Would you take company options/shares as part of the compensation if they can't afford to pay more?
Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
161–170 of 276 posts
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#162If you are in the US, make sure you are up to speed on any county/local regulations and tax laws about running a business. Even as a freelancer and depending on your area, you may need to obtain a business license, pay gross receipts or any other such legal obligations.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#163Took a project as a whole price. As a result, the client asked for a lot of changes and paid only initial price, of course. What was supposed to be a short 2 days project blew into a full month. Learned my lesson, never worked on a fixed-price project again, only hourly. Now I welcome clients with gazillion of change requests and new features since I get paid by the hour. Also allows me to be at hand maintenance guy after project is done. This way pays the bills quite nicely.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#164- Not forming an LLC: first gig was done as myself, in hindsight i could have been sued and had a judgement or bankruptcy hang over my personal head for 10 years (no assets back then, but you could lose your home if you own one. don't do it). Get an LLC, get a registered agent, get a PO box, get a bank account and a bank ledger. Money you want to spend from the business goes into the bank account as a deposit and com…
Can you elaborate on the "DON'T GO TO THE CLIENT SITE" point?
Probably that if you show any weakness - anything from physical discomfort, being sick, not being 100% mentally, the customer may end up losing confidence in you. It's better come to delay and come back fully prepared.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#165Longer write-up here: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-l... Some things I learned through mistakes: - Charge more. - Travel like a professional and bill the client. For my first business trip I used airline points, stayed at an Airbnb on my own dime, and even refused the client's offer to reimburse me. Stupid. (Full story here: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/stupid/ ) - If I'm not enjoying the w…
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Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#166What's the appeal of being an independent consultant? Why would you do this versus any other business or job? Genuinely curious what the appeal is.
I got into consulting mostly for the freedom and schedule flexibility. I work when I want to, and if I wake up feeling tired or unmotivated I can take a morning off instead of having to grind through it. And I can spend significantly less time working overall.
I've also found that consulting gives me a healthy amount of emotional separation from my work. I'm hired for a specific task, and I can take pride in doing that well. The long-term success of the client isn't my problem and I don't have to stress about it.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
Strongly agree with this, over hourly or project-based. I do monthly instead of weekly, but idea is the same. One thing I disagree with is the automatic-discount thing. Firstly, I think it's cheesy. Makes me think of street vendors saying "...But just for YOU, I have a SPECIAL price!" Secondly, I think it cheapens the perceived value. As in, "Why is Joe throwing around 20% discounts? Is he desperate? Is he not confid…
“My ordinary rate is X000 per week, HOWEVER I’d love to work with you/this project/this stack/this industry so how does a 20% discount sound?”
I think I get what he was saying. I would say the discounted number instead of saying anything about percentages. Round up whatever that number is to nearest hundred. Saying $x748.35 is your weekly rate does sound kind of sad versus $x800. As an example. Still sounds professional.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#168Longer write-up here: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-l... Some things I learned through mistakes: - Charge more. - Travel like a professional and bill the client. For my first business trip I used airline points, stayed at an Airbnb on my own dime, and even refused the client's offer to reimburse me. Stupid. (Full story here: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/stupid/ ) - If I'm not enjoying the w…
How do I get over the mental barrier of charging more than $100 per hour?
- I'm a junior developer and I mostly freelance for larger companies.
- I feel like $100/hour is the industry standard and if I charge 150-300 I need to do work that requires managerial work.
- 300+ comes from charging a percentage of revenue increase or creating such a narrative, which often requires additional business and strategic consulting.
- On the flip side, I enjoy coding and want to avoid additional managerial and business consulting as much as possible.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#169Longer write-up here: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-l... Some things I learned through mistakes: - Charge more. - Travel like a professional and bill the client. For my first business trip I used airline points, stayed at an Airbnb on my own dime, and even refused the client's offer to reimburse me. Stupid. (Full story here: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/stupid/ ) - If I'm not enjoying the w…
How do I get over the mental barrier of charging more than $100 per hour? - I'm a junior developer and I mostly freelance for larger companies. - I feel like $100/hour is the industry standard and if I charge 150-300 I need to do work that requires managerial work. - 300+ comes from charging a percentage of revenue increase or creating such a narrative, which often requires additional business and strategic consultin…
Do not think in hours. You are not a worker in a factory. Consider the value you deliver. When you deliver twice the value in the same time you did a year ago charge twice as much.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#170Took a project as a whole price. As a result, the client asked for a lot of changes and paid only initial price, of course. What was supposed to be a short 2 days project blew into a full month. Learned my lesson, never worked on a fixed-price project again, only hourly. Now I welcome clients with gazillion of change requests and new features since I get paid by the hour. Also allows me to be at hand maintenance guy…
I outsource a lot of game dev related work. Usually I give the requirements, ask for an estimate from the contractor then I increase it 25% and ask if they’d do it at that fixed price. Does that seem fair? So far it seems to have worked out over a few tasks but curious what objections you or others reading might have to this?