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The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

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Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#121

Post by zilian »

Blaiz0r wrote: post #108
zilian wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outsource this to a profiler/marketer to build yourself an identity Don't work under your name but create a brand even if it's just you ;)

This sounds like a really interesting idea, have you done this yourself or seen any good examples of it?

Yes, I know companies but do that very well, but they are in France and work only in French. Distinctive features to look for : small companies (2-3 is best for their focus on you, 10 max) but it's just my opinion. Once they grow, they tend to lose their initial verve. It doesn't seem to scale well.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#122

Post by balabaster »

mcv wrote: post #101
balabaster wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest problem for me was my (ex)spouse always pushing for billable hours. Every time I decided I wanted time off there was a constant nagging reminder and guilt of not only what it would cost to go and do what I want - for example cost of flights, accommodation, entertainment and food, but also the cost of the loss of income for that time off meaning that every time I was away from my keyboard it was costing me…

I'm happy I have neither this problem nor the ones in the article. I'm aware what my time is worth, but I'm also aware I'm making enough money that I don't have to worry about it. I'm extremely careless about money; not that I'm wasting it (the opposite, rather), but as long as there's money, I'm fine. When I have too much, I shovel it away to some place where it catches interest. I've got an accountant who worries a…

I'm normally rather careless with money too... I earn far more than I need to live quite comfortably on a normal basis, there's rarely a month where I spend anywhere close to what comes in. But when I do want something, I don't think twice about buying it.

Recently I've been shoveling it into a long term project that will hopefully pay dividends in the longer term, but the jury's presently out on whether that will actually come to fruition. Time will tell.

I agree, not everyone can afford to live as frivolous a lifestyle. I've been very fortunate to have had the choices and opportunities I have to be able to make headway. I try never to take that for granted, because it doesn't take too many wrong moves and you're the one trying to scrape your way to get above the poverty line again.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#123

Post by malvosenior »

balabaster wrote: post #98
josefresco wrote: post #41

"I went outside to get coffee and ran into three different neighbors who wanted to chit-chat. I wanted to scream, ‘For every word that comes out of your mouth, I’m losing money!" This is a statement from someone who either hasn't been freelancing that long, or who hasn't realized that "brain down time" is just as important as raw coding hours. I've worked "for myself" for almost 20 years and for the first 5 I too pan…

The biggest problem for me was my (ex)spouse always pushing for billable hours. Every time I decided I wanted time off there was a constant nagging reminder and guilt of not only what it would cost to go and do what I want - for example cost of flights, accommodation, entertainment and food, but also the cost of the loss of income for that time off meaning that every time I was away from my keyboard it was costing me…

Whether you're freelancing or doing a startup, it's critical to have your spouse's support. Entrepreneurship is extremely difficult and if you're in a serious relationship, the other partner has to be ok with the ups and downs. In my experience, few are. I've seen numerous early stage startups fail when the spouse of one of the co-founders pulls the plug.

The difficulty in achieving this over a long period of time is one of the things that makes the founder's over sized equity stake make a lot more sense. You're literally putting your relationships on the line to make your company work.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#124

Post by photoguy112 »

ajlburke wrote: post #86
photoguy112 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you use to make a subscription invoice? Stripe? Or another platform integrated with Stripe? I am curious how you transitioned into a product. How did you validate your product?

Freshbooks and Wave both offer repeatable invoices - I'm sure other invoicing/bookkeeping services do as well. I "Flintstoned" my small SAAS with automated monthly Freshbooks invoices until I had the time and money to get Stripe properly integrated. It meant we could get paying customers from day one with one less programming/integration headache to worry about.

Thank you! This whole time I didn't realize Freshbooks allows you to create recurring invoices that let people save their cc details. Doh!

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#125

Post by YayamiOmate »

dsr_ wrote: post #89
UweSchmidt wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have invented money, but what is 1000$ really and how can I tell if I can afford something that costs 1000$? Because I get a loan for 1000$? Because I have 1001$ in my account? What is a fair price for a phone anyway, and how am I influenced by marketing and by the people around me, by emotions? Equating time to money is just a small start for 'feeling' the true cost of an expense, and is just a small part of unde…

What is $1000? It's an entire month of work at minimum wage in the USA after taxes. It's about two weeks of minimum wage work in Australia. It's a year of minimum wage work for the government in Afghanistan. It's less than a week of after-tax wages for an average US welder or a Massachusetts high school teacher. It's two weeks of after-tax wages for a high school teacher in Oklahoma. It's the monthly rent of a two be…

That only tells you whether minimum wage people can afford things. What does it matter to me if some folk have to work for a week for a premium steak?

Why would a football player care that he earns in a day yearly wage?

