
Freelance or job? - anupshinde
http://pastebin.com/0NynWRCw
======
patio11
I'd recommend shooting for freelancing income which doesn't just match your
burn rate but comfortable exceeds your day job salary (as a start -- it should
go up quite a bit from there), as otherwise you're doomed to a hand-to-mouth
existence. 3 weeks without a paycheck isn't exceptional in freelancing, at
all. If you want to do it full time, get used to that happening _a lot_. The
risk of it has to be built into your weekly rates.

Also, your projection that you will have 1.8X your monthly expenses in March
is a _projection_ \-- in the real world of freelancing, you're going to have
things like "client flaked on the project; two weeks which I had assumed sold
are now empty", "client refuses to pay $10,000 invoice", "I had to pay $3,000
out of my pocket for professional liability insurance to secure the next gig",
etc etc. And if you think that level of cash flow juggling is fun, wait until
you have employees!

You should, as soon as reasonably practical, stop sourcing gigs from
oDesk/elance/etc and start sourcing them from clients who pay professional
wages for professional work.

~~~
vorador
By the way, how would you go about getting work from real clients? I can
easily get work on elance but I find it hard to make the switch to "real"
clients.

I'm a generalist, should I find some sort of niche? Or should I raise my rates
to attract better clients?

~~~
glimcat
Have some skill where you can do X and it will cause money to happen for the
client.

Use existing knowledge of some narrowly specific type of business to give you
intimate knowledge of the unique concerns those people have, how they talk
about it, and what boundary conditions are going to affect which solutions do
and don't fit well (e.g. gourmet pizza joints near college campuses, or
heritage language schools to steal a previous patio11 example).

If you don't have that sort of knowledge already, talk to people until you do.
If you do have that sort of knowledge already, keep talking to people anyway
because you still have plenty more to learn.

Use knowledge of this specific customer to find, approach, and pitch clients
who are a good match for your target customer. If you don't know how to find
them, you don't know them yet.

Then, pitch them:

"You can have me do X which will cause money to happen for you."

"I'm aware that you have concern_a and concern_b, which I will handle using
specific_approach, whereas generic_person_235089 doesn't even have a clue
about these important_issues."

LISTEN to what they say, then use it to refine your ability to select
potential clients and to improve your future pitches. Easy, easy, easy hack:
remember the words they use to describe things and use EXACTLY those words
when pitching them.

Run 10 pitches, review, repeat with another 10 target customers. Make money.

Then, go read tptacek's guide to scaling your practice:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4247615](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4247615)

P.S. It's okay to be a generalist on the back end. It's not okay to be a
generalist when you pitch. Address a clear, specific problem for a clear,
specific target customer using clear, specific language which shows
sensitivity to the issues as THEY see it and talk about it.

98% of people pitch by talking about things that are really their problems,
not the client's problems. Actually, saying 2% of people clear that bar is
probably being too generous. If you aren't sure, a good trick is to ONLY use
language that you've heard come out of a customer's mouth.

~~~
chii
where do you find these people to talk to? any specific location/meetups? i
would think that the enterprise clients that can pay for such professional
services don't tend to go to language/startup meetups.

~~~
glimcat
For my particular geographical location, tech meetups are pretty much a wash.
Also I usually prefer to target non-tech clients which will care about results
vs. wanting to debate choice of database.

Also, meetups are mainly good for random socialization and free beer.
Sometimes networking, but often only incidentally. You need to get way more
targeted than "tech people in my area who also want socialization and free
beer." Scrounging at meetups is the last resort of people who don't know who
their customer is yet.

Being able to _find_ your customer is one of the first things you have to
learn about them. And to start out, go about it like you would trying to find
any other thing - just, be a lot more determined and creative about it than
you would trying to find a local pizza joint to order from.

Say you want to land a heritage language school as a client. Where can you
find these people? Where can you find _their_ clients - who might be happy to
talk to you at length about which schools in the area are best for people who
are concerned about heritage language education?

* Get on Google, Google Maps, Yelp and search for heritage language schools my_city.

* Check forums and trade publications relevant to heritage language schools. If you don't know them, find out while you're learning the other stuff.

