Matt -- 1. Before you go completely freelance, try to do some side work and build up a roster of clients. Freelance can be feast or famine, and if you can keep the full time job and start slow, that would be better.
2. Ideally, you should be lining up your next freelance gigs while working on your current ones. It would be nice if you can be lining up projects at least 2 months to 6 months in advance. While it's not always easy to work that out, it's what you should try to aim for. 3. Many freelancers fall down when it comes to estimating their hours. Then, when the job takes longer than expected, they may end up working for far less than they intended. It's better to overestimate than to underestimate (Hey, if you finish early, it only makes you look good!) Take your estimate and multiply it by 1 and a half... Keep a record of your estimates and the actual time it took so you can get a better idea of whether you were close or not. This way, you'll be better at estimating in the future. Good luck! Judith ----- Original Message ----- > So what kind of advice would folks give to a someone considering > quitting my regular job and becoming a full-time freelancer. My > regular job is a mix of coding, network maintanence, and other IT-type > stuff. Over the past year or so I've picked up a couple of > freelance/contractor positions. The primary reason I am considering > this is that the freelance work pays much more - almost twice. I've > calculated all the costs of things like health insurance, taxes, etc. > and believe I could come out ahead. A secondary reason would be I > could concentrate on coding/builing applications and drop the less > enjoyable parts of the job which are coding. > > Ideally I would be able to have my current employer as a client and be > able to continue the coding part of this job. But that may be wishful > thinking, especially when I tell them my hourly rate. > > Any advice and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks. > > -- > Matt Williams > "It's the question that drives us." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:3149 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
