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I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

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Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#41

Post by allthecybers »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #35

Warning: bit of a rant ahead. I’m currently on the path to a principal-level role at my company. I really don’t know what I think about it. The jump from lead to principal is a big one in terms of workload and stress, and I’ve been told the pay difference isn’t huge. Older I get, the less I care to ascend the ladder. Even at this point I’m doing it out of a sense of amassing status in case I need it, rather than bein…

I wrestle with this frequently as I am on the cusp of Senior to Principal promotion. Principal means more money but diverting from my preferred sweet-spot of tactical and strategic technical leadership.

The optimal answer for me is to stay at Senior level and enjoy my work to an extent. But I am forgoing the related compensation increase and career progression.

Then my thoughts turn to working for myself or with other friends/associates I trust and potentially seeing more of a reward for the effort I put in every day.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#42

Post by mattgreenrocks »

plugin-baby wrote: post #39
mattgreenrocks wrote: post #35

Warning: bit of a rant ahead. I’m currently on the path to a principal-level role at my company. I really don’t know what I think about it. The jump from lead to principal is a big one in terms of workload and stress, and I’ve been told the pay difference isn’t huge. Older I get, the less I care to ascend the ladder. Even at this point I’m doing it out of a sense of amassing status in case I need it, rather than bein…

Good luck with the new role! I’m surprised you’ve shared this rant non-anonymously, I hope it doesn’t have negative effect on your progress.

Everything that's supposed to happen will happen. If this mini-rant damages my prospects, then I wouldn't last long at this level anyway.

Nice name, btw. Classic song, still!

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#44

Post by pxue »

mylons wrote: post #32
pxue wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100k: - network 200k: - high signaled / luke warm outbound on dev communities (YC work at a startup job board is one) - referrals 300k++: - dedicated outbound tech sale person

you hired a sales person? can you elaborate on that?

Yeah.

I have a dedicated outbound sales person who pings their network for referrals every few weeks. Their job is to weed out noise + educate + convert hourly to project based billing

Went into a lot of detail on Reddit a couple years back here

https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/ommiww/commen...

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#46

Post by doctorhandshake »

devjab wrote: post #29
xwdv wrote: post #10

Can someone explain what the appeal of solo freelancing is in the age of bountiful remote work? My typical day as a remote worker is not that different from the one described: a couple hours of work per day and mostly leisure the rest of the time. And I probably still make more money than a freelancer. Consistently too. Is chasing down new clients all the time and working on multiple projects really that desirable to…

Unless you’re ridiculously well paid I think you’re considerably underestimating what many independent contractors end up earning. I can only speak about my anecdotal network but everyone that I know who went the independent contractor road is making around a million or more a year. They didn’t start out like that, and I’m not sure how easy the road would be in the current economy, but the people who started out 10-1…

What industry is this where all of the ICs you know are making a million or more?

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#47

Post by freitzkriesler2 »

delfinom wrote: post #22
freitzkriesler2 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upwork. Solely up work.

Wow, I tried upwork but it generally always seems to be entities in significantly cheaper countries underbidding everything. How did you get started to snap up your first jobs on it?

I didn't nor do I use Upwork. I'm just saying what the reality is.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#48

Post by Nextgrid »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #35

Warning: bit of a rant ahead. I’m currently on the path to a principal-level role at my company. I really don’t know what I think about it. The jump from lead to principal is a big one in terms of workload and stress, and I’ve been told the pay difference isn’t huge. Older I get, the less I care to ascend the ladder. Even at this point I’m doing it out of a sense of amassing status in case I need it, rather than bein…

In some countries it doesn't make sense to transition to higher positions because the taxation will eat up a large chunk of the salary increase, so you end up with significant increases in workload/responsibility but only a slight increase in net pay.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#49

Post by erhaetherth »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #35

Warning: bit of a rant ahead. I’m currently on the path to a principal-level role at my company. I really don’t know what I think about it. The jump from lead to principal is a big one in terms of workload and stress, and I’ve been told the pay difference isn’t huge. Older I get, the less I care to ascend the ladder. Even at this point I’m doing it out of a sense of amassing status in case I need it, rather than bein…

You don't have to rise the ranks. I'm still debating if I should go for a 'senior' role. I've been programming for over 20 years. I was a "senior" in my last job but now I'm just a regular SWE. I get paid well enough and I get enough respect. Do I need more stress/responsibility? Probably not. Mostly I just don't want more pointless meetings.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#50

Post by Nextgrid »

k8sToGo wrote: post #45

I would love to try out being an independent contractor. But I feel overwhelmed. Where do I even start to find work?

A starting point could be to target contractor positions posted by companies and/or recruitment agencies. Those are sometimes really close to permanent employment (except the job security and employee-specific perks) but will at least get you started in the game.

Be mindful of laws around disguised employment with those types of engagements. You need to make sure you are in the clear legally by paying the appropriate amount of tax for your given situation (in the UK the regulation is called "IR35" and tries to specify what falls under a legitimate B2B arrangement and what counts as "disguised employment" and incurs taxation equivalent to conventional employment).

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