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So it has been an entire year already! Actually, a bit more than a year. I starting writing this last Tuesday but failed at finishing. randomuser and I just celebrated our one year by….get this….packing up both our houses in the middle of an LA heatwave and moving! Woooo. I’m actually finishing this up from the Uhaul truck…while I am exporting and converting Coca-Cola videos for the web. I suck and scheduling deadlines. I’m not even going to have internet tonight! How am I going to upload videos?! :P
Anyways! Can you believe it? A year later I am still freelancing my little ass off - designing and developing some kickass websites for some awesome people. It’s a ton of fun, a lot more diverse and exciting, and not at all what I expected.
Another semi-big change in my life happened like…the day after I quit my job. I went from working 50-60 hours a week, partying all night, and really, truly living it up all summer to dating randomuser. That stabilized my work hard / party harder mentality. We don’t really like people and are perfectly happy at home. Relationships are good on the soul…and liver…and wallet.
Speaking of wallets!
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Part 1: The Money!
I had no idea what to expect money-wise and work-wise, but I had crunched the numbers and determined that I had enough money in my checking account to live for 7 months. I expected to get a few jobs, redo my portfolio site, get a few more jobs, and then probably find a real job again as the money ran out. Fuck that. I have created-from-scratch so many sites, worked with other freelancers on so many projects, done fun side projects, had consistent ongoing work on an hourly rate from three or four clients, that I haven’t had time to breath, let alone redo my portfolio site, let alone actually think about getting a real job.
My monthly salary fluctuated (a lot) depending on how things stack up, if I am on vacation, and when I bulk-invoice for all outstanding work. One example: I actually made about average January, even though I spent the entirety of January in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Sri Lanka, and Costa Rica. But, I only brought home $500 measly dollars in February.
I tend to have way too much work for a month or two and then not very much the next month, and then it ramps back up again. This contributes to a fluctuating income.
However, my average monthly salary is up about ~2.5x what I was bringing home before. And somehow, today, the amount in my bank account is 2.5x what it was last year, even though I’ve taken 2 huge vacations. I don’t know how that happened.
All in all, the money is great and I’m still charging too little for what I do even though I keep slowing increasing my rates every project.
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Part 2: The Hours!
I probably work just as many, if not more, hours than I worked before. However, the breakdown of actual work vs managing / organizing / emailing / calls is much different. I spent about 50% of my time doing actual work and 50% of my time switching tasks, dealing with clients, managing the people that I work with / for, invoicing, following up, etc. It was probably closer to a 80 (work) / 20 split before. I spent a lot of time managing my life / work before, but nothing like this. Plus, there are calls with lawyers to go over NDAs or work contracts, calls with accountants to figure out my taxes, etc. I have to send invoices, I have to pay invoices, I have to do everything! Ugh.
The hours I work are very different as well. I used to wake up at 7:30, in the office by 8:45, work all day, home around 8pm, work on side shit until midnight, go out and party until 2am or 3am depending on my level of loneliness, and then back to the office. Today though:
- 8am or 9am: I usually wake up, hang out for a bit, slowly make my way to the shower while answer emails or Skype messages or Slack messages or Skype calls or phone calls or text messages. I have eight (!) emails address and together they receive ~50 emails (only 10 are actionable, thank god) by the time I wake up.
- Around 10am: I sit down to work and I usually get a chunk of work done until about noon.
- 1pm: Then it’s back to emails or phone calls and organizing the projects or whatever. About noon or one I usually get bored and randomuser and I go somewhere. Sometimes we go to the rock gym and work out, run errands, go to the fish store, or drive from my house to his house or vise versa. Sometimes we read outside or go to the boat.
- 2pm - Whenever: More emails and phone calls and dealing with shit. Sometimes I get something productive done. Usually small stuff is completed here. Food usually happens sometime in here.
- Whenever I get inspired again (sometimes 3pm, sometimes 7pm, sometimes 10pm) - 1am: This is when the bulk of the work gets done. I kick ass at night.
When I first started, the hardest thing was keeping a schedule. I am naturally a night owl so randomuser and I were always finding ourselves creeping towards going to bed at 2am…3am…etc. This is fine until you realize getting up at 10am is 1pm for the East Coast (where so many of my clients are). There were a few days where I would just truck on through the night and then go back to bed at 11pm to reset my cycle.
Lately, we’re much better lately though. A vacation is a good way to reset your sleep cycle.
The second hardest thing is actually getting stuff done. With so many things happening, a big project is hard to prioritize over little tasks. The little tasks and emails that only take me 30 minutes tend to creep in and suddenly it’s 2am and I still haven’t finished setting up the base site, editing the video, or whatever.
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Part 3: The Not Working
So you know how I said the hardest thing is the sleep cycle? I am a dirty liar.
