
Ask HN: Quitting job to go freelancing - nicomfe
Fuck it , im quitting my 9 to 5 job and go freelancing. I have some savings and 2 or 3 clients , dont have children so fuck it, I wanna go surfing when the waves are good, and work when i feel like working.<p>Please save your negative comments about freelancing, I wont change my decition.
The thing is worst thing that can happen is in 6 months Im starving and I need to find a new job. (getting interviews offer 2 or 3 times a week now, so that wont be a problem)<p>So asking for your experience, have you done this? ideas? thoughts? (again: only possitive experiences)
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knobbytires
Great decision! I have done the same and not looked back.

The first few years are the worst. You’ll have times when you are worried and
want to throw in the towel or just plain overwhelmed. Unless you are destitute
and need the money from a full time job - push through this! The freedom on
the other side is worth the sacrifice.

\- Automate everything you can. Billing, business related payments, etc. Give
yourself the option to skip a day or two and not think about it.

\- Get a good CPA! Anything you need for the “business” is now a write off.
The comments that you'll pay more in taxes are total BS. As an unmarried,
childless and non home owning CA resident I lost over 42% of my income to
taxes working for someone else. I now have an effective rate of ~25% when you
take into account all the write offs.

\- Once you establish yourself you can be more selective in not taking clients
that tie you to a specific physical location. Accommodating timezones from the
other side of the planet is far less demanding when you are doing it barefoot
on the beach.

I played the startup game for a long time. I had some mild success but over
same timeframe I would have made far more doing my own thing earlier. I now
make substantially more than my fancy titled tech job. More so, I work far
less and wouldn’t give up my free time to make more. I choose when I work, how
I work and to some degree the type of work.

Last thing, don’t listen to the people who tell you it can’t be done or not
worth it. I have witnessed a lot of people attempt this and fail with the
number one reason by a large margin being succumbing to the doubt instilled by
others. Worse, its instilled by people with no experience in doing it
themselves or in some cases jealousy. Yes, it will be hard in the near term.
Yes, you will have many failures along the way. Shake yourself off and start
over. Find other like minded people to learn from.

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superfreek
Good Luck! My advice to you would be proof read any emails you're sending out.
That stuff might not matter at a 9-5 (it should). But you won't get any work
if you can't type a proper email without spelling mistakes.

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tranvu
Save for taxes. You can choose to pay quarterly to make it easier than paying
a giant lump sum at the end of the yeaar Also, look into contributing to a SEP
IRA (ask your accountant for more info).

Ask your ex-colleagues and coworkers for referrals. Many times my referrals
are basically working as a consultant for past coworkers and their new
companies.

Don't always work for the money. Give yourself some time to learn new stuff
otherwise, you'll burn out and end up treating it like a regular job.

~~~
technojunkie
As long as you're regularly making decent money, 1040-ES is a requirement
every quarter and could/might/will be penalized if skipped with a fee the next
year after filing taxes.

Roth IRAs are my preferred way to save for retirement.

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mooreds
Both Roth and SEP are great ways to save for retirement and they are not
mutually exclusive.

SEP IRAs let you save a huge amount of money (last I checked, a few years ago,
it was up to 50k, or 25% of your income, whichever was less) tax free. But you
pay taxes when you pull the money out in retirement.

Roth IRAs let you pay taxes now, and then pull money out tax free in
retirement (and you can pull out contributions in the meantime if you need).

So, you can hedge your tax exposure in retirement by contributing to both
types.

(I am not an accountant or CPA, just a bit of a finance nerd.)

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mooreds
Save as much as you can, and don't forget there are three parts to
freelancing:

Getting the work

Doing the work

Getting paid for the work

You have to take care of all three tasks.

~~~
lj3
The first (Finding) has been the hardest one for me. The second one is just
business as usual and the third one is best covered by this video: "Fuck You,
Pay Me by Mike Monteiro".
[https://vimeo.com/158221814](https://vimeo.com/158221814)

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lowglow
Always be closing. Seriously. Everything needs to be logged and moved into
your sales funnel.

