Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

thecut.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 254 posts

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#201

Post by system2 »

photoguy112 wrote: post #75
system2 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, the comment summarized all the stages we've been through. On top of the weekly invoices, I also created "subscription" invoices, which I charge automatically instead of waiting for invoices. It really was killing me last few years. I don't even want to check last year's lost invoices...

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?

I am using Stripe with a self-hosted CRM software I bought (slightly modified for other reasons, but not the payment module.)

Stripe alone can take care of it. Subscription or any type of recurring invoice system would be sufficient enough to stop collecting the check. Although, it comes with nearly 3% fee, which is fine because I see it as "what if I couldn't collect one of these invoices". That 3% really doesn't hurt much at the end of the year as long as you collected 100% of your invoices. Missing 2-3 invoices can truly hurt though.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#202

Post by ahartmetz »

rurp wrote: post #168
ahartmetz wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The wealthy tend to spend less of their increase in income than do poorer people" I rather think that the causality is the other way... if you don't spend money just because you have it, you're going to be wealthier.

I think it's mostly as simple as money having marginal utility. The first $30k a person make per year goes to absolute essential (ie. food, housing). The next $30k goes to really nice the have things like better transportation, medicine, etc. As a person makes more money, each additional dollar has less of an impact on their life.

That is also true. But I don't like the original article treating "being wealthy" as the, uhm, chicken?, in this chicken-egg problem.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#203

Post by momirlan »

sovietmudkipz wrote: post #172
momirlan wrote: post #158

I have been a freelancer for 24 years, and had this problem. Here's how I solved it. I incorporated my business, and I am an employee. My corporation pays me a stable amount, so I'm not worried. When I put the business hat on, I make sure I project the yearly income and have a generous salary fund ( 6 months). No worries anymore, the most I have been without work has been 3months. If at the of the year I haven't spen…

That sounds interesting. What are the tax implications of such a setup?

It's a common setup in Canada. I paid corporation tax once for money left over in the company account, but that is just cost of doing business for me. Once I have the 6 months of salaries, I just roll it over year over year with no more tax to pay. Salary is taxed as regular income.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#204

Post by balabaster »

davidscolgan wrote: post #192
balabaster wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed they are... though in this particular case there were a bunch of other factors that caused this particular relationship to fail, but even with those considered, they don't make her a shitty person, she is more than the sum of her parts. Just because the relationship was unworkable, doesn't make her a bad person or even a bad spouse, they just make us bad partners to one another.

I have the highest respect for people like you who can make comments like these. It takes a lot of maturity and mental creativity to see things from others' perspectives, and if everyone had your mindset the world would be a better place. If you are ever in Chicago I'd love to buy you a coffee/beer and hear your story.

Thanks, if I'm ever in Chicago, I may take you up on that :)

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#205

Post by eghika »

After my boyfriend of two years broke up with me, I could barely speak without crying. I felt blindsided and didn't know what to do. I didn't know if I could get him back and the anxiety was unbearable. I spell with Dr Eghika, not knowing fully what to expect but knowing I needed somebody who had been there before. I wanted our relationship back and so I wanted to make sure I had all the guidance and resources possible to do that. Dr Eghika was simply wonderful. His process of work is calming and I could tell that he genuinely cared. The things that he suggested I do to get [my boyfriend] back seemed difficult, but Dr Eghika warned me that they might be. But I knew I wanted to get him back, so I followed the plan he laid out for me and the things he ask me to buy which he also helped me out for. Within the week, me and my boyfriend were back together and we are so in love! I know that it doesn't always happen that quickly, but Dr Eghika said, in my case, it could happen that soon - and it did! I'm so grateful and can say that if you have been broken up with and want to get that person back, Dr Eghika is the best! I'll never forget how much he helped me. His contact are whatsapp +254-795-502824, email: ineedhelp@solution4u.com and website is www . everythingisforgood. webs . com

Carista Geyer

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#206

Post by balabaster »

goldenkey wrote: post #196
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…

Sounds like you got cucked due to youth and naivety. Looks like you learned your lesson. Remember, it's your work, not hers.

It may be easy to assume that from one statement, but there's far more to relationships than one slice of one facet of our dynamic. When you're in a relationship, you work together for the common good of your relationship. It might be my work, but it was our family, and a household that she had every bit as much right to feel safe and secure about as I had to my needs.

That's not naivete, that's considering that I'm part of something greater than myself.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#207

Post by wetwiper »

porker wrote: post #189
bonestamp2 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your change request process?

> What is your change request process? I have done everything from formal documentation of changes, requiring pricing and sign-off for every variation, to vaguer schemes. The change request system sucks; it loses sight of why we're building the software and turns into a war of attrition. The issue is always they say the spec is open to interpretation and they meant this, or they expect it to work this way (which is s…

Are you not maybe specifying too much too early on?

Back when I did some freelancing gigs, the general advice I got was to spec a high level, general proposal which included all the client's requirements. Broadly. Then decide on iterables, with the spec (and timeline and effort and payment) for each iterable being done prior to commencing work on it. The key being to have a working system after each update. Sound familar ;D

The client's risk investment in you not completing the project (and them being left with some obscure code and no system) is minimised. Your risk is minimized as the client actually gets to update requirements at each iteration and you get to charge depending on implementation details for those changes. And if they feel you are taking them for a ride, they have a conpleted system up to that point in time, so have the option of looking at other developers. Which also allows you to bail as well without dropping the client with an incomplete project if its not worth it continuing.

My experiences like that went well - frequent communication kept the client informed of progress, they were able to manage adjustments (cost and time to implement), and at the end of each iterable they were left with a working system (even if rudimentary in the early versions) which they could build off of things went south.

I usually got paid more out of those, and ended up doing more work for them because of the relationship built.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#208

Post by sam0x17 »

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 real answer is to bill based on milestones instead of billing based on hours. Hourly billing in my experience is just a slippery slope to being way too conscious about time and creates a conflict of interest in that it is in your interest to take longer, but that isn't in the interest of your client. Billing off of milestones aligns interests because it is in both of your interests to complete milestones quickly. The only thing you have to watch out for is scope creep which can be easily addressed with contract clauses that address this.

Re: The Psychological Trap of Freelancing

#210

Post by rchaud »

balabaster wrote: post #206
goldenkey wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you got cucked due to youth and naivety. Looks like you learned your lesson. Remember, it's your work, not hers.

It may be easy to assume that from one statement, but there's far more to relationships than one slice of one facet of our dynamic. When you're in a relationship, you work together for the common good of your relationship. It might be my work, but it was our family, and a household that she had every bit as much right to feel safe and secure about as I had to my needs. That's not naivete, that's considering that I'm…

Not who you're replying to, but I wanted to say I respect you for offering thoughtful, measured responses to what seem to be throwaway comments from internet alphas who couldn't resist projecting their own biases and stereotypes into their replies, simply because you happened to mention your ex-spouse was a woman.
Post reply on HN