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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?

#71

Post by wkirby »

Self-employed for 10 years now as the co-runner of Apsis Labs (https://apsis.io); we're a software development agency with a focus on healthcare technology and HIPAA compliance.

After a decade of building products for clients, we've recently launched our own bootstrapped SaaS offering: https://reamdocs.com --- the contract management platform we've built in-house to manage our services business for the last 5 years.

That all pays the bills, but what sustains me is my time outside of work: my family, my hobbies, my cat. Joys which I have time for because self-employment has allowed me to set my own hours, walk away from toxic clients, and freedom to do what is interesting on any given day.

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

#72

Post by jacquesm »

8organicbits wrote: post #56

This question could work well as a poll, which is an infrequently used HN feature: https://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll

It's infrequently used because poll votes don't count as upvotes for the poll, which they really should. And is probably my longest standing RFI for HN.

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

#73

Post by KptMarchewa »

knallfrosch wrote: post #54
lqet wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you earn enough, the savings can easily surpass the risk for a singular person.

It's worse for society overall, but let's not pretend the high earners don't mostly subsidize the safety net.

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

#74

Post by poisonborz »

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…

My home country also regulates this scenario - one-man companies with ~single client - for businesses strongly. This is hidden employment. How would it be beneficial to anyone?

- the subcontractor doesn't get any social security. Has to provide everything for himself from the private sector. And pensions (however meager). Theoretically he's free to have multiple clients or vary prices but I guess for most this is a pipe dream and they are dependent. For some tax dodging he gives up the whole legal safety net of being employed. Based on your contract you are freely exchangeable.

- the contracting company has more freedoms with getting/tossing employees, although loses a safety net of subcontractor suddenly leaving or changing prices.

- the government loses oversight of actual corporate structures.

Instead of fixing the flaws in the social system, hidden employment just throws it in the bin because haha less taxes, more money and freedom.

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

#75

Post by tj_astro »

I'm about to wrap up my 3rd year as a one-person company (https://www.exaresearch.com) specializing in spacecraft flight dynamics and space situtational awareness (SSA). I basically do custom orbit determination things. Super fun. I spent 30+ years in the business before going out on my own. It's going great, primarily because I have a large network in a niche field.

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

#76

Post by philip1209 »

kgdiem wrote: post #57
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.

Thanks! I'm trying to do more essay writing there [1]. Most indie makers seem to have some content strategy where they share their story. I avoid social media and don't desire to become a Youtuber, so I'm focusing on writing as a content channel. I'm focusing essays on my creative process, inspiration, and specific experiences as an operator - the stuff I want to read. I'm avoiding prospective predictions about the future, being negative (an actual self-imposed rule), and talking about things that feel more like theory than practice.

The next piece I plan to publish tomorrow will be a recap of a talk I gave over the weekend, covering how most of our knowledge work practices come from factories, and ways software engineers are at the forefront of changing those industrial-era practices.

P.S. - if you're ever in NYC, come join for a dinner of Dimes Square Ventures [2], which is a little community I run for local indie makers (using Booklet!)

[1] https://contraption.co/essays

[2] https://dimessquareventures.com

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

#77

Post by demondemidi »

I was self employed from 2009 to 2018. I was an embedded programmer / debugger and I had two major sources of income debugging engineering development boards for two boutique companies. I got the first gig from a friend who worked at one, the second by spamming the embedded world conference, and a handful more through linkedin. I couldn’t really travel because I needed a lab with test equipment. But I did double my previous salary north of 200k and I worked as much or as little as needed. It ended up being an average 40hr work week overall. The one thing I missed out on was equity. A decade without bonuses, RSUs, or options really set me back compared to my peers. Plus I hated having to stress about finding new contracts or if I was going to get cut loose. Finally I quit and went back to a big employer and I’m much happier to not have that financial stress and to have equity again.

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

#78

Post by lifestyleguru »

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…

> Being self employed, but only for a single customer, is false self-employment

This is exactly what happens in Poland and everyone involved feels very smart for cheating the system. That's also why software from Poland is such a tacky crap despite so many "talents". The software professionals have no leverage to push back, they only can walk away. The irresistibile benefit is that one can write off buying a car into operating costs, so the dream of PREMIUM GERMAN CAR prevails over doing anything creative.

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

#79

Post by V-2 »

KptMarchewa wrote: post #73
knallfrosch wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you earn enough, the savings can easily surpass the risk for a singular person. It's worse for society overall, but let's not pretend the high earners don't mostly subsidize the safety net.

The IT sector in Poland (again) is a booming one, and most of the services are effectively exported, as we're talking outsourcing.

I guess it translates into the lack of political will to curb the practice, too, as the government would risk that self-employed programmers (and whatnot) may not fall in line, but mostly log out of the system instead, registering their companies abroad, for example. I guess the government isn't eager to start this cat-and-mouse game, preferring a smaller slice of a bigger pie.

There are even some extra incentives on the top of the flat income tax rate (which is an option for all one-man companies, regardless of the sector)...

Like the "IP Box" tax relief, which drives the income tax rate from the regular 19% all the way down to 5%, as long as you get your services classified as "research and development". It takes some patience and loads of legal paperwork, which you obviously have to pay for (the latter, that is), but it's well worth it in the end.

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

#80

Post by davidpolberger »

jacquesm wrote: post #66
davidpolberger wrote: post #38

I have been self-employed since 2008, when I quit my job in software engineering to go all-in on my software business (that dated from 2003). That failed spectacularly, because I only focused on technology and not on the value I was creating, and with few customers, I had to do on-site contracting for more than a year before going on full-time parental leave. I then rebooted my software project, launched a landing si…

That's some very impressive stamina and it must have been really hard at times.

Thanks, it certainly has been. After only a couple of years in the software industry proper, though, I felt I had seen all I needed to see. Crunch time. Arbitrary, ill-informed management decisions. Management who didn't believe in the product the team was passionate about. Products canceled through no fault of anyone working on it. Office politics and bickering.

With my own business, I gain agency. If the product fails, it's because I failed to market it properly, or the product vision was bad and did not resonate with enough customers, or because I failed to execute on that vision. When all the decisions are out of your hands, and you can't even see what prompted them, they can feel capricious and arbitrary.

With my own business, I am in control. I don't have one boss, I have hundreds of them. And as long as I continue to provide them with value, I get to continue doing what I'm doing. I like those terms.

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