

I quit my job seven months ago, this is what's happened - basicallydan
http://danhough.com/blog/six-months-later/

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tptacek
The thing that really struck me when I left full-time employment for
consulting was sick days and holidays. One of the very first things you learn
in independent consulting is the value of a billable day. At a salaried job,
if you don't show up to work some day, all that happens is some abstract
counter of "personal days" ticks down by one. But as a freelancer, you don't
show up, you don't get paid.

It sounds obvious, but if you haven't experienced it yet, try it some time. It
feels like a high-wire act.

~~~
jeremymcanally
Yup, and for me, it created a lot of unhealthy pressure to Always Be Billing™.
Maybe for some people that sort of internal nudge is fine, but it made me push
myself even when I was sick or majorly burned out lest I not make enough to
cover my bills next month (assuming the client pays on time, which they may or
may not).

Eventually I couldn't handle the self-imposed stress (and, at the time,
uncertainty about health insurance), so I happily returned to employment. :)

~~~
ErikAugust
Yeah - you really have to stop, note, communicate, bill and collect on every
request that a client has.

Or else, you will feel tired, broke and like someone has their hand in your
pocket all the time.

~~~
kevingadd
And if you just generally have bad health/chronic health issues, you need to
consider that contracting may be 'wrong' for you, or that you need to really
aggressively overcompensate. The standard guidance on how to function as an
independent contractor really doesn't suffice here - the other people I know
with ongoing health problems have had a hard time, and my expenses always
manage to dwarf my income even though I follow the basic steps. (I keep
raising my rates though, so I'll probably eventually reach the right
balance...)

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malvosenior
It's important to note that hardware (and other business related expenses)
should come out of your pre-tax income. Make sure to expense those things!

I also (personally) find it humorous that several of his downsides are extreme
upsides for me. No conferences, no after hours schmoozing with my employer, no
need for software that has expensive licenses :) and most importantly NO
"team-building-moral-improving-bonding activities"!!

~~~
basicallydan
Haha! Yeah that is quite funny. I know what you mean to an extent, at times
those things get old but generally I'd say I'm a fan, still. Each to their own
I suppose!

And as for the tax thing, I was going to put that in my post but on the advice
a proofreader, I took it out to avoid a moral argument. Thanks for the tip
though, I absolutely will (and have) been expensing relevant business
purchases :)

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ronaldx
"A lot of advice says to only accept jobs which are willing to pay the rate
you're offering..."

IMHO the rule is good, but you don't have to offer the same rate for each job.
If there's a job that benefits you, work out what how much that benefits you
and quote the appropriate rate. If there's a job that doesn't benefit you,
double your normal rate.

Clients insisting on negotiating the rate is a negative signal. It may be a
signal that they don't value your work at the rate you're quoting, and this is
often a signal that _they won 't value your work_. It may be a signal that
they are under financial pressure (i.e. it's high risk for you). Better
clients might ask for a discount but normally will agree if you stick to the
quoted rate.

~~~
basicallydan
Good point, well made. That's partly what I was going for with what I said
(money/learning benefits etc), but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't being a
little bit forgiving with my negotiation. Especially with my latest contract,
I was particularly unwilling to stick to too powerful guns because I'd just
moved back to the UK and didn't have a flat yet. Things still seemed (and in
fact, still do - I haven't moved into the new place yet) in flux. It's hard to
make hard-nosed business decisions when things are a little bit all over the
place. Nevertheless, the new contract has worked out quite well even though I
was haggled down a little.

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shadowise
Great post, Dan. You might not have hit your original goal on the head, but
nothing you did sounds like failing.

Small steps on a long road!

~~~
basicallydan
:D thanks buddy, that's very encouraging!

~~~
darklajid
Nice setup as well. This being HN I expected a "This is how I made a fortune"
when I looked at the link/title. The story starts with the admission of
failure though and now I expected the (just as common) "Hire me please" post.

You made a different point and I enjoyed reading the article. Congratulations,
it seems you found a nice middle ground.

~~~
basicallydan
I'm glad that the honesty is appreciated, thanks!

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yen223
I quit my full-time job a month ago in order to pursue my Master's degree,
which begins next month. To keep myself busy in the meantime I advertised
myself for several short-term freelancing gigs.

To my pleasant surprise, I actually managed to earn the same amount as I was
before, while putting in about half the hours. Really opened my eyes to how
underpaid I was before.

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cs02rm0
"I failed".

Ouch. I'm a couple of months into doing something similar and I was
contracting before it. I'm fairly resigned to returning to contracting at the
end of my six months.

Churning out a product company from scratch without an obviously good and
commercially viable idea is _hard_. A large part of me is resigned to
returning to contracting and at best trying to keep what I've worked on
ticking over at the same time.

~~~
basicallydan
There's no need for the return to contracting to be "the end" though, merely a
setback. Unless you actually want it to be, and to just drop it and start
something else another time. There's no shame in quitting and starting again
another time!

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herrwolfe45
Nice article - thank you for sharing!

~~~
basicallydan
You're welcome, thanks for reading!

