Re: Just joined; looking for advice
I'd see if your current employer would keep you on 1/2 time at your current pay with benefits (especially medical). Then use the other 20 hours a week to build your freelance business. maybe 3 - 5 hours a week marketing and hopefully the rest working. Naturally you may market more when work is slow and market less on busy weeks. But you will find a good equalibrium. This gives you the advantage of testing the waters with a safety net and insurance. ~| Create robust enterprise, web RIAs. Upgrade integrate Adobe Coldfusion MX7 with Flex 2 http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;56760587;14748456;a?http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=LVNU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:3185 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
Re: Just joined; looking for advice
Thanks Dave, Judith and Jeff. Good stuff. Jeff, my motivation for quitting is not simply I don't like my job. My original post gave 2 reasons: -freelance work pays much more - almost twice -leaving some aspects of my FT job such as network maintenance help desk I should have given the third reason I am considering going freelance: the work is already in my lap (literally: I use a laptop at home). About 2 years ago I started helping one guy who has 20-30 clients. He is not a developer; he only handles client sales/relations. The deal here is he emails me the change / needs and I just do it. No client interaction for me. Most of these are smaller jobs, but occasionally (most recently this week) there are bigger jobs (100+ hours). In addition to that, I am working with one other company who is migrating a system from spaghetti/procedural code to OO/Frameworks. This contract is up in December, but they have mentioned they have more coming up in 1st qtr '07 (and possibly beyond) and would like me to be part of that. There are already other potential clients too. As Judith mentioned, it is usually feast or famine; I'm feeling the feast right now and think at least for starters, I would have very little marketing to do. Hopefully some of these will turn into, as Jeff said, steady clients. Along with this third reason of the work is already there, for the past few months I've been killing myself and neglecting my family by trying to keep the full time job and do contract work. I'm a morning person, so I typically get up at 5am, work for a couple of hours, get ready and go to work. Since June I cut my FT job down to 4 days a week so I could have one day a week for side work. But lately I've had to do some evening work and quite a bit on the weekends too, just to keep up. When I think to myself that something has got to change, I wonder why I would give up the higher paying side work for the lesser paying FT job. Sorry for the long post, just wanted you all to better understand where I'm coming from. I would be interested if anyone has any suggestions on time tracking/billing software. I currently just use Excel Word for this, but in a very rudimentary way with very little reporting capabilities. Again, thanks for the advice thus far. -- 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:3152 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
Re: Just joined; looking for advice
All that said, there is a good chance that you'll spend less time coding as a business owner and more time dealing with crazy insane client issues. I think this is one of the best comments that I've seen in this thread. Be prepared to deal with billing, contracts, negotiations, disagreements, etc. Good contracts are important, even for small jobs. Set aside a time of the month for billing, and make sure nothing gets in the way of that. Follow up regularly in writing on past due bills. Expect that every once in a while, you may have a client that doesn't pay, and work that into your financial estimates. Remember to work the self-employment tax into your estimates. There was also mention of reducing rates for long-term clients...and while I think that is OK, don't go overboard with rate negotiations...it is probably best to have two rates...your short-term and your long-term...and there probably shouldn't be a large difference between them (max of 10%) and stick to those as much as possible. Makes billing simpler, too. Of course...with all that said...I'm there, and I'm never looking back. Good luck! ~| 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:3153 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
RE: Just joined; looking for advice
Matt, My thoughts are that if you can even secure a part-time contract with your current employer, lower your rate a bit to get it. This will give you a steady source of income which is the BIGGEST hurdle to going full-time on your own. The jobs are plentiful, but we (Westerners) are also competing heavily with the South Asian and Eastern European markets who code just as good as us (in most cases) but charge a lot less. There are American companies who won't use talent outside the U.S. for various reasons (communication issues, patriotism, etc.) but there are many, many more who are willing to do so, and that creates more competition in our industry which causes our rates to have to go down to compete. I have some clients for whom I charge a lower rate because they give me steady work, and others that are one-timers, etc. get a higher rate. You can also check out places like: http://www.guru.com http://elance.com http://rentacoder.com Again, competition is fierce, but I found one of my best clients (read: pays on time) on Guru.com! Another ideas is to hit consulting firms (like mine) to see if they have too much work and are willing to work with a freelancer. ;-) Sincerely, Dave Phillips WebTech Staffing, LLC [EMAIL PROTECTED] (402) 896-8801 -Original Message- From: Matt Williams [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 11:10 AM To: CF-Jobs-Talk Subject: Just joined; looking for advice 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:3148 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
Re: Just joined; looking for advice
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
Re: Just joined; looking for advice
Unlike Dave, I never had any luck w/ Guru.com or similar type sites. I no longer look at them, preferring to spend time networking with local folks. I recommend writing a business plan. Who are you going to service? How are you going to reach them? What are your motivations for working on your own? I hope it's something more than I don't like my job. What are your expenses? Include marketing in their. How much do you have to make to cover all expenses. Add 15% on the top for retirement planning and 40% on the top for tax. Not all of your time will be paid, so keep that in mind. I generally budget 80 billable hours a month. If I'm working more billable hours than that, it means I'm not drumming up any business for next month. If you have a bunch of steady clients you may not care. Most companies budget somewhere between 25% and 35% of a employees salary for benefits. So, if you take your salary, turn it into an hourly rate (if not already), and add 30% the company can (theoretically) hire you as a consultant for that amount. Whether it makes sense for you to work at that rate is open to discussion. It is not uncommon for a company to hire back the employee that just left as a consultant, and if you can negotiated that you're well on your way. All that said, there is a good chance that you'll spend less time coding as a business owner and more time dealing with crazy insane client issues. At 12:10 PM 10/10/2006, you wrote: 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. -- Jeffry Houser, Software Developer, Writer, Songwriter, Recording Engineer AIM: Reboog711 | Phone: 1-203-379-0773 -- My Company: http://www.dot-com-it.com My Books: http://www.instantcoldfusion.com My Recording Studio: http://www.fcfstudios.com Connecticut Macromedia User Group: http://www.ctmug.com Now Blogging at http://www.jeffryhouser.com ~| 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:3150 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Jobs-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