The absolute hardest thing about freelancing is I don’t make money when I don’t work. Not working is far harder than working, it turns out. When I have to decide whether to go to the beach, or work and make $100 or $200 dollars, I almost always pick the work. I expected that I would drop everything when someone wanted to go to lunch or was in town for the week, but it’s hard. If I plan ahead and know I have XYZ planned, then it’s fine. But if someone calls out of the blue, I usually turn them down.
It was exceptionally nice the week that veen was in town because I didn’t get just a quick dinner and then go back to working all day and night. We explored and hung out and I was happy to be able to do that without taking a vacation day for it.
I still have issues though and would rather work than watch TV, for example. I also get anxious and my mind thinks about all the things I should be doing when I’m not doing something, which often leads to me doing something.
The whole ‘to work or not to work’ situation is getting significantly better since I stopped obsessively tracking my time and I now have a few people doing work for me. I’ve also switched to charging almost exclusively on a (very detailed) project-rate. I find that the project-rate is better because I don’t have to track my time and I get to actually devote whatever my heart desires to the project, without worrying about money vs hour. Then at the end of the day, I get a check for 10k or whatever and I am stoked.
Being able to travel is by far the biggest benefit. We did 30 days off in January and 11 more days off in June for Curacao. I let my clients know in advanced and it typically works out okay. Clients respect vacations (they don’t respect nights and weekends though.) I did more work in Curacao than I did in Hong Kong and Bangkok and Sri Lanka and Costa Rica, but that was because a metric buttload of money appeared in my PayPal a couple weeks before we left. Since randomuser and I don’t like clubbing, working at after dark in Curacao was fine.
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Part 4: The Things You Would Expect That Are Totally Wrong
Common misconceptions about freelancing include: ”OMG! You don’t have a boss, that is awesome!” and ”OMG! you can work in your PJS!” and “OMG! You can work whenever you want!”
I do have a boss. In fact, I have multiple bosses. My clients are my boss. Right now, I have about 9 bosses who all would like my undivided attention at all times. I get emails, Skype messages, trello notifications, asana notifications, base camp notifications, slack messages, Skype calls, google hangout messages, hangout calls, phone calls, and text messages ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT. My phone could be used as a vibrator (if I hadn’t turned vibrate off to conserve battery).
I do often work in my PJs and go without makeup. It’s nice, but I spent probably 2k-3k on awesome clothes, heels, dresses, makeup, and jewelry to wear to work. Now I never wear those. My outfit today is a tank top (no bra) and gym shorts. This is the same outfit I wore yesterday…except the tank top was white..and the day before…except the shorts were jean shorts and I simply wore a bikini top all day because it’s fucking hot. So basically, it’s cool that I can wear whatever I want but it’s kinda gross, too, and I miss not wearing real clothes.
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Part 5: How do you get clients?
This is another area people ask me a lot about. I honestly don’t know. I haven’t updated my portfolio. I don’t advertise or anything. I don’t go on job boards. I have yet to do any work that doesn’t involve the client coming to me and asking if I can do something for them.
Some are family friends who I have known for a while and have small businesses. I think my mom talks about me a lot. One client was a guy I had done a tiny amount of work for a couple years ago and somehow we reconnected and now I’m building landing pages and sites for him. Some are referrals from other clients. I did a site for my dad, who has been very successful running a company for 26 years with no logo, website, designed invoice, letter head - nothing. Blank slate.* I did / am doing a site for a prominent Hubski user / his wife. I do work for other freelancers / people with web dev shops. I met one guy randomly on the hashtag freelance slack channel and we started working together or various projects. On one of those projects, I worked with a girl, and now I work with her all the time. I am about to do a site for a different girl that I met via the first guy. Lastly, I still do a decent amount of work for my old company, but at an hourly rate with a set scope each time. That’s awesome - it’s like the best of both worlds.
* Take this as a lesson - if you are starting a business, the most important thing is to make sure what you are doing is valuable. Don’t run out and spend heaps on a design, website, business cards, letter head, postcards etc. If you are doing something that people want, you don’t need anything and people will still pay you for it.
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Part 6: Any Regrets?
Nope. I should have done this sooner.
It’s amazing to have so much more diversity in projects and be the sole owner of my work. Even though client’s occasionally fuck with my work, it’s a lot rarer than at my old job, where both internal management and the client would fuck with shit. That was also more frustrating because I would often get assigned a project and scope of work from management, do it, and then tell management what I did or what we need feedback on or whatever. This led to a lot of information getting lost between me and the end client, the end client and me, and a lot of miscommunication leading to unnecessary changes.
Today, I dedicate a good 5 hours on the frontend to building trust with the client via phone calls and actually listening to what they want, reiterating it back to them, and then talking to them more. I usually do another phone call after the first delivery of design and development so that I fully understand what they hate, are hesitant about, love, etc. Getting someone’s reaction in person or via phone call is thousand times better than getting it via email.
