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Ask HN: How many of you are self employed?

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Re: Ask HN: How many of you are self employed?

#241

Post by plants »

darajava wrote: post #129

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.

This is such a good idea, I wish I’d thought of it. I have trouble maintaining consistency in journaling, but this makes it a heck of a lot easier. I just signed up - good luck!

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are self employed?

#242

Post by gwbas1c »

Not currently self-employed, but I've been a "self-employed" contractor in the past.

In case it was because the "client" wanted a temp, but the contract lasted longer than what, IMO, was appropriate. I was early-career, and the "client" really wanted to treat me as an employee.

In the second case the employer had a limited budget and we agreed on contract-to-hire. 18 months went by and I eventually had to really twist their arm to bring me on full-time. (They were treating me like an employee.)

Anyway, contracting (as a self-employed consultant)'s great if you like that kind of thing and are prepared to incorporate to take advantage of tax laws; but if you want to be an employee, it's annoying.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are self employed?

#243

Post by jborden13 »

I've been self-employed since 2006. Started my last company in 2008. Bootstrapped and grew that over 12 years and sold it to private equity. Private equity mismanaged the rollup they assembled and lost 95% of the value in the companies.

Now I find myself middling between looking for steady/normal work and trying to stand up my new project, https://getspence.ai (landing page gets a revamp this week). I never expected trying to find steady/normal work as an exited entrepreneur to be so difficult. There are so many square holes and I often feel like a round peg.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are self employed?

#244

Post by wordpad25 »

teuobk wrote: post #239

Yup, self-employed embedded firmware and hardware engineer. I mostly consult on things like wearable sensors (especially class 2 and class 3 medical devices) and industrial control systems. I also have a bit of an odd niche in phosphorescence-measurement instruments for research and practical applications. The closer to the metal, the better! The tighter the power requirements, the better! The more connected, the bet…

Is compensation competitive compared to working for Intel or something? Do you make 150 hourly?

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are self employed?

#245

Post by jwithington »

nlh wrote: post #217

Currently self-employed as a.....rare coin dealer! Odd path for a tech nerd hacker like me, but certainly the most fun thing I've ever done with no plans to change this gig ever. My backstory: Collected coins as a kiddo, took a 35-year detour into startup land: Started a VC-backed Web 1.0 company from 1999-2002, ran a non-tech company for ~10 years, then 2014-2022 did very traditional early stage tech product managem…

how specific is the hobby? are folks generalist collectors or do people go deep on a specific region/period?

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are self employed?

#246

Post by bobobob420 »

belinder wrote: post #120
fredsted wrote: post #104

I've been working on https://webhook.site since 2016 when I posted it here on HN. In fall 2023, I quit my job to work on it full time, and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. I have around 1400 subscribers, which is enough to pay myself a good salary. I've not done any funding or marketing so far.

This looks really useful, I've used similar websites in the past but it's nice that it's all together here in one place. If only you could not have it redirect on load, it makes the back button break. Clicking back to return to hackernews is almost impossible

Ctrl/cmd click back button

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are self employed?

#247

Post by hypertexthero »

Self-employed on and off as a graphic and web design consultant since 2005 or so, with some time in offices, making websites with static generators, PHP/WordPress, and Python/Django, and print work with pencil, ink, paper, and graphics apps.

Tips:

1. Live simply and reduce expenses. Avoid debt if you can. Rice and beans recipe: https://hypertexthero.com/eat-play-read/

2. Try to be nice to other nice people and stay in touch with past co-workers, especially the nicest ones. They make the best bosses or clients later. Don’t burn bridges unless there is no other option.

3. Always be working on a project for yourself that you enjoy and can learn new skills from. If the project could be useful for others, clean it up a bit and share it.

4. Use a paper weekly planner and write down things to do and cross them out when they’re done. Write ideas and things to look up here. Have a drawer or cardboard box in which you throw pieces of paper with ideas written on them. Open the drawer and pick a random piece of paper when feeling stuck.

5. Look in the mirror now and again and ask yourself if you are happy with the upcoming day. If there are too many days in a row when you’re not, time to change, move, etc.

More: https://hypertexthero.com/reignite-passion/

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are self employed?

#248

Post by geocrasher »

defulmere wrote: post #230

Currently self-employed with a web hosting company started with some former colleagues when the company we used to work for was bought out and shut down. We were fortunate to be included in a list of alternate providers that the old company gave to their customers and had an early influx of a couple thousand customers. As a result we've got a ton of customers who we've been working with for 16+ years. I handle the cu…

Greetings from another web hosting junkie! 25 years in the business this year.
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