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The disadvantage is that you are always trading time for money - you only have so many hours a year (2000 or so) that you can bill. So your earnings max out pre

by javery 15y ago

The disadvantage is that you are always trading time for money - you only have so many hours a year (2000 or so) that you can bill. So your earnings max out pretty quickly. Building a startup you are building a company that can grow and end up being worth millions and millions of dollars (and it more rewarding to me then working on other peoples projects).

sliverstorm 15y ago
You have the chance of millions and millions. It's a classic low risk vs. high risk.
- kenjackson 15y ago
  That's why when I was a consultant, I'd also buy lottery tickets. Win-win! Or was that lose-lose? Eh, something like that.
jessedhillon 15y ago
You have a very slim chance at even breaking even, let alone getting the big payout. Your article, frankly, does more to convince people to become consultants, rather than the opposite. The choice you present is as if a person with the motivation and insight to start something has no choice but to throw caution to the wind, abandon any semblance of stability, and burn the ships (as the saying goes). Plenty of very successful entrepreneurs have proven this wrong -- there is no need to romanticize a very risky proposition. On the one hand, you present a choice where a lot of one's income is scalable and under your (mostly) direct control. Sure, there is a limit of around $250k/year -- that's a gross of $2M+ in a decade. Meanwhile, you have more flexibility with your time than you would at most jobs. The typical startup entrepreneur, if they last a decade, will have gone through multiple ideas/ventures in that time frame, while earning 10-20% of this. On the other hand, you present the notion of taking a wild, largely unmitigatable risk -- live an austere lifestyle while devoting 60+ hours/week to your pet project. Your only way to manage risk is to try to confirm early-on in the process that you are actually building what people will pay for (or even want) ... before you build it. Even then, the territory remains largely unknown. Any number of black swans can swoop in and completely destabilize your agenda, turning what you think you know upside-down. You simply cannot plan for success -- high-risk proposals are always subject to wild fluctuations in the landscape (or else they wouldn't be high risk) -- the best you can reasonably plan for is to make a product and release it. The end of your post does your argument no favors either. Establish a practice where I can sell my talent for (at maximum) $250k/year, or go work on one of four me-too ideas? There's a reason why the devs you approached said that they want to work on their own idea, or in lieu of that, consult. EDIT: I'm sorry if this reads harshly. I tried to give you honest criticism without insulting you. I regret using the phrase "me-too ideas".
- javery 15y ago
  My post wasn't trying to convince people they should go start a startup - my post was aimed at people who already want to do that and for some reason view consulting as a good step. I agree that starting a startup isn't the smartest way to make money - we can't always do what is reasonable, sometimes we have to do what our passion pushes us towards. I know plenty of people who were happy making their six figures and found enjoyment in other areas of their life - It wasn't for me and I wanted to found a startup. Looking back I should have quit consulting and gone to work at a startup instead of continuing consulting and hoping it would make it easier to transition to startup life.
  - sukuriant 15y ago
    Thank you for clarifying it here, but that's not exactly what I understood when you wrote it. You may want to adapt/addendum your article to clarify that
- javery 15y ago
  My post wasn't trying to convince people they should go start a startup - my post was aimed at people who already want to do that and for some reason view consulting as a good step. I agree that starting a startup isn't the smartest way to make money - we can't always do what is reasonable, sometimes we have to do what our passion pushes us towards. I know plenty of people who were happy making their six figures and found enjoyment in other areas of their life - It wasn't for me and I wanted to found a startup. Looking back I should have quit consulting and gone to work at a startup instead of continuing consulting and hoping it would make it easier to transition to startup life.
keithnoizu 15y ago
You're assuming non elasticity in price. Charge more, work fewer hours, and begun subcontracting where possible while maintaining oversight on the work.

by javery 15y ago

sliverstorm 15y ago

You have the chance of millions and millions. It's a classic low risk vs. high risk.

kenjackson 15y ago
That's why when I was a consultant, I'd also buy lottery tickets. Win-win! Or was that lose-lose? Eh, something like that.

jessedhillon 15y ago

You have a very slim chance at even breaking even, let alone getting the big payout. Your article, frankly, does more to convince people to become consultants, rather than the opposite. The choice you present is as if a person with the motivation and insight to start something has no choice but to throw caution to the wind, abandon any semblance of stability, and burn the ships (as the saying goes). Plenty of very successful entrepreneurs have proven this wrong -- there is no need to romanticize a very risky proposition. On the one hand, you present a choice where a lot of one's income is scalable and under your (mostly) direct control. Sure, there is a limit of around $250k/year -- that's a gross of $2M+ in a decade. Meanwhile, you have more flexibility with your time than you would at most jobs. The typical startup entrepreneur, if they last a decade, will have gone through multiple ideas/ventures in that time frame, while earning 10-20% of this. On the other hand, you present the notion of taking a wild, largely unmitigatable risk -- live an austere lifestyle while devoting 60+ hours/week to your pet project. Your only way to manage risk is to try to confirm early-on in the process that you are actually building what people will pay for (or even want) ... before you build it. Even then, the territory remains largely unknown. Any number of black swans can swoop in and completely destabilize your agenda, turning what you think you know upside-down. You simply cannot plan for success -- high-risk proposals are always subject to wild fluctuations in the landscape (or else they wouldn't be high risk) -- the best you can reasonably plan for is to make a product and release it. The end of your post does your argument no favors either. Establish a practice where I can sell my talent for (at maximum) $250k/year, or go work on one of four me-too ideas? There's a reason why the devs you approached said that they want to work on their own idea, or in lieu of that, consult. EDIT: I'm sorry if this reads harshly. I tried to give you honest criticism without insulting you. I regret using the phrase "me-too ideas".

javery 15y ago
My post wasn't trying to convince people they should go start a startup - my post was aimed at people who already want to do that and for some reason view consulting as a good step. I agree that starting a startup isn't the smartest way to make money - we can't always do what is reasonable, sometimes we have to do what our passion pushes us towards. I know plenty of people who were happy making their six figures and found enjoyment in other areas of their life - It wasn't for me and I wanted to found a startup. Looking back I should have quit consulting and gone to work at a startup instead of continuing consulting and hoping it would make it easier to transition to startup life.
- sukuriant 15y ago
  Thank you for clarifying it here, but that's not exactly what I understood when you wrote it. You may want to adapt/addendum your article to clarify that
javery 15y ago
My post wasn't trying to convince people they should go start a startup - my post was aimed at people who already want to do that and for some reason view consulting as a good step. I agree that starting a startup isn't the smartest way to make money - we can't always do what is reasonable, sometimes we have to do what our passion pushes us towards. I know plenty of people who were happy making their six figures and found enjoyment in other areas of their life - It wasn't for me and I wanted to found a startup. Looking back I should have quit consulting and gone to work at a startup instead of continuing consulting and hoping it would make it easier to transition to startup life.

keithnoizu 15y ago

You're assuming non elasticity in price. Charge more, work fewer hours, and begun subcontracting where possible while maintaining oversight on the work.