

Tell HN: A realization about working for myself - trickjarrett

So I have been a web developer for a while, since college I would pick up contract jobs, making sites for customers etc. And though it brought in some nice side income, I was never really driven to do it. I didn't wake up thinking about my client's websites. Part of this was that they were usually simple projects, never really web apps, just simple websites or blogs.<p>With my recent project Shove.mobi, though it is just a week old, I realized something critical. This was something I wanted, for me, and that I hoped might be useful to others. But largely, I was building it for myself.<p>I used to think, based on the motivation and lack of drive for contract work, that I wasn't really cut out to be self-employed. But I realize now that I'm not cut out as a freelance web designer/developer. I want to develop apps that I come up with or that I am passionate about.<p>Has anyone else had this realization moment?
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mgkimsal
I've had some of those moments, and then things change for me a bit. Been
self-employed for a number of years now, primarily doing freelance web app
development, but also some training, publishing, and a few other things.
There's not been one thing that has yet clicked as my lifelong passion, but
that's been OK. I didn't find things clicked when I was taking fulltime w2
gigs either, so it's not been much of a change in that respect.

Congrats on finding that moment for yourself - I hope it lasts for you :)

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jscore
"I didn't wake up thinking about my client's websites."

No, but I wake up knowing that I have the freedom to wake up anytime I want,
be it 8am or 2pm.

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staunch
What's even more fun is being so excited that you wake up early to work on
your own project.

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hasenj
Really? I can never work on projects when I wake up, I don't know why, but I
need about an hour or two of other activities (such as watching youtube)
before my brain can get to work.

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togasystems
I have been doing freelance work for about 4 -5 years now. I am coming to the
conclusion that I would like to work on a signal project/product without the
burden of reporting hours.

I hate having to always explain to someone what I did for the last 8 hours.

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PonyGumbo
It's also a completely different experience to see something through beyond
launch, and refine it over the course of many years.

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hasenj
I had a somewhat similar experience. Working on various projects for specific
clients isn't so exciting. Although I must admit I learned the most from it,
but I never felt that it's what I'm cut out to do.

I think the difference between working on an application vs doing a contract
work is having someone mandate to you what you have to do and when you have to
do it, vs deciding yourself what you want to work on.