* Track down bloggers who write about heritage language education, see if they mention any specific schools / issues, research those. Connect with any users you find in e.g. comments, guest bloggers, etc.

* Guess that many people who are customers of heritage language schools are second or third generation immigrants. Where else can you find these people? Are there churches, community centers, or local shopping resources that also target them?

Find your customers - by way of their customers or competitors if necessary.
All of the above probably have something useful to teach you about making your
business succeed.

~~~
lazerwalker
How do you recommend finding a niche like "heritage language schools"?

~~~
glimcat
Try a few and see which people you enjoy working with.

You also want people who will (1) be happy paying you real money if you can
reliably produce value, and (2) be more or less content to let you be the
expert as long as you're on the ball about producing value and communicating
effectively.

You do NOT want cases where people will complain that $20/mo is too expensive,
or that a $3 business app doesn't have enough features.

Once you pick an area or two that you have interest in, your first steps
should be trying to track down and connect with people. Can you do that? If
not, it's probably a bad domain for you. Then, customer development
interviews. Learn about them before you work with them.

Existing domain experience from previous stuff you've done in your career is a
good starting point. Never worked around real estate agents but have intimate
knowledge of how to sell construction companies? That should tell you
something about where to look first.

It's a matter of applying conditional probabilities, really. Want to work with
barber shops but find that's too general? Okay, what about hipster barber shop
owners in their early 30s with a master's degree in English Lit? Now it's
suddenly way too specific. Somewhere between the two, you become the ONE
person in the city who is right for THEM.

------
primitivesuave
I figured out freelancing somewhat organically, around the end of my first
year of college, while getting a haircut. The guy giving me the haircut turned
out to be the store owner, and we talked for a bit about how you can host your
business phone in the cloud. A couple days later I had a simple Java applet
making API calls to Twilio (it was my first year of college, I didn't know
better ways to do it back then). He loved it - he could set it to remind his
repeat customers to come in for a haircut at the frequency of their choosing.

My favorite thing about that project is how simple it was and how little time
it took. For a shitty Java UI that improved his ability to do business, I got
a couple hundred bucks and free haircuts for life.

After that, whenever I walked into a pizza place or burrito place or whatever,
I asked the store owner if there's any way I can help them improve their
efficiency or web presence. In my head it felt like I'd get a resounding "fuck
off" from all of them, but in reality small business owners are wonderful
people who love talking about how to improve their business. Small business
owners who are hostile towards random people asking them stuff usually don't
stay in business for very long.

By the end of college, there were three places I could go to get a free pizza,
and I hadn't paid for a haircut in three years. By the way, one of those pizza
store owners had a cousin who worked in a small private lending company. I set
up a Python library for him to scrape data from this ancient silo of data and
graph it - that was the first job that paid really well.

The key is to realize that being a good designer and engineer is like being a
superhero in today's world. You do something that nobody else can - take
advantage of it while it's still relatively rare.

~~~
rsoto
That's a great story, I'm on the same steps right now with my own business.

I'm curious about what you are doing right now, I'd appreciate an update.

~~~
primitivesuave
Did two startups, sold the first and burned the second to the ground
(metaphorically, of course). Currently working on a new product with a friend
from high school, also running an education organization for teaching kids
about technology on the side.

One other thing I should have mentioned is how consulting for small businesses
gives you a unique perspective as to their needs and abilities, and makes you
much more effective at meeting them if they are your target market. So if
anything, do it for the insight, because most of them aren't going to pay you
a lot of money.

------
jasonkester
The preferred method for reducing freelance workload is to raise your rate.
Keep raising it until just the good clients are left. When workload starts
increasing again, raise your rates again.

Keep the job until you're billing at 3-4 times your salary, and routinely
outpacing your paycheck with what you bring in on nights and weekends.

And stop calling yourself a freelancer. That'll double your bill rate in one
step.

~~~
tzaman
Yes. Consultant is the term for that :)

~~~
pmelendez
How can you get "consultant" jobs?

