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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?

#51

Post by lqet »

V-2 wrote: post #46

In Poland, where I'm from, it's pretty much the norm to be self-employed in Poland in the IT sector. I believe that around 50% of workers are technically contracted one-man companies, and this percentage is inversely correlated with the seniority level - the greater the earnings (and the sense of job security that goes along with expertise and experience), the greater the incentive. Going B2B makes a substantial diff…

This would be quite risky where I am from, for both the freelancer and the employer. Being self employed, but only for a single customer, is false self-employment. If you get caught, your employer has to pay taxes and social security contributions retroactively for up to 4 years, and afaik both the employer and the freelancer are liable for the money owed to the tax office and social securities. If you are caught doing this premeditated, it might be a criminal offence.

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

#52

Post by jessegrosjean »

I've been self employed at Hog Bay Software [1] since 2004. I mostly build Mac apps. A few years I did some consulting. A few other years I worked with some other people, but generally it's been just me the whole time.

> Curious to know what sustains people.

It allows me to work on what I am interested in, for me that's the key. For whatever reason I've decided that text productivity apps are really interesting, and worth my time to build. So that's what I do. It hasn't lead to great riches, but I wake up pretty much every day excited to work on what's next. Pretty fun!

[1] https://www.hogbaysoftware.com

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

#53

Post by docdeek »

I’m self employed for nearly five years now. Based in France, working mostly with software companies scaling up. I have been learning as I go and have managed to find some good ‘cornerstone’ clients that I have been working with regularly since I started. These are supplemented with shorter contracts and freelance work, anything from a one-off gig to a couple of months.

I set myself the goal of earning the same or better (after taxes) as what I was as a full time worker in the same sorts of companies I am now working in, and I’ve always managed that - plus I get many more hours in the week to spend with the family, I don’t have to travel constantly, and I can run every day without thinking too hard about how I am going to fit it in around sleep, family, work, and the rest of life.

I sometimes miss a few things about working in a ‘normal’ job in France (job security, sick leave, paid vacations) but the freedom to create my own schedule and fit work around life a lot of the time more than makes up for that.

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

#54

Post by knallfrosch »

lqet wrote: post #51
V-2 wrote: post #46

In Poland, where I'm from, it's pretty much the norm to be self-employed in Poland in the IT sector. I believe that around 50% of workers are technically contracted one-man companies, and this percentage is inversely correlated with the seniority level - the greater the earnings (and the sense of job security that goes along with expertise and experience), the greater the incentive. Going B2B makes a substantial diff…

This would be quite risky where I am from, for both the freelancer and the employer. Being self employed, but only for a single customer, is false self-employment. If you get caught, your employer has to pay taxes and social security contributions retroactively for up to 4 years, and afaik both the employer and the freelancer are liable for the money owed to the tax office and social securities. If you are caught doi…

If you're from a country like Germany, most of what you're skipping financially is the insurance cost that's covered by the employer (social security etc.) Which means you don't have access to the social safety in case you need it.

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

#55

Post by nprateem »

Yeah 10 years contracting now taking time off to build my own products. Currently focussing on developing my innovation pipeline to systematically evaluate products/opportunities to decide when to continue or abandon them.

Next job is idea generation, prioritisation and mockups of ones that pass the initial filter. Then the real work starts.

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

#57

Post by kgdiem »

philip1209 wrote: post #2

I've been self-employed for the last ~18 months. In the past I started two VC-backed startups, then was a PM at some later-stage companies before returning to entrepreneurship. This time around, I'm building a solo "digital product studio" [1] instead of a startup. So, I'm staying one person, haven't raised money, and have multiple revenue-generating products. Product revenue doesn't cover my costs yet, so I do occas…

Wow! I’m working on the same thing at https://stackstudio.dev right now. Your blog post was really eloquent, it’s always inspiring when someone else shares your idea. Best of luck.

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

#59

Post by ewuhic »

Doolwind wrote: post #45
ewuhic wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your experience with tiktok? How well does it perform in terms of attracting people to buy your stuff? Do videos besides plays on popular memes du jour do any good?

It’s been amazing. I’ve had about 30% of people that follow me join my Discord which is 10x higher than I expected. Meme videos do the best but a loyal fan base see and enjoys my regular dev style videos too. I do the same on Reels and Shorts with less success. But I enjoy learning which videos do better on each platform.

What tools do you use to edit your videos?
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