Fellow founders, do you freelance?
I know that many founders leave their jobs to work on their startups. Do you try to find freelance work if it is taking longer than expected to become profitable?
I know that many founders leave their jobs to work on their startups. Do you try to find freelance work if it is taking longer than expected to become profitable?
Freelancing is a trap for founders. I would rather take a job if needed.
Freelancing is a way to maximise income at the expense of flexibility. Usually you have feast and famine times.
During famine times you're stressed and struggle to work on startup.
During feast times you're too busy too work on SaaS.
With a job you can commit a few hours before or after work to your startup.
I generally agree. I especially agree that the entire industry, not just contracting, has feast or famine times and, all too often, during famine times, people are putting much more time into chasing jobs (that pay less) and putting more time into jobs (that pay less) to try to keep up with what they were making during the good times.
I call contracting "pay as you go" and I call having a job "war-chesting".
I war-chest: I build a big warchest from a regular job and then I go full time on my startup and live off savings.
I exchanged email with a guy who did freelancing and it sounded really hard. The freelance jobs were hard to get and didn't seem to pay well so it was really hard to ever get ahead.
Freelancing can be great. You can earn 2/3x your usual rate if done well.
If you have a ton of leads you can then imagine the money you earn.
The issue is generating good leads is a full time job.
I agree. It’s just that most people can’t easily or quickly do it well.
Nice perspective, I never thought about it that way.
Just what I observed from friends.
In theory it can sound great, in practice rarely works out.
One way it can work is if you freelance only on problems very close to your SaaS. But then it is still the same problems as above but you might be able to convert clients to customers.
I do Freelance, yes, but I keep a very strict timeline every day.
I work on my startup in the morning until 08(yes I get up early). Then I work on freelance projects until 12, and then I'm back on my startup again from 12 and until I end the day. This gives me just enough to get through my expenses.
You can do Freelance, but it's super important you align with your clients, when you work, and how much time you have to work.
The worst thing is having clients calling you constantly, disturbing your flow, or expecting something you're not delivering.
Communication is key to success.
I quit my job back in 2008 to start my entrepreneurial journey. My first income from business was 1/10 of my monthly salary back then.
Looking back - I think it's not worth quitting job unless the business is validated. Validation - means it generates money. One-time payments are good to have; but they require constant work from you. It's like quitting your 40hr/week job to for 80hr/week job for lesser pay.
Freelancing work is easier to find if you have the experience and referrals to boost your sales. It becomes 10x harder to grab projects from unknown people and make significant income. I've been through it.
The better way is to have enough runway and stick to the deadlines. If profitability is not in sight; better stick to the job OR work harder to make the business work. Freelancing would be a distraction in that case.
Yes, just remember freelancing is a business too. That means:
As opposed to getting a job, Freelancing will let you:
Also, I don't think it's a coincidence that soooo many of the IH podcast stories start with the guest being a freelancer before building their SaaS or whatever. Check out the ladders of wealth creation by Nathan Barry: https://nathanbarry.com/wealth-creation/
I have tried that, working as a freelance and trying to build a SaaS. I got failed in that 😅
It's took me forever to launch my MVP. So I decided to get job at minimum wages, this job helps me to get my livelihood in order and it also helps me to manage my time to work on my side hustle. This way I get more time to work on my projects without worrying on about the dues.
Doing consulting to finance our product development. 3-4/5 workdays consulting makes it sustainable and ok income. I spend evenings and weekends on top of this when this fits with family engagement. Have been doing this for 5 years while doing a few pivots so cannot say I have proven this to be a success for product development yet but at least it makes it possible to combine with family life.
Yes, as it provides the needed flexibility. Once you raise some funds, you can easily (& quickly dive back in).
VCs and Angels understand that founders also have family and bills to pay.
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If you live in a high stress / high cost of living city with a full time tech job and a commute you don't really have the "luxury" of doing a side project as well. Also, you are not guaranteed the side project will take off and produce income and you . You need to focus on paying the bills first.