Building trust is one of the most important things I can do with a client. I am fairly certain that my work, code, design could be shit but I could convince them it was good. I naturally spend a lot of time making conscious design / development choices and debating them with myself, so when I get on the phone with a client I can back up any choice I made. This was one key area that was missing when my old job would deliver work to a client. Typically, they didn’t get on the phone, they just sent off the site or design or whatever.
Every message I start keeps sounding pithy so I'll stick to facts. You rock. You're inspiring me to be more proactive and inventive with my own work. And you're proving that us 20-somethings don't have to be screwed by the world we're finding ourselves in. That we can create lives with abundance and meaning. Maybe this is a bit heavy for Monday morning, but you rock insom.
Similar to things people don't get about working from home. I had a friend tell me that it was awesome I could work from home full time and that if she could, she would just go to a local coffeeshop and use the wifi and work from there all the time. I was like, you have no idea how much you would never do exactly that ever.Part 4: The Things You Would Expect That Are Totally Wrong
Common misconceptions about freelancing include: ”OMG! You don’t have a boss, that is awesome!” and ”OMG! you can work in your PJS!” and “OMG! You can work whenever you want!”
I imagine working from home is a lot like studying from home. Some of my friends would take classes in college that did not require them to actually be present in class, but rather do the work from home and just show up for the exam. I tried that once, and failed miserably. I don't have to study much for a subject if I attend the class.; conversely, I will suck ass if I don't attend a class. I'm guessing working from home is the same situation. It sounds fantastic and tempting to try it, but I'm sure I would get nothing done.
This. There are definitely things I do differently (like running errands during the week) but the majority of the time I'm sitting at my computer, without makeup, without real clothes, without people around me, working. Another huge factor that people don't realize: when you don't have people around, you tend to talk to yourself more and sorta have a hard time transitioning back to real life after a stretch of work. For example, my roommate would come home and it would take me 30 or 45 minutes and a beer to be able to hold a real conversation. I can get in the zone more easily than I ever could at the office, but it was harder to get into that zone while working from home, and harder to get out of. It's just significantly different and it's nothing like anyone expects.I was like, you have no idea how much you would never do exactly that ever.
I'm envious of you, being comparatively self-sufficient is an amazing thing, and making it work out as well as you have so far is a hell of an accomplishment. It sounds like things are only going to keep getting better for you too as you continue to get clients and build those relationships (I'm tempted to tag this post #sellingwithtng). How big of a challenge was this for you? That's a major change in work function and I could see it being difficult at first. You and cgod and tng...jealous of all y'all with your start-up businesses and such.I probably work just as many, if not more, hours than I worked before. However, the breakdown of actual work vs managing / organizing / emailing / calls is much different. I spent about 50% of my time doing actual work and 50% of my time switching tasks, dealing with clients, managing the people that I work with / for, invoicing, following up, etc. It was probably closer to a 80 (work) / 20 split before. I spent a lot of time managing my life / work before, but nothing like this.
At the time, it wasn't difficult but only because I didn't realize exactly what was happening. It took me a long time to realize that the lack of work being done mid-day was due to the fact that I was doing too many things, then stopping to answer an email, stopping to answer a phone call, etc. I would sometimes have a design file open for 5 or 6 hours, but only work on it for an hour during that stretch of time. Once I started realizing how much time switching tasks ate up, I began quitting my email, skype, etc. on my computer when I started on a project. Because I had no cell service in my bedroom, my phone was in the living room and I used an app called MightyText (android) for receiving alerts / text messages on my computer. This does two things: I never looked at my phone and I could only passively read the messages coming in. I could open the app if I really needed to respond, but adding that layer of difficulty made it so that I only responded to things that were absolutely necessary. When I was done with whatever task, I would open up all the apps again and then bulk-respond to all the messages at once. This led to more productive work, less hurried emails / messages, and (especially for Skype / Slack / Texts) it led to not having to deal with as much. When someone messages you on those platforms, 99% of the time it's something like, "What's the link to XYZ page?" If you don't respond, they figure it out themselves and you don't have to spend the time stopping what you were doing, navigating to the page or folder, sending the response, and then figuring out where you left off, and starting work again. While the navigating and responding part takes maybe 3 minutes, the "getting back to work" can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours. It took me a while to figure out this process though and I only accidentally realized how positive shutting off the email / messaging apps when I was working on a large project in Final Cut Pro and my computer would sound like a rocketship if I had everything else open.How big of a challenge was this for you? That's a major change in work function and I could see it being difficult at first.