Pick what matters, grow your team, trust your gut, and don't give up! :)

[side note] For some reason I read this post in Teddy KGB's (John Malkovich)
voice from Rounders (1998)
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128442/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128442/).

~~~
nicomfe
havent watched that one, will have to do it I guess haha

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peterkelly
Do it. Life's too short to spend in the cubicle farm.

If you're currently in an expensive place like US/EU/Australia, relocate to a
developing country that has good infrastructure and a low cost of living. This
way you'll give yourself a _much_ longer runway, and you can decide to work
only part time if you want and still live comfortably while having a great
work/life balance.

Thailand is a great choice; I've been here several years and know many other
people who've done the same thing successfully - I've heard no regrets from
any of them. My income is comparable with what I would be earning back home,
but for every month of full time work I do I can afford to take two months
off. I'm not going back.

Check out the "digital nomad" community, which will give you a lot of tips and
advice on this lifestyle. It's not for everyone, but if you're young and
single, you have no reason not to try.

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gkratkin
Ah, the good old days! I spent the first half of my career freelancing, and
the second working for the man. My current status is fine, but I do look back
fondly on the freedom and the limited exposure to company stuff. It was no
less work, though. I worked pretty damned hard to keep customers happy, and
being freelance didn't take away the essentially obsessional nature of
programming (for me). I learned to compensate by taking long trips between
contracts, something that would be impossible with my current FTE status.

Best of luck.

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Hnrobert42
I can't speak to the freelancing aspect, but I can to the fuck it quitting.
I've been traveling the last two years, mostly in and around Vietnam. Vietnam
is amazing, cheap, and I highly recommend it if you can work remotely. Places
like Vung Tau and Mui Ne have some of the best kite surfing in the world.

~~~
nicomfe
Ive been to Vietnam and is awesome!, thats the plan, eventually move and work
from somewhere in Asia

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jaleh
The most rewarding parts for me were:

\- Being valued for my results

\- Having to learn skills in disciplines different than my specialty, such as
law, sales, & accounting

\- Getting better insight into my productivity/output levels (and being able
set my schedule around when I was most productive)

\- Solving a variety of different problems

\- Never a dull moment!

Have fun!!

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az123zaz
Unless your current clients can continuously refer you to your next one,
expect to do a lot more talking (selling and spec'ing) than at your last job
(assuming you were part of an engineering team as a programmer).

Great choice -- I did this two years ago and it changed everything :)

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nicomfe
I was thinking on giving them 10% off if they bring new clients. but not sure
yet

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no_protocol
> it Quiting job

Quiting -> Quitting

> change my decition.

decition -> decision

~~~
nicomfe
thanks for this, not a native speaker :)

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kingnothing
Incorporate.

Get an accountant.

Buy health insurance.

Prepare to pay significantly more in taxes.

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shiny
> Prepare to pay significantly more in taxes.

And pay them quarterly, which can be done online via
[https://www.eftps.gov/eftps/](https://www.eftps.gov/eftps/)

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EduardoBautista
Doesn't this just allow you to pay in 4 payments instead of one? I am not
aware that it allows you to pay less.

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technojunkie
All independent and freelance workers are required to pay 1040-ES every
quarter and could/might/will face penalties if they don't make payments in a
timely manner or underpay. Estimated payments are a way to balance out the
taxes you owe to the government.

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BusySkillFool
Good stuff! I always get my waves early morning on week days, no crowds -
bliss. The work will come easy as long as you believe in yourself.

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solenovex
I'm in China, I also want to go freelancing. Good Luck!!!

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nicomfe
send me an email, maybe we can help each other

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newbear
Looking for an intern/coworker? I also want to ride the waves early. I am
roadtripping from Boston to SF and need place to stay. Will code or file your
taxes if I can also surf and learn from you. :)

~~~
nicomfe
Im based in Auckland currently :(