Before emigrating, it was somehow easy to find those kind of jobs through my
network. But after moving to another country I haven't found those kind of
jobs anymore. Any tips?

~~~
karmajunkie
You just said it—"through my network."

Those jobs come because your network does the business development networking
for you. Build that again, and the jobs will come. It's hard to start out,
when you're so worried about getting enough that you keep yourself busy. But
take a coffee appt whenever you can, give free advice if it doesn't cost you
more than the time you'd spend on lunch anyway. I can't tell you how many
clients I've worked with because I was referred by somebody I helped out at a
coworking spot over a water cooler conversation.

------
napolux
Stay with your job for one year more and be more selective in freelancing. In
the meanwhile just 2 kinds of jobs:

\- The ones that can improve your knowledge / portfolio

\- The ones that pay VERY well.

In this case you will increase your freelance experience and have enough time
to decide what to do.

~~~
pablosanta
That's a very good two-piece advice. I would add this: \- The ones that use
technologies you enjoy working with.

~~~
tirant
Unless you really need it, you should be only doing/working on technologies
you enjoy to start with...

~~~
Jgrubb
Tastes can change though.

------
eik3_de
From curiosity: What did you change in your profile to get flooded with work?

~~~
fecak
This is the key to the whole post in my eyes. At first you get one gig, then
can't get any gigs, and then get flooded with work after making one change. It
seems that the change might have been a significant event.

Based on the dates given, the calendar might also be somewhat responsible. The
first couple weeks of the year are not very active in the hiring market.

~~~
jonathanbird
I'm with you here. I reread the entire post to see what I might've missed and
it's bugging me that I don't know his magic sauce.

~~~
viame
I read this post 3 times and I feel the same way. I have too many questions
now but until this guy/girl is on here answering us, I am not wasting my time
and energy on this. haha :D

------
tomp
I have two words (statements) of advice for you:

1) Don't quit your job unless you have 6 months worth of living costs in
savings.

2) When you're about to quit (depending on your job), you can talk to your
boss about "potential new prospects" and "exploring the next steps in your
career" \- if he is a sensible, long-term thinking and ego-less person, and
you're a good, valuable worker, he would probably want to keep on good terms
with you, and the doors of this company might stay open for you even if, after
6 months or so, your alternative career plan does not work out.

~~~
DrJokepu
I think 6 months is unnecessarily careful. Obviously that depends on where you
live but it takes like something like 3-4 weeks for a competent developer to
find a decent job? And in the worst case scenario, you would get paid like,
about a month after you started as an employee. If your savings + available
credit is equal or greater than 2 months of living costs, you can safely quit
your job.

~~~
mgkimsal
Personally I think 6 months is not enough. I've been massively in debt, lived
hand to mouth, and that changes your view of 'careful'. At least, it changed
mine.

Could I go get a job and start getting paid in < 6 months. Likely, but it
might not be good - just, survivable. Suddenly I'm back to check-to-check
living, and that cushion slowly erodes. You're now 'check to check' vs "check
plus saving".

I realize that for the vast majority of people in this country, and the world,
having years (or even months) of living expenses saved up is not even
fathomable. I've been there - I do get it. Once you start getting to the "1
month" of savings milestone, then 2 months, etc - you start to realize how
little that actually is, and how precarious/fragile your state is. At least,
that's how it is for me, and at least a few other people I know - your
attitude towards money/savings/safety can change a lot quickly.

This all depends on your constitution, your age, obligations, family, etc, but
"6 months" can go by far quicker than you'd anticipate. Also, the other notion
of "6 months of expenses" generally doesn't take in to account extra job
hunting expenses - travel or relocation, for starters. Or higher insurance
costs if your employer was covering part of it before, etc.

~~~
DrJokepu
While I totally agree that you should try to save up as much as you can,
playing it too safe will inhibit your professional growth.

