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Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

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Re: Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

#31

Post by ryanwaggoner »

rwhitman wrote: post #4

Yup. Everything he says is true. I've been self employed for 10 years and it never gets easier. I'd even say it gets harder every year. And I don't have a family or a mortgage to deal with, I can't even fathom trying to support a family as a freelancer. Oh and try applying for a job after only ever being self-employed. That one is fun

What? What kind of freelance do you do? I've been doing this for just over three years and it's gotten easier every year. I can't imagine going back to a job, though I get offers every week (literally). Just curious why my experience is polar opposite yours :-/

Re: Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

#32

Post by ryanwaggoner »

nadam wrote: post #27
josefresco wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wait until that startup starts feeling like a real job. Then come back and comment on how different it is. Personally I have found working for myself to be quite different then doing the same thing for someone else. I have to find the work, I collect 100% of the revenue and as a result the preverbal buck stops at my desk. I sleep well.

I don't know, maybe the problem is that my perception on freelancing is based on a non representative sample: For example I've browsed rentacoder.com for a while: my impression was that the market is extremely saturated, most of the tasks are quite boring, time consuming, low-payed and not much fun. Did not seem to be better than a day job. Being a well-recognized, top freelancer with special skills and good connecti…

Rentacoder and elance are the absolute worst places a decent freelancer should look for work. Even craigslist is head and shoulders above them. I've found lots of $75 - 100 / hr gigs on Craigslist, but they'd laugh me out of Rentacoder for those rates.

Re: Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

#33

Post by ziweb »

edw519 wrote: post #24

OP has a big problem and it's not freelancing. Just look at what he has written... He talks about his office, his coffee, his pants, his computer, his commute, even his tax deductions. He talks about what he can do, what he wants to do, how he can structure his day, what he feels like, how he'd like to feel. He talks about everything except his customers. I don't care if you're a freelancer, a consultant, an employee…

Seriously, that was an awesome take on freelance. I read a lot of these "how freelance is like," type of articles, and they're mostly focused on the freelancer not the work.

But I think he's just writing for that audience. The question isn't how can I be a successful freelancer, but how will my life be different if I choose to freelance. That's probably what most of his readers are looking for.

Re: Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

#34

Post by jrwoodruff »

edw519 wrote: post #24

OP has a big problem and it's not freelancing. Just look at what he has written... He talks about his office, his coffee, his pants, his computer, his commute, even his tax deductions. He talks about what he can do, what he wants to do, how he can structure his day, what he feels like, how he'd like to feel. He talks about everything except his customers. I don't care if you're a freelancer, a consultant, an employee…

Geez, it was a light-hearted glimpse into the difficulties of freelancing. Not a tutorial, a how-to or documentary, just a slice of what daily life is like as a freelancer. Dry spells, unpaid 'vacation', no clocking out.

I for one enjoyed it.

Re: Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

#35

Post by tocomment »

jacquesm wrote: post #9

> All life is work So better make sure you enjoy your work! Otherwise doing more of it is going to make you feel miserable. Just like there are employees that are unhappy in their jobs because of the nature of the job so it happens that in freelancing if you don't like your job you're going to feel bad. Especially if you are doing more of it... > The hunter lives in a hard world Yes, but when you are kicked out, laid…

What are some ways to get 20/day of passive income?

Re: Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

#36

Post by Tichy »

edw519 wrote: post #24

OP has a big problem and it's not freelancing. Just look at what he has written... He talks about his office, his coffee, his pants, his computer, his commute, even his tax deductions. He talks about what he can do, what he wants to do, how he can structure his day, what he feels like, how he'd like to feel. He talks about everything except his customers. I don't care if you're a freelancer, a consultant, an employee…

I must admit, I can not even parse what you are trying to say. I am not a customer satisfaction machine. Is it really outrageous for a human being to be concerned about one's own happiness?

Re: Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

#37

Post by fierarul »

jacquesm wrote: post #23
fierarul wrote: post #2

A must read for any would-be freelancer. Freelancing doesn't mean just sitting in a Starbucks with your MacBook Pro.

Neither is it a litany of misery.

I didn't see it that way. It was a bit negative but in a relaxed manner. I certainly didn't read it as a litany of misery. If you also read the comments you might find yourself laughing a bit or at least finding common patterns with your own experiences.

The reason I've said people should read stuff like this is because I see too much accent being put on the positive side of freelancing / startups and very little on the hard part.

Re: Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

#38

Post by gaius »

zavulon wrote: post #22
listic wrote: post #18

It's not the first time that I hear health insurance mentioned in stories I read on Hacker News. As a person living far away from USA I'm afraid I'm not getting the situation, and they don't seem to write about this sort of stuff often on the Net - because that's the way things are, except I think they are different in different countries. For example, here in Russia every citizen including unemployed (which I am now…

(I'm also from Russia) The doctors here are much better and don't need "motivation" in a Russian sense of this word.. They will give you their best treatment, if you have insurance. For this reason, insurance here is very expensive. There's a lot of poor people here that don't have any kind of insurance. The cheapest insurance in NY, for example is ~ $300/m, but you also pay up a large amount if you require serious t…

To buy the same insurance that I used to have when worked for a financial company here would be $500-600/month.

To put that in perspective, I pay a comparable amount of National Insurance every month in the UK, deducted from salary.

No such thing as "free healthcare".

Re: Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

#39

Post by Encosia »

nadam wrote: post #19
Encosia wrote: post #6

I'm an independent consultant. I live within my means and never worry about money, much less have cash flow problems. Considering I get to do what I love in the process, every day is like Christmas when I put it in perspective. I have health insurance. It's actually cheaper than what my contribution was the last time I had it "provided" as a benefit, for about the same coverage. Being part of a big risk pool is nice,…

"If you don't make time, you'll never have time. The author seems to be falling into the all-too-common trap of equating long hours with productivity." Not necessarily. It probably depends on the market you are in. The author is a writer: maybe it is a bit harder for him than for a software consultant: maybe he has to work more to earn enough money. Also I have a freelancer friend who is very productive just somehow…

For what it's worth, paid writing projects are a non-trivial portion of my income. I've found time management and hard negotiation to be even more important in that area than in software development.

Re: Want To Be A Freelancer? Just Punch Yourself In The Face, Instead

#40

Post by jamii »

gaius wrote: post #38
zavulon wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I'm also from Russia) The doctors here are much better and don't need "motivation" in a Russian sense of this word.. They will give you their best treatment, if you have insurance. For this reason, insurance here is very expensive. There's a lot of poor people here that don't have any kind of insurance. The cheapest insurance in NY, for example is ~ $300/m, but you also pay up a large amount if you require serious t…

To buy the same insurance that I used to have when worked for a financial company here would be $500-600/month. To put that in perspective, I pay a comparable amount of National Insurance every month in the UK, deducted from salary. No such thing as "free healthcare".

If you're employed your national insurance also includes a large contribution to your state pension. Since I'm self-employed I only pay for healthcare at £32 per month. That's pretty cheap compared to the US.
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