Lessons Learned From Going on My Own
I have been "on my own" as a freelancer for the last 2.5 months and I wanted to record some of the lessons and observations I have had in that time. My situation is a bit different (although I am sure I am not in an absolutely unique situation) than from what I have read in related articles. First off what makes mine a bit different? Two things:
1) I was moonlighting for the past 5 years so I had time to build up some recurring clients
2) I focus on development and application security (instead of one or the other)
So what have I learned?
1) Cash flow is king - very common saying but when you are on it really hits home. If you don't have enough money saved up to take on a longer-term project you can miss out opportunities (yep, I didn't have enough saved, sigh).
2) People don't give a crap how busy you are - People just want their stuff done and they don't care if you have been thriving on 4 hours of sleep and have 50,000 other projects going on you should have scheduled better. This is something I knew already but once again it really hit home when I went on my own. There is a bit of truth in both sides of the coin on this, scheduling your work load is important but clients can also be pretty demanding (if you let them be).
3) Plan for 4 to 5 hours of billable time a day - I heard this but I thought people were full of crap. I planned out my hourly rate for working 8 billable hours. This was stupid! Like head slamming against the desk stupid. I would even say plan your billable rate for 3-4 hours a day and be done with it. I work more than 3-4 hours a day but that cushion for crap days and other shit is just a good idea, imho. So, how long does it normally take me to work 8 true billable hours [note: composing an email, reading RSS feeds, facebooking or researching that one project is usually not billable]? Usually 10-12 hours depending on if I am on-site or off-site.
4) Working from home rocks and sucks all at the same time - I love working from home but sometimes it sucks. The dogs want attention, your significant other wants attention and then there is always that movie you have been meaning to watch :). Anyway, over all I enjoy it but taking a break and working at a coffee shop for a few hours or grabbing some lunch with a bud is a great way to break up the solitude.
5) Remember to take a break - For awhile I was just busting ass and feeling like I was never getting stuff done. I think taking a break to read a book, watch some TV, hang with humans, etc.. Whatever it is, is just a wise idea or else you get burnt out way too quickly. I mean really does that project need to get done right now? I highly doubt it, even if the client says it needs to most of them won't notice an hour difference from my experience.
6) People won't be immediately pounding on your door - It took about three weeks for me to get fully booked. Granted this was with business relationships already started and people knowing I was going on my own. I could only imagine that it would take a lot longer if business relationships had to be formed, etc...
I am sure I have tons more lessons learned but those are the ones I can think of and I need to get back to work :). Going on my own has been great but it isn't easy that is for sure. As I have said to people before I traded a job working from 7Am-4PM and having weekends off to working from 7AMish to 10PM with no time-off. The trade-off though is I get to help a lot more companies and learn a lot more which is what I enjoy.
Well off to refill my coffee cup and start slinging some code!
1) I was moonlighting for the past 5 years so I had time to build up some recurring clients
2) I focus on development and application security (instead of one or the other)
So what have I learned?
1) Cash flow is king - very common saying but when you are on it really hits home. If you don't have enough money saved up to take on a longer-term project you can miss out opportunities (yep, I didn't have enough saved, sigh).
2) People don't give a crap how busy you are - People just want their stuff done and they don't care if you have been thriving on 4 hours of sleep and have 50,000 other projects going on you should have scheduled better. This is something I knew already but once again it really hit home when I went on my own. There is a bit of truth in both sides of the coin on this, scheduling your work load is important but clients can also be pretty demanding (if you let them be).
3) Plan for 4 to 5 hours of billable time a day - I heard this but I thought people were full of crap. I planned out my hourly rate for working 8 billable hours. This was stupid! Like head slamming against the desk stupid. I would even say plan your billable rate for 3-4 hours a day and be done with it. I work more than 3-4 hours a day but that cushion for crap days and other shit is just a good idea, imho. So, how long does it normally take me to work 8 true billable hours [note: composing an email, reading RSS feeds, facebooking or researching that one project is usually not billable]? Usually 10-12 hours depending on if I am on-site or off-site.
4) Working from home rocks and sucks all at the same time - I love working from home but sometimes it sucks. The dogs want attention, your significant other wants attention and then there is always that movie you have been meaning to watch :). Anyway, over all I enjoy it but taking a break and working at a coffee shop for a few hours or grabbing some lunch with a bud is a great way to break up the solitude.
5) Remember to take a break - For awhile I was just busting ass and feeling like I was never getting stuff done. I think taking a break to read a book, watch some TV, hang with humans, etc.. Whatever it is, is just a wise idea or else you get burnt out way too quickly. I mean really does that project need to get done right now? I highly doubt it, even if the client says it needs to most of them won't notice an hour difference from my experience.
6) People won't be immediately pounding on your door - It took about three weeks for me to get fully booked. Granted this was with business relationships already started and people knowing I was going on my own. I could only imagine that it would take a lot longer if business relationships had to be formed, etc...
I am sure I have tons more lessons learned but those are the ones I can think of and I need to get back to work :). Going on my own has been great but it isn't easy that is for sure. As I have said to people before I traded a job working from 7Am-4PM and having weekends off to working from 7AMish to 10PM with no time-off. The trade-off though is I get to help a lot more companies and learn a lot more which is what I enjoy.
Well off to refill my coffee cup and start slinging some code!
Labels: Random thoughts
posted by Mike at 9:39 AM
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