or less the same time. So going from 0 to 60 hours per week for a few weeks. Which after a week or four really starts to turn into 30 hours worth of productivity while being behind your computer for 70.
  - themodelplumber 7y ago
    > My accountants saved me enough money every year to be basically free This is true for a _lot_ of people. :-) "basically free". It made me smile because it's usually not "saved me megabucks," but rather "their work allows me to focus on other things and that's worth something to me."
  - jlevers 7y ago
    As a consultant with no accountant -- in what areas did they save you that much? Entirely taxes?
    - dep_b 7y ago
      Yeah all kinds of tax laws I didn't know existed, places where I could earn a bit more, starting a company together with my wife so the earnings are divided instead of going into one big pile where the top part gets taxed most. But also a US$1500 bill that never was paid by a customer by going over bills vs the business bank account's movements.
valuearb 7y ago
I was working full time on a side project a week and a half ago, when a former boss approached with a client he couldn’t service who urgently needed a developer with my skill set. I negotiated a higher rate and now am working full time for them. I don’t have any accountant, no contract. They will either pay me or it’s back to my side project.
- themodelplumber 7y ago
  You reminded me of a successful animator friend from long ago. He did work for all of the big names in animation, but would never sign a contract. He told them, "if you want me to do the work, let's do this. If you don't treat me well, we're done. If I don't treat you well, it'll be easy to get rid of me." It was a pretty brash style but it matched the kind of breezy guy he wanted to be. There were quite a few contractors during the dot com days that were like this too--I remember some had a policy of hearing "let me explain why your paycheck will be late" and just walking out right then. Others would say, "I'm staying for a while, because I'm living off of money I made 3 months ago." And others would go right to the co-founder or COO or marketing lead and start a new business with them on the spot...something different, but comfortable since they already knew they could work together.
  - gentleman11 7y ago
    You can’t transfer ip without a written contract. I suspect he still owns all the work they bought
    - themodelplumber 7y ago
      It'd be interesting to ask him about that. I suspect his answer would involve some pretty direct comments about how a deal can be done, but I really don't know.

by dep_b 7y ago

themodelplumber 7y ago

Huh. I know a lot of people who did almost none of this and freelanced their way into successful businesses. Why is having an accountant necessary? Where I live, even simple books from the office supply store and basic tax software will tell you what you need to know as a beginner. Personally I operated my business just fine for 15 years without an accountant. Drawing up a contract, similar, but here I would certainly mention that you can also consult a professional if needed, like a business consultant or attorney. You can also write a letter contract and communicate well enough that contracts don't matter that much in the end, which is the case for a lot of freelancers, guessing the majority. Knowing what skill has high demand is less important than finding a team or business that likes you and needs you. If you are in tech, someone probably needs your help. Many times they will find a way for you to stick around anyway, if it's a good psychological complement. If no one can pay you for three months worth of money, you get to decide how long you hang in there. Personally I found a veteran graphic designer who was excited to work together and started sending work immediately. Within 3 years of that I was turning down more work than I was accepting. But there was never any promise of income. Setting aside 50% would have been impossible due to medical bills at the time. I was lucky to have free rent via the in-laws and a wife who was working as well. Still, when freelancing picked up the problem quickly became burnout and setting boundaries. This has been the same with many of my peers. Many of us went through 2008 and even the dot com crash together. Demand was never really a problem except at the very start, but the perception of an urgent need to hustle for every last client can easily break you.

dep_b 7y ago
My accountants saved me enough money every year to be basically free, while I don't need to worry about all kinds of stuff. I did my taxes myself often as well, but I didn't like to do it (instead of doing billable work or having spare time). Contracts: I really suck at them. I rarely do them. I got lucky so far, perhaps 2 clients that managed to pinch me but then again assholes will be assholes with or without contracts. But hourly work is easier than fixed price. Especially when it goes sour. > Knowing what skill has high demand is less important than finding a team or business that likes you and needs you True. I'm a specialist in mobile remote communication solutions which should be somewhat sought after right now but I can't find matching clients. I should have networked way more the last years than I did, and I don't consider myself a bad networker. > Still, when freelancing picked up the problem quickly became burnout and setting boundaries. The worst thing that always happens that after a slump in work I'm going basically YES YES YES YES YES YES to all work and I've never been in the situation that when one job finally came through at least two others I've YES'ed came at more or less the same time. So going from 0 to 60 hours per week for a few weeks. Which after a week or four really starts to turn into 30 hours worth of productivity while being behind your computer for 70.
- themodelplumber 7y ago
  > My accountants saved me enough money every year to be basically free This is true for a _lot_ of people. :-) "basically free". It made me smile because it's usually not "saved me megabucks," but rather "their work allows me to focus on other things and that's worth something to me."
- jlevers 7y ago
  As a consultant with no accountant -- in what areas did they save you that much? Entirely taxes?
  - dep_b 7y ago
    Yeah all kinds of tax laws I didn't know existed, places where I could earn a bit more, starting a company together with my wife so the earnings are divided instead of going into one big pile where the top part gets taxed most. But also a US$1500 bill that never was paid by a customer by going over bills vs the business bank account's movements.

valuearb 7y ago

I was working full time on a side project a week and a half ago, when a former boss approached with a client he couldn’t service who urgently needed a developer with my skill set. I negotiated a higher rate and now am working full time for them. I don’t have any accountant, no contract. They will either pay me or it’s back to my side project.

themodelplumber 7y ago
You reminded me of a successful animator friend from long ago. He did work for all of the big names in animation, but would never sign a contract. He told them, "if you want me to do the work, let's do this. If you don't treat me well, we're done. If I don't treat you well, it'll be easy to get rid of me." It was a pretty brash style but it matched the kind of breezy guy he wanted to be. There were quite a few contractors during the dot com days that were like this too--I remember some had a policy of hearing "let me explain why your paycheck will be late" and just walking out right then. Others would say, "I'm staying for a while, because I'm living off of money I made 3 months ago." And others would go right to the co-founder or COO or marketing lead and start a new business with them on the spot...something different, but comfortable since they already knew they could work together.
- gentleman11 7y ago
  You can’t transfer ip without a written contract. I suspect he still owns all the work they bought
  - themodelplumber 7y ago
    It'd be interesting to ask him about that. I suspect his answer would involve some pretty direct comments about how a deal can be done, but I really don't know.