Last day of my full-time job!
I know I know. Don’t quit your job without having any traction, (or even an idea). To be honest, it was kind of a forced hand. The company I’m working for laid a bunch of people off and so I’m taking it as a sign to start my own thing.
It’s less dramatic than it sounds anyway. I’m converting my current job to a part-time freelance client with the intent of working part time on client work and part time on my own projects.
Time to start figuring out the next chapter!
Use that time effectively! I got lured to work on some other projects and wish I'd devoted that time to my own work instead. Good on ya!
Hell yeah, exciting!
Thanks!
Congratz! Just curious, how are you attaining freelance clients, through current connections?
So far, it’s been exactly that. I started telling some people I was planning to go freelance after the job ended and already had quite a few people interested in talking about some projects. I’ve worked in several different tech companies over the past few years so I have a pretty long list of people I can reach out to if my work runs out.
Nice, very good approach. I went down the 'try your hardest on UpWork because it's proved to work' approach, almost impossible haha
Don’t be afraid to flex your network. I tried to get on up work a while ago actually but didn’t get on because they are pretty flooded with JS devs. But yeah the rates seem lower this way than if you just go knock on some old co-workers doors to see if they need any extra hands on projects. Or if you have any local agencies you could ask for subcontracted/overflow dev work.
Yes, currently trying that now. In about 10 minutes each Upwork posting has at least 50+ proposal submissions, tis madness. Local agencies sounds like a good shout, thanks.
That's a pity about the layoffs but sometimes we need circumstances to push us in the right direction! Best of luck.
Sounds very good. I wish you the best. You've made a big step towards becoming an entrepreneur. Instead of taking the easy way and looking for a new job you've decided to follow your passion and run your own business. Keep on going 👍. Good luck.
Make sure u make progress on ur work everyday
That’s one thing I am trying to figure out is if I would be better off spending a bit of time each day on my own projects and a bit of time on freelancing vs doing full days or weeks of freelancing and then the same allocation to my own projects.
The first option sounds more reasonable but context switching can be tricky. Would welcome anyone’s thoughts.
It is a tricky thing and its more about you personal self. When i started my first project, i thought i can handle both simultaneously.. But it didnt work for me. Then i decided that my time will be fixed for my project and then freelancing.. That was something i was in sync with
This is your opportunity to follow your passion or discover what it is. I say congrats on leaving your job. I left my job 29 years ago. I did go back to a job after 9 years, but only for about 10 months before starting my present business of 19 1/2 years. Once you work for yourself and have no boss, except your own customer, you won't want to go back. I hope I don't sound like a know it all, because at 55 I still feel like I haven't really made it the way I could have, should have, want to. Embrace this time and strive to come up with whatever it is you need to make you happy and gainfully unemployed. Great going and know that you're going to do it!
This is inspirational. To build up your own business that has this kind of longevity is extremely admirable and I hope that one day I can share a similar story. Thank you
I'd say use that time to catch up on your mental health/hobbies/relationships as well.
I feel yours is one of the more important comments that hits home for me - thank you for that because it’s definitely something I need to balance more and now is the perfect time to take a step back and enjoy life, breathe, and spend some time with friends and family.
Sucky situation, but pumped to hear how your taken it as an opportunity to start something of your own!
Sooner than I planned on for sure but there is never a "right time"
Sounds exciting! What do you have in mind for your own projects?
Honestly I have a laundry list of ideas that I need to start culling. I am in a tricky stage where there is no clear winner yet, so I am happy to just start playing with some smaller projects while something bubbles to the surface. The safety of doing some freelancing will help to keep a long burn rate as long as I can keep that afloat. More to come I am sure.
Well done. The beauty about this is you can test and try and see what works and what doesn't. Enjoy your journey... because that's what it is.
Thanks for the encouragement, Simon! That is the plan. Looking forward to sharing some of the ideas here and getting more involved in the IH community with this extra time I now have 😂
this is actually great news.
what's your stack?
Thanks! I am both excited and nervous. I work primarily in JS/react and node/postgres for backend services.
I am very thankful to being able to convert it over to a contract, but it's on a pretty short trial basis. Hopefully everything goes well and we can continue afterwards. I would be great to have about 20ish hours a week freelancing while experimenting on my own projects.
As @Cass1 said keep on what you did today, you have picked a really good stack. The majority of today's Job offers are in ReactJS & Node.
You re fine, Best Of Good luck ;)
dont worry. just keep on what you did today, reach out to people. the more the better. talk to them. check out options. apply for new jobs, etc., stay in motion
now over xmas it's a bit hard because nobody is avail but you know what i mean
btw great stack! where are you based?
For sure - thanks for the kind and encouraging words, Cass!
It's a fun stack for sure. I'm in Toronto, Canada.
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Thank you!