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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,
by 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 agoAs a consultant with no accountant -- in what areas did they save you that much? Entirely taxes?
- dep_b 7y agoYeah 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.