When I decided to get into freelancing, five days after giving my employer
notice I had a 12 months consulting contract lined up paying a _lot_ more
money for a lot less (but much more interesting) work. If I was worrying too
much about financial runways, I'd probably still be at my old job, "playing it
safe".

~~~
mgkimsal
Most people I've known who've gone in to full time freelancing have not been
as lucky as you within days of quitting their job. Most had _something_ lined
up - as in a paying client with at least one project for a few weeks or couple
months - not 12 months guaranteed at higher pay for less effort. Again, of the
people I've known, they generally had to work to build that up over time -
usually most didn't hit that "higher pay than corp job" until between 6 and 18
months. huge sample size? No, but it's not just my experience. :)

While you had great serendipity (congrats!), but not everyone can consider
doing that if they've got obligations. In the US at least, the 'insurance tied
to employers' is a massive problem, and inhibits most of the people I know
from switching jobs too much, let alone quitting to freelance. Single people,
young people without health issues or too much debt - sure.

------
m0nty
> But the three week (zero-work) period was a scary phase.

That _is_ freelancing, more-or-less. It's one reason you can get so much more
than being an employee - you cover taxes, insurance (including professional
indemnity), pension plan, sickness, times "on the bench", etc. Doesn't suit
everyone. I always live well within my means and keep as much money in the
bank as possible. That will cover me for a few months if I lose my current big
contract.

Like everyone else here, I would be interested in what you are doing right on
Elance.

~~~
dredmorbius
Adam Smith's discussions of labor wages include a discussion of the regularity
of work, and skills. See _Wealth of Nations_ , book 1, chapter 8. Online at
Project Gutenberg.

------
ixmatus
It's called an emergency fund for a reason - as a freelancer / consultant you
should be putting away even more than the average worker because your income
may swing like that.

For you, I would keep 6 months of living expenses in a savings account that is
difficult to get to (I keep mine in a local credit union and don't have a
debit card for it so I have to physically go in to withdraw which helps curb
impulsive purchasing).

Definitely go the contractor route - it is better pay. Also realize, though,
that it's about more than just your programming skills. As a contractor people
will pay you well to _solve problems_. Keep your skills fresh even if it means
a little extra effort and some mistakes, you will be better off in the end (I
am).

------
gexla
Is there really much difference between freelancing and a job? In both cases
you need (should) be building your personal brand and networking with people.
I have bounced between jobs and freelancing. I see them all as my clients. The
only difference is in how taxes are done and expectations.

Maybe tell your employer that you are taking other projects and offer to stay
on to do certain projects as a contractor, but at your freelance rate.

There are a ton of threads on Hacker News on freelancing. I suggest you do
some heavy searching. There are some real gems.

Edit: The great thing about freelancing is that you can always fall back to
regular employment. As your pool of contacts gets deeper, you begin to feel
like you could never really be without work.

~~~
paulhauggis
"Is there really much difference between freelancing and a job?"

Yes. I had many jobs and now freelance. For me, freelance is a business. A job
is a job. Your employer expects you to be working 9-5 (regular hours) and they
can pretty much dictate when I have to have meetings and many other things.

As a freelancer, I decide when it's convenient for me to hav e a meeting for
instance. My clients don't really have any power over me because they
understand that we are both businesses.

~~~
gexla
> Yes. I had many jobs and now freelance. For me, freelance is a business. A
> job is a job. Your employer expects you to be working 9-5 (regular hours)
> and they can pretty much dictate when I have to have meetings and many other
> things.

> As a freelancer, I decide when it's convenient for me to hav e a meeting for
> instance. My clients don't really have any power over me because they
> understand that we are both businesses.

Right, that's expectations. You set expectations when you start, job or
freelancing. If you work full time, you set that expectation. If it's part
time, that's a different expectation. You might even work part time from home
and part time from the office. Maybe all that matters is that you are getting
projects done in a certain time-frame.

It also depends on the model you are working. In some cases I might be on a
model where you have a daily or weekly rate. If I'm doing that, then my time
belongs to the client for that period. If the client wants me to be in a
meeting at X time, no problem.

I also generally give the client a period of time on which I will be working
on the project and available to talk. Generally I try to adapt to what's good
for the client rather than what's convenient for me. As a full time
freelancer, there is no convenience for me. If I'm on my working hours, I'm
usually available to someone.

There are times where I like to be working without distractions, but
availability goes both ways. If I need to ask questions then I want an
understanding of when I'm available and when the client is available.

