391–400 of 446 posts
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…
huh! that's awesome, personally - this is a very inspiring bio.
I went from full time employment to freelancing in 2010 or so. I wouldn't do that again. Freelancing is the worst parts of a full time job and the worst parts of entrepreneurship combined in retrospect. 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. :)
> ... I then founded a software services company where I currently work and grew it. Does it mean it's around your software product, or it's some sort of agency?
I've been self employed for 3 years now. I help companies get started with machine learning. ChatGPT is the best marketing for me: everyone and their dog wants ML because of ChatGPT. I do advisory work and development too.
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How do you manage? I have difficult managing two clients. How do you switch context, and make sure your are fairly distributing time and focus for each client, while not getting overwhelmed. My psychiatrist suspected ADHD, so probably that's why context switching is difficult for me. How do you make yourself to stay on the task and meet deadlines?
Two consecutive days for a customer, tree days for the other one. Ideally it would be 2+2 and 3 free days but it's difficult to find a new customer that is happy with only 2 days. Anyway, yes context switching can be a problem. That's why those days must be consecutive. Furthermore, I write down in a text file a few lines about what I did every day and how many hours I spent. My file goes back to October 2012. That's…
I am trying to write things down for the last few days, before it was Zim (It's still my core knowledge base), I feel I enjoy writing more than typing to note things.
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Do you do paid appraisals of collections?
Yes! And free appraisals if the collection is for sale and I can have an opportunity to make an offer :) It's a balance of time investment for me. If I know someone has no intention of selling and just needs an insurance appraisal, then that would be a paid service since I'm simply selling my time and expertise (which I'm more than happy to do). If there's an opportunity for me to purchase the collection, I'll usuall…
I mean if you're paid for the appraisal then there's no incentive for your number not to be honest.
On the other hand if you are valuer, then buyer, then it pays you to err on the low side. Not "wrong", just "low".
I don't mean to impinge your ethics of course, but as a model (which I'm sure the whole industry follows) it seems to leave the seller open to abuse from folks with imperfect motivations.
To be sure though, I can't suggest a better alternative. The best people to value it are dealers. Short of more-or-less auctioning it to multiple dealers at the same time.
I think this is true for most collectibles. And especially true for the collections of those who have passed. My suggestion to any collector is for them to sell it themselves before they die.
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That's exactly how it goes though. You put something together on an idle Tuesday evening and you end up as the person running a 30 people company if you're not very careful about it. Success has a massive price tag.
Thanks for fueling my success anxiety.
Here's to hoping you succeed. The thing I messed up: personal relationships due to business success.
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If you're comfortable answering, I'd be SUPER interested to know how the income compares to tech!
If I may give you a somewhat indirect answer: One of the best things about this business is it returns proportionate to the effort you put in. I know people working with $50k in capital who make $500k a year. I also know people with $1m in capital who make $100k a year. (And I know people with $50k in capital making $50k a year). And at the extreme: I know one high-volume wholesale dealer (who's been doing this for d…
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 i…
The first tip about being self-employed is funny and telling: > 1. Live simply and reduce expenses. Avoid debt if you can. Rice and beans recipe: Some people can make really good money self-employed, but for the rest of us (including myself), salaried employment would've been much easier. Also, a period of lower income will keep paying negative dividends afterwards, because it's expensive to be poor. There might also…
And those are the good bits...
On the other hand you are more in control. You decide what to work on, and when. You decide how many zoom meetings to have (well, sort of.) You won't be laid off (although you might not get paid.) There's no office politics, and no boss to get jn your way.
Sure it can end up being financially rewarding, but a good job, with good investing, likely comes out ahead.