People buy things based on whether they themselves can afford it, not others. It's nice to appreciate your wealth compared to others but i doubt if anyone makes purchase decisions based on other people salary.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#126

Post by balabaster »

malvosenior wrote: post #123
balabaster wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest problem for me was my (ex)spouse always pushing for billable hours. Every time I decided I wanted time off there was a constant nagging reminder and guilt of not only what it would cost to go and do what I want - for example cost of flights, accommodation, entertainment and food, but also the cost of the loss of income for that time off meaning that every time I was away from my keyboard it was costing me…

Whether you're freelancing or doing a startup, it's critical to have your spouse's support. Entrepreneurship is extremely difficult and if you're in a serious relationship, the other partner has to be ok with the ups and downs. In my experience, few are. I've seen numerous early stage startups fail when the spouse of one of the co-founders pulls the plug. The difficulty in achieving this over a long period of time is…

They not only have to be onboard and be supportive, but they need to understand what it takes, the risks that are going to come up, the fine line that needs to be walked to balance your success, your mental health and your relationship. They need to really understand that and be capable of rolling with it.

Entrepreneurship takes a heavy toll on relationships, and I think honestly, her lack of ability to cope with the stress had a heavy influence on my ability to cope with the stress. If it had been just me with my own thoughts, my resolve and resilience would've been far stronger. Having to balance the needs of your partner makes tough and potentially risky choices ten times harder.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#127

Post by scottlocklin »

nickdandakis wrote: post #116
HenryBemis wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If one lives a modest life (no Ferraris/Great-Gatsby-parties), on a sensible financial management, one can have north of £/€/$1m on the side, in one decade(speaking for UK/EU/USA)(for contracts on IT/IT Sec/GRC/PM.

I think the vast majority of people would find it incredibly difficult to save ~7.5k per month for 10 years (assuming an annually compound savings interest of 2.2%), to hit 1M. That type of savings goes beyond "no Ferraris/Great-Gatsby-parties".

Depends. If you have a SEP-IRA, half of that is pre-tax. If you've optimized your location away from California/New York on a normal tech billing regime (2x salary, maybe 3/4 the billable hours), you're almost there on tax savings alone; let alone housing expenses.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#128

Post by newroman »

nickdandakis wrote: post #116
HenryBemis wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If one lives a modest life (no Ferraris/Great-Gatsby-parties), on a sensible financial management, one can have north of £/€/$1m on the side, in one decade(speaking for UK/EU/USA)(for contracts on IT/IT Sec/GRC/PM.

I think the vast majority of people would find it incredibly difficult to save ~7.5k per month for 10 years (assuming an annually compound savings interest of 2.2%), to hit 1M. That type of savings goes beyond "no Ferraris/Great-Gatsby-parties".

you done goofed if you're saving at 2.2%, he means investing in the S&P500 or the likes

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#129

Post by celeritascelery »

shhehebehdh wrote: post #55
dsr_ wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A thousand dollar phone is a thousand dollars; we invented money in order to have a universal metric of value when comparing things like "working in the fields", "bucket of nails" and "cuckoo clock". These days, most people, most of the time, can't decide to work 20 hours more in order to afford a new thingy. If you're on salary, that's it. If you're an hourly worker with your hours assigned by management, that's it.…

You can’t directly increase your income by working one more hour if you are salaried . But you can certainly affect your growth trajectory by working harder/longer/smarter. You trade the marginal hour in a way that has a lagging, probabilistic increase on your salary.

> working harder/longer/smarter. You trade the marginal hour in a way that has a lagging, probabilistic increase on your salary.

I feel like that has a really poor ROI when you look at from a time spent perspective. The amount of extra hours/effort you have to put in to get a small increase chance of a promotion seems a very bad trade. Obviously I don’t have any data to back that up, but I feel that a lot of people invest a lot of effort for a minuscule chance of improved future income.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#130

Post by robterrin »

zilian wrote: post #92
mancerayder wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freelancing can be highly stressful and demoralizing, unless you take the steps to go into consulting or beyond. It's a ladder, just like your corporate gig, you gotta do the work to move up or suffer where you are stuck. I have one sticking point I'd love to hear what the HN crowd does to deal with it. I'm freelancing and I find gigs that are long-term via recruiters / LinkedIn. And never directly with companies. Wh…

Outsource this to a profiler/marketer to build yourself an identity Don't work under your name but create a brand even if it's just you ;)

Can somebody recommend a person or company that they like for this task? I have a company brand, good enough customer flow to stay afloat, but extra hours I could put towards more work.

We offer cybersecurity services and due diligence for financial institutions, healthcare and acquirers, so it's a pretty specialized target market.

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