Agree with thomaspaine. I'm freelancer and working on others projects takes most of my time
Ask HN: So I quit my job to focus on my startup...
31–40 of 50 posts
Re: Ask HN: So I quit my job to focus on my startup...
#32If you actually want to make your startup work, avoid freelancing. It's way too easy to get sucked into spending all of your time consulting, and it's pretty difficult to be fully mentally engaged in multiple projects. Also, the hardest part of freelancing is when you're just starting out. If you don't already have clients or a reputation, you'll spend all of your time trying to find clients and bidding on projects.…
This is my general opinion regarding freelancing as well; I have every intention of building a product company and no interest in "consulting". Would you say, if worse comes to worst, it's better to get a 'day-job' outside of the field than to pursue contact/freelance gigs coding? If freelancing too much of a distraction to pursue at all?
Re: Ask HN: So I quit my job to focus on my startup...
#33You're fucked. The first principle of negotiation is to always have a better option.
Actually the first principle of negotiation is to make the other person THINK you have a better option. :)
yes, but there is a lot of psychology involved. if you're in a needy position, it will be difficult to fake it. and experienced negotiators will catch your BS pretty qucikly.
Re: Ask HN: So I quit my job to focus on my startup...
#34I once asked a very good negotiator for the best book he could recommend on negotiation, and he directed me to Start With No. (URL: http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2...)
I've read it, it made sense to me, I've noticed a number of good negotiators doing things it suggests and my (admittedly few) negotiations I've done since have gone much better.
Re: Ask HN: So I quit my job to focus on my startup...
#35I am surprised at the negative responses you've received in the last ten minutes of posting this, it is very much against the spirit of what usually occurs. 1) The book that I've seen mentioned the most often in the area of negotiation is not actually directly on that topic. It is just a general book on "getting it your way" - Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people". 2) I am in NYC, there are local…
Thanks Yuri! I appreciate your support, or at least constructive evaluation :) I'm familiar with the book - I'll give it a go. As for my areas, mostly I'm finding people looking for full-time deals related to hadoop/hbase/lucene. Thanks for the reminder though, I'll look "harder".
You can also read "How to get Rich" by Dennis Felix
Re: Ask HN: So I quit my job to focus on my startup...
#36"Who can recommend good books/articles on negotiation?" The best book on negotiation, bar none, is "Bargaining for Advantage : Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People" By Richard Shell. http://www.amazon.com/Bargaining-Advantage-Negotiation-Strat... (looks like it is out of print, but used copies seem cheap enough)
To the OP: Seriously, if there is one book you are going to read on negotiation, make it this one. The things you learn using this book can be put to use.
Re: Ask HN: So I quit my job to focus on my startup...
#37I once asked a very good negotiator for the best book he could recommend on negotiation, and he directed me to Start With No . (URL: http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2... ) I've read it, it made sense to me, I've noticed a number of good negotiators doing things it suggests and my (admittedly few) negotiations I've done since have gone much better.
Ben, you should give this a read "Bargaining for Advantage : Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People" By Richard Shell - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=921079
Re: Ask HN: So I quit my job to focus on my startup...
#38Negotiation is about getting a good deal that both sides feel is of value to them.
Re: Ask HN: So I quit my job to focus on my startup...
#39one of the regulars here posted an awesome guide about freelancing. i would look it up but i'm going to grab a beer instead =)
This is probably what you're talking about: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=848370
If not, it's good anyway.
Re: Ask HN: So I quit my job to focus on my startup...
#40For starters, I'd recommend 'How to win friends and influence people' by Dale Caregie and 'How to talk to anyone' by Leil Lowndes. Freelancing to pay bills also turns out to be a big distraction. I'd recommend exploring other creative ways that don't take your focus off of your startup to pay (or avoid) your bills.
I second the Leil Lowndes.
Thirded. "How to Talk To Anyone" is an excellent book. I need to read it again though as there are so many things to remember :-)