Everyone who is employed full time should be treating themselves as a
business. You should be marketing yourself, always. You should be building
networks, always. You should strategize for the future, always.

I'm always tweaking and trying out different things though. Everyone has their
own way. Mine certainly isn't the best. It's just another way. I'm still (and
always) in training.

~~~
jamesjguthrie
In running your own freelancing/consulting business full time, I think you
can't be expected to be available to clients full time. You need to leave time
to do other essential work such as sales, marketing, accounting, etc.

------
majc2
To me, your question is about the feast or famine side of freelancing and
consulting. The key is to hedge the famine side and sell existing clients
retainers. patio11 and Brennan Dunn do a great job of explaining this in a ton
of their newsletters and also in their soon to be released recordings here:
[http://recurringrevenueforconsultants.com/](http://recurringrevenueforconsultants.com/)

~~~
hoggle
The one thing I like so much about Brennan's writing is the focus on win-win
and quality, professional attributes I was very fond of already but "Double
Your Freelancing Rate" helped me tremendously to actually implement the
measures needed and to internalize what it means to become the consulter I
wanted to become - so I guess I second those recommendations :)

Next goal, recurring revenue!

------
bocalogic
When I was a wee-toddler, I would freelance in the afternoons and nights. I
used the regular job for living expenses and banked my freelance money until
it was enough to make the switch. It gave me a big comfortable cushion.

I started small and all jobs were delivered before deadline and the execution
is what set me apart from the rest of the competition. Work with less people
and really deliver. Once you do that, existing clients will up their spend
with you and refer you to other clients. Good work spreads fast.

Once you get a lot of clients, then it is time to hire someone. For me, I
hired someone with little experience and trained them from the ground up. My
ratio was roughly 10-12 clients per employee.

Small jobs are good when you are starting but they can also generate a lot of
noise. Your time and expertise is very valuable. Price it accordingly.

If someone is trying to nickle and dime you walk away. That will most likely
to be a customer who is never satisfied and will continually ask you to do
things that was not in the scope of work for free or fight you when its time
to pay up.

Good luck! :-)

------
mekarpeles
There are a lot of premium / hybrid solutions out there which may offer you
the balance and higher price points you're looking for. Toptal (a16z) does
temporary placements and is one such hybrid model.

There's also gun.io (actually, think they pivoted slightly), ooomf,
hackerlist.net, 10x, etc.

Disclaimer: I am a founder @ Hackerlist.

Having run and advised consultancies for a while, and having been an employed
engineer, I'm happy to discuss the tradeoffs of each in detail, assuming
there's interest. In terms of getting clients, I do think it helps working
with another organization to increase your intake, even (especially) if you
run a small consultancy/agency.

Alternatively, happy to answer questions or help make intros around SF if
people prefer personal interactions <m@hackerlist.net>

------
davidarkemp2
So, here's what I did when I dumped a (well paid) full-time job in order to
start my own company/freelance full-time:

* Took advice from people already doing it

* Looked really hard at my living costs, savings, etc, and figured out that, probably, I could survive for 6 months or more without an income

* Made sure I had some work (a bit of repeat work, and some other projects) lined up.

* Spoke to as many other people as I could (I'm lucky, I have a solicitor and accounts in the family, as well as someone who started a company which now employee >5 people)

Talking to my wife about finances and stuff was a big deal, as she had just
decided to go part-time in order to study. But we did the sums, and realised
it would have to go really badly, and really we had enough of a cusion that I
could find a paid position if it didn't work out.

Here I am, 18 months later, still paying the bills, still with enough money to
live comfortably, and still working freelance. There are times when I'm scared
stiff about money (I don't think this will go away) and other times when I'm
working 10+hours 7 days a week, for a month or two at a time. I had a death in
the family this month, which knocked me off schedule, and had more of an
impact that I'd like to admit on my productivity, but I communicated with
clients that, unfortunately, their projects were going to be pushed back, and
it's been ok. Even when my second project was 2 months late, nobody
complained. The client was paying a fixed-cost, so they essentially got two
months free.

