

Ask HN: When is the right time to quit work and be a freelancer?  - Yazeed92

Hello.<p>I work as a junior Python developer, and seeing many of you guys who are freelancer makes feel like being overused in this job which undoubtedly I love and all, but nothing matches the joy of working for yourself at your own pace.<p>The question or questions are:<p>1- when do you think it&#x27;s time to quit your job and start your own company.<p>2- if you&#x27;re a freelancer, how do you manage your time? What do you do when don&#x27;t get a job for a while? Is it worthy of the feeling that is you&#x27;re definitely getting your paycheck at the end of month?<p>Thanks.
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gexla
> but nothing matches the joy of working for yourself at your own pace.

That's the opposite of how I would describe freelancing. You aren't working
for yourself at your own pace, you are working for your clients at their pace.
Rather than having one boss, you have multiple bosses. Sure, you can pick your
projects and have the client agree on a timeline you set, but I assume you can
do that on the job as well.

That work doesn't include the time you need to spend on marketing, branding,
creating proposals for jobs you get passed over on and a long list of other
things which you don't have to do when working a typical job.

You might think you would have more freedom as a freelancer, but that's often
not the case. If you could charge high rates and live super cheap, then this
would largely be true. But living super cheap often means that you are living
in an area which makes charging high rates relatively difficult (you can't get
that "face time" which certain clients require, which means you have no leg up
on your competition which might be charging less.) This is where your
marketing really helps.

As a freelancer you will likely find that you are working more hours than you
were at your job. Every hour working is really working. I can only put in
about six hours of coding per day because I'm at such a high level of focus.
At your job, you may be there eight hours, but how much of that time is spent
truly working? Again, on top of that time spent on client work, you have other
non billable tasks you have to do for your business. And since you are still
trading dollars for hours, you still have that ceiling of 24 hours per day.

Another point that I believe is critical to consider is that there is a lot of
gray area between freelancing and working a regular job. For some people, the
only difference is in the forms they are having to fill out for taxes. I have
had long term freelance gigs which were basically jobs. And people who have
jobs should probably be marketing themselves just as a freelancer would. If
you find this describes you in your freelancing, then you should probably just
stick with a regular job.

Instead of freelancing, you would be better off removing that word from your
vocabulary. Instead, shoot for running a sustainable business which doesn't
live and die by your hourly work. Do some Googling to find case studies of
people like you who have been able to move on to different business models, or
at least supplement their hourly work with other forms of income. You aren't
truly your own boss until you are able to earn money while on vacation or
sleeping.

To answer your questions:

When to make the leap?

As the other comment mentioned. You need to have at least 3 months living
expenses, but once you dip below that, you are approaching critical levels.
You should have at least 6 months, but the more the merrier. This is so
important as the lower you get, the more desperate your cash flow situation
becomes. The best case scenario is that you can plan out months, maybe even
years rather than having to worry about what you are going to eat tomorrow.

You should have a decent amount of experience built up, but a lot of people
make the leap without this. I think there is a market for all levels of
experience. A lot of freelancers go that route simply because that's the only
way for them to get work as a developer. You do what you have to (and this
applies to the financial part also.)

How do you manage your time and what to do when you don't have work?

There is a ton of work out there. I rarely if ever hit a point where I have
nothing on my plate. If I do, it's because I'm between projects and in this
case I can still take on small stuff.

Time management is something that is different for everyone. There are tons of
tricks out there. Google it. ;)

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jeffmould
I would say there is no exact "right time" to quit and become a freelancer.
While going off on your own can be highly rewarding, it is not without stress
and requires high degrees of focus and hard work.

With that said, if you are single I would have at minimum 3 months of living
expenses saved up before I even thought of quitting my full-time, secure
paycheck job. Preferably you would have 6 months to a year worth of savings
just in case. If you are married and have a family, I would at least say 1
year worth of savings before I quit.

Prior to quitting though, I would get my feet wet by finding small jobs on the
side and slowly building up clients. This is good not only from the experience
prospective, but provides you with contacts and portfolio material.

Managing your time can be tricky and everyone has their own methods for doing
it. Personally, I use several lists to keep track of on-going tasks and use
software like Basecamp to manage projects. My lists that I keep are for daily,
weekly, and overall project tasks. Each day I try to complete at least the
daily list and build the next days list from the weekly and project lists.

Working for yourself it is inevitable that there will be slow months or months
where you do not get any new clients. This can be depressing and add stress.
The key here is to not let it get you down, know that everyone experiences bad
months and just keep moving forward with current projects. For slower months I
always reach out to past clients to touch base, feel them out for additional
work, and depending on the relationship I have built with them, see if they
know anyone looking for my services. Referrals are your best friend.

I am not going to try and make it sound glamorous, freelancing is not, but on
the flip side it can be very rewarding and provide you with excellent learning
opportunities and growth. Just understand that there are a lot of things that
going on long with it. You are now responsible for all your own taxes,
insurance, and the "business" side of the house.

Based on your job title, it sounds like you are young and just getting
started. I don't know your experience level or education, but I would say
solely based on your title, to continue working for a few more years at least.
If freelancing is something that interests you, start small and part time
finding and taking on small jobs here and there if you can. This will give you
experience managing your time, working on projects independently, and a little
extra income, all while you still collect a steady (and guaranteed hopefully)
paycheck from your employer.

Good luck!

