191–200 of 446 posts
I do love seeing threads like this though. All the fun tools & projects people build up.
I've been independently employed the for 13 years as a software consultant. Most of my work has been building web-based business software for small/medium sized businesses. This involves both designing and implementing solutions for non-technical clients. It's a lot of greenfield design and development, which feels a lot like working in an early stage startup. I have at times taken 6mo - 24mo contracts as just a soft…
>It's a lot of greenfield design and development, which feels a lot like working in an early stage startup. What does this mean? Also how'd you get your first business?
In software development “greenfield” generally refers to new systems development whereas “brownfield” refers to the maintenance, extension, or enhancement of existing systems and solutions.
I am working on https://audiodiary.ai as a solo founder, I recently have been getting enough income to just about cover my living expenses and haven’t received any funding and didn’t do any marketing, with 9k users so far since launch last May. It’s fulfilling and great to see people use and love a product I’ve built. I’m obviously highly motivated to grow so it keeps me busy.
I think the thing that I would say about self-employment is that people understate the day-to-day flexibility and overstate the month-to-month flexibility. It is _addicting_ to be able to structure a given day exactly how you want it, and to take days off without having to worry about PTO; conversely, I've done a hither-to poor job of increasing my bus factor and it's tough to e.g. plan entire week-long vacations without knowing I'll need to carve out extra time afterwards to catch up on inbound issues.
Being self-employed is hard work for sure. I also _totally_ understand the cliche of "becoming a founder makes you un-hireable"; it's really hard to imagine going back to a traditional job after this, and I find it more fulfilling than anything else I've done in my career.
I've been independently employed the for 13 years as a software consultant. Most of my work has been building web-based business software for small/medium sized businesses. This involves both designing and implementing solutions for non-technical clients. It's a lot of greenfield design and development, which feels a lot like working in an early stage startup. I have at times taken 6mo - 24mo contracts as just a soft…
>It's a lot of greenfield design and development, which feels a lot like working in an early stage startup. What does this mean? Also how'd you get your first business?
About 6 months ago I left my job to start my own company and make a language learning tool I always wanted to build ( https://www.langturbo.com ), It's something I use myself and I see real value in it. I'm fully bootstrapped and I have some months left of savings to try this out. If this doesn't get traction then I guess I'll have to get a "real" job again :).
Very cool idea. Probably also needs an app to really gain traction (maybe just start with a webview and not a full native app?). I think lots of people are listening to podcasts on smartphones.
I then founded a software services company where I currently work and grew it. It's been a very rewarding journey so far.
I'm not sure if either of these qualifies as "self employed" but that's that. :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
the way not to get burned is to charge high enough with trustworthy clients, take some insurances and to be aware of your pension provisions that will vary by country. whether you have 1 or 3 clients at one point in time is immaterial as long as it doesn't sour your relationship with your clients I appreciate that it sounds like you had a bad experience with a client though.
> the way not to get burned is to charge high enough with trustworthy clients That helps. What helps even more is to have a nice fat savings account that allows you to negotiate properly, to weather the inevitable dry spells, to build a solid base of clients that value you and that will repeatedly hire you. > take some insurances Against what? 90%+ of the freelancers are not even insured against loss of income from h…
in my jurisdiction there are for example some excellent guaranteed income insurances covering various situations. they won't pay forever, but they'll pay. income replacement due to health issues is covered by normal social welfare in my jurisdiction as well
all of those things you mentioned happen regularly to employees. they are harder to let go, sure, but employers have a lot more leeway to make your job hellish enough to force a resignation, or if the economy is really bad overall they can throw their hands up and say we're cutting divisions of the business with no objections from the law in most places. sure you can go to your work council (hope they are on your side) about it, or to the union (hope they have time for you and you're lucky enough to have enough evidence to win the tribunal) or the lawyer (hope you have a legal assistance insurance and are ready for years of process and fees). employees without a savings buffer are similarly vulnerable in these circumstances
the biggest reason to stay an employee if you can consult instead where I am is really the unemployment benefits you can get, but that now takes up to 10 months to actually start paying out due to how understaffed the government is. so again, best have some reserves. the next biggest reason is you hate paperwork
Self-employed, running https://buttondown.email as a solo founder. (My day generally looks like — 30% engineering, 40% onboarding + support, 10% marketing, 20% operations.) It was a profitable nights-and-weekends project from 2017—2022; took it full-time in 2022. I think the thing that I would say about self-employment is that people understate the day-to-day flexibility and overstate the month-to-month flexibility.…
Bookmarked for when I do need it!