If you're going to do work fixed cost, do not be afraid to hold your ground
when you quote for it. I sometimes even quote a little high because I know I'm
really rubbish at doing estimates, and it hasn't got better in time. You know
other people are going to be late with key information and decisions, and
there will be somethings that you miss when you first quote, but keep
communicating with your clients and alert them early when things don't go to
plan, and most people will be fine - and the rest you probably don't want to
work with anyway.

------
maouida
> Then, something happened after I changed my profile. Since Jan 30th I have
> been flooded with work.

I'm very interested to know what is this change? I've just checked your elance
profile, but I couldn't know what is it.

------
bliti
One very important thing not mentioned is what technology the OP freelances
in. Mobile is hot and will have you working immediately ( _email me for iOS
work_ ), and PHP will take some weeks before you get a good contract that is
not tweaking templates.

------
upbeatlinux
There's been a lot of great advice so far but I think making the jump really
depends on where you are in life and where you'd like to be. Are you married
or single? Do you have a family you need to support? Do you have a mortgage or
other loans? Can you afford your own health insurance? Can you continue to
work in your current location and maintain a healthy and sustainable
lifestyle? Can you start investing more in yourself and freelance (savings,
401k, IRA, continuing education, travel, etc)?

I made a similar jump two years ago and found oDesk/Elance/etc to be fairly
sustainable source of income/jobs once you've demonstrable experience (either
through their platform, your blog, github, referrals, etc). While not
necessarily a rule I found the higher rate (should be proportional to your
experience on oDesk, etc) tends to match up with the more fulfilling gigs and
interesting clients using those platforms.

While I agree with Patrick that you should stop sourcing gigs from
oDesk/elance/etc you should also establish yourself and feel fairly
comfortable running a consulting/freelance business before taking on
'professional clients'.

------
dools
If you can get hired when taking into account the risk of having 3 weeks of no
work, then you should take the freelancing role.

So look at the ratio of time you spent without work so far, to the amount of
work you have on the books now.

Build in a bit of a "factor of safety" (I work on the basis that I can keep
myself billable about 60% of the time, but you might choose less or more).

If the rate your charging is sufficient that you can work only 60% of the time
(or whatever you choose) and still make better money than your current job (or
that the money isn't better but there is some other advantage like flexible
living arrangements that may allow you a cost saving by being able to, for
example, relocate to a cheaper location) then go for it.

Just factor the risk into your hourly rate, and see if it works out. Of course
your "risk assessment" may be completely inaccurate, which I guess is the real
risk ;)

------
wudf
Hire an intern and live every work-free day like a vacation.

------
frigg
It depends on your situation. Personally, I wouldn't give a bird in the hand
for two in the bush.

Do you have a family, loans?

Do you have at least 6 months worth of living expenses?

Can you quickly find a job if things don't go as expected with your
freelancing jobs?

You should consider these things first.

~~~
lbacaj
All valid points.

------
rmc
The usual rule of thumb is that your freelancing rate should be double your
salary. Freelancers have to take on considerably more risk than employees.
Double your salary rate probably gets you about the same salary in the end.

------
reboog711
My intuition is that 1.8 times your salary as a freelancer is not enough to
cover your expenses as one and retain the same lifestyle. On the surface it is
more money, but you're stuck paying your own benefits (health insurance is the
big one), and expenses (such as computers, phone, electricity, etc..), and
taxes (I use this formula ((Income-expenses)*40%) = how much I need to give
the US government.

As an aside, if you're too busy, you may consider raising your freelance rates
now as a way to generate more income w/ less work.

~~~
d23
> you're stuck paying your own benefits (health insurance is the big one)

Eh, do.

> expenses (such as computers, phone, electricity, etc..)

A new computer every couple of years is negligible.

> taxes

Not sure why this would be any different. Were you not paying taxes when you
were employed?

~~~
reboog711
It is very different having taxes automatically taken out of your paycheck and
having to remember to pay them automatically on a quarterly basis.

Most people don't realize how big of a chunk gets taken out. And as was
mentioned, as a self employed individual you also pay the "employer's" piece
of Social Security which is an extra 7.5%.

If you're incorporated there may be taxes related to that. I pay a yearly fee
for the privilege of doing business in Connecticut.

I also must file a yearly annual report with the state; which comes with a
processing fee.

I also pay property taxes on business property, such as computers and desks
and chairs. My accountant has me list all of these.

Many people go into sticker shock when I tell them to put aside 40% of their
income to pay taxes.

------
anupshinde
Thanks everybody for such an amazing response and suggestions.

Few people asked what I changed that caused this sudden change in incoming
leads.

I do not know what exactly worked - but here are few things I changed.

1\. It may be the calendar - but my intuition says its not just that.

2\. Made my profile more keyword specific instead of lots of text. Uploaded a
picture. I also researched a lot on other successful Elance profiles. There
were two categories there a) Sounds cool to other freelancers, developers - I
switched from this to the one below: b) Well formatted, keyword rich (for
humans too) and shows up better in search results and shows up important stuff
in the shorter profile views.

3\. Removed the hourly rate from my profile. I did not charge much lower later
either. But I figured out that fighting for that $1 extra is not worth if I am
going to lose a lead and spend more time looking for other work. I think 49 <
50 should be represented as 49 <<<<< 50 (These are not my actual hourly
rates). This may have been a biggest problem in getting invites.

4\. Changed my profile such that it is more focused to what I want to do and
passionate about (data-science/machine learning) rather than what I am good at
(web-development). This doesn't really seem to have any impact on the kind of
work I get - I get both equally. This has more due to my personal choice - I
did not want to do web-development at my day job and at freelancing (it kind
of gets boring)

5\. Updated my blog with one pending post I had created earlier but had been
lazy to upload it.

\---

6\. Reduced a lot of self-pitching in the proposals. I carefully choose whom I
write proposal to. Client history, Previous hiring rate/cost, Client's project
award ratio, understanding of technology, understanding of requirements,
timeline suggested. I tend to focus on leads who seem to have a lesser
understanding of technology but better clarity on requirements.

7\. Chances of getting selected when somebody invites you are far greater than
competing with 50 or 100 proposals. If you are invited - it seems that you are
more likely to get work at your preferred rates.

8\. Placing bids when the requirement is fresh and new (or has less
proposals). Chances are that in case of lower proposals, client has received
many proposals like "I can do in it $XXXX". A good proposal with relevant
questions tends to stand out. If something has more than 12-15 proposals with
rated freelancers - I back out unless I think I can make a very strong
proposal or if this project is a "must-try". There may be tempting high value
projects 3 days old with 80 proposals - chances are that the client has
started discussing with somebody else in those 3 days. I used to spend a lot
of time on such postings, and almost immediately discard those nowadays.

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sunny1304
I worked for a company who worked on freelance projects. But the company shut
down because of communication gap between the owner and the developers and
also some client dint clear the bill in time (so they said to me). So i
believe working as a fulltime freelancer is quite risky unless you have a plan
for future (may b to launce your own product....) I like to suggest you to
wait for at lest 3 months and observe the situation and think hard about where
you want to go with freelancing ......

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wusatiuk
3 weeks at the beginning of jan is no big issue. After christmas / new year in
a big part of the world, where rarely anybody is starting new project.

The most important part is that your expenses are covered, so you should have
some $$ on your saving account to survive the next 12 month without earning a
single $. Then i guess freelance could be an awesome option for your.

Your could also try, to acquire a long-term project as a freelancer for a
better start.

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zacinbusiness
Freelancing is amazing because it forces you to budget wisely, to be smart
with your time, and to learn to negotiate. But it sucks because you can get
burned badly. I've been unpaid twice, once for a website and once for a
blackberry app. But if you hit a hot streak and you can squirrel some money
away, you can make a good living and mainly in your own terms.

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grdeken
You need to manage growth. Continue to build your side business until you're
working 15+ hour days and making too much money with side work that your
current job is a hindrance.

And stop using Elance if you want to make real money...

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walshemj
3x is the normal multiplier or set your day rate to be 100x your targeted
yearly income want to target $60 pa dayrate = $600

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kayaker932
Email me if you're looking for a good PHP (symfony) gig.

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heidijavi
Can you delegate some of your 8-hour job stuff?