Yeah, the- having multiple boss thing- is totally true. I was just telling that to a friend the other night. I'm 37, and I've been freelancing almost ever since I graduated (I did work as an art teacher for two years, but I didn't find it inspiring). I can't say I always had been doing as good as you. Actually, even now, I'm not doing as good as you, but that's simply cause I like diversity. I'm mostly doing illustrations, but I'm also a stand up comic, and I guide bushcraft tours occasionally. I have a hard time concentrating on one thing only. but than again. I'm totally happy with this (although those multiple bosses can be as frustrating sometimes as that one boss is). I live in the part of the world where freelance is not that easy, and often I did went for months without doing any work, or earning money (but I live in an old house, which I own, so no paying rent)but I was always able to use that free time to learn a new skill or improve. congratulations on your achievements, and good luck.
I would definitely recommend having a first "real job." There are things she can learn at a real job that will prepare her for whatever she wants to do next. I probably would be twice as good if I had worked two different jobs, and three times as good if I had worked three. Every experience gives you more knowledge, which then guides you as you make decisions about how you want to act, what you want to be, how you want to be seen, etc. It will also teach her about about how people write emails, what makes a good manager vs a bad one, what makes a good co-worker vs a bad one, how annoying a rambling 2-hour conference call is, what makes a good client vs a bad one, etc. There are also the itty-bitty things that I didn't even realize were things. I hired two college kids to help me part time at my old job and after their first "here's the design I did" email, I realized I had to start with the basics. I didn't even realize my first manager had taught me these things, but he had -- Here is how you start an email. Here is what the email contains. Here is what your signature should look like. No, never use your personal email address for work-related business. Here is how to determine what order email addresses go in. Here is how to CC, when to BCC, how badly BCCing can go. When to call vs email, how to set up a conference call, man the list goes on and on. It will also give her the chance to potentially be in the other person's shoes in the future. One thing I've learned since managing my own people is that managers have a thousand different things in their head, only one is your situation. Just tell me what I absolutely need to know and move on. I really don't care why something is happening...or how it happened...or whatever. I'm sure some of the emails I wrote about a bug or something would make me cringe today. I would also tell your niece to opt for an environment that will teach her the most and give her the most opportunities to learn, rather than just looking at the money or company-name power. You obviously have to weigh the pros and cons, but a smaller company where you are wearing multiple hats will give you a lot more opportunities to step up to the plate, interact with other departments, interact with high level management, and be that much more well-rounded. There are benefits to working in a very organized company and learning a strict process, but the reality is, you will learn more about the process and internal workings of the company than you will new skills. I think one of the most valuable things about my old job was literally where I happened to sit. I sat upstairs with the engineers because I was too young to get a real office and the cubes were full. However, I worked mostly with the marketing department and I also reported directly to the president or CEO for projects for clients or high-level internal projects. This gave me a very unique perspective on both sides of the fence. I learned the information that marketers wanted to know as well as the engineers. A lot of times I acted as "translator"/ "e-mail rewriter" between the two departments because I could speak both languages. Later, I was able to streamline some items in our process that were pissing off the engineers and the marketers, but know one knew (1) that it was really an issue worth fixing or (2) that they both felt the same hatred for it. Okay - last thing. Jobs also give you a network of people. Companies with high turnover rates are more valuable to you (but more dangerous) because the people you meet and make friends with today will be at a different company next year and can provide you with an in or a helping hand when you need it. You never know when the guy sitting at the cubicle next to you, that annoying sales rep, the IT guys* wife, or whoever can help you get to where you want to be. Your reputation is gold in certain industries so don't talk shit, never say no, and listen more than you talk. Save for maybe one or two truly horrid people, I would move mountains if any of my old co-workers needed assistance with anything. I even liked one of the sale's reps stupid facebook page the other day! * Always make best friends with the IT guy / gal / team. Bring them cookies and stop in to talk about whatever they are into. (1) The lock on their door and the fact that they have more free-time than they would like anyone to know means they're room is a great place to hide when you just can't take it anymore, (2) They usually have a secret room which is glorious for hangover naps and (3) they will answer your call gladly when you need them and (4) they are always the first to know everything and they usually know all the company's dirty little secrets - this comes in handy when you need advise or can't figure something / someone out.
That's a golden reply. Thank you for it. How long would you say one has to stay in a "real job" to gain the necessary experience? In what situations not to say "no"? When asked a favor? When assigned far more work than your position requires you to do? When being made to work on stuff your position has no relation to?Your reputation is gold in certain industries so don't talk shit, never say no
Once you have gotten to the point where you are feeling stagnant, bored, or burnt out, it's about time to start looking to move on. You can't learn if you are feeling those things and without learning, reflecting, and growing, then there is nothing more to gain. However, the transition period can be a long one. Whether you are finding a new job or finding the confidence to do your own thing, it may take a lot longer and be a lot tougher than you would imagine. Luckily, this process is also something that can teach you a lot and change your perspective on things.How long would you say one has to stay in a "real job" to gain the necessary experience?
Agree with everything. Great write up. Thank you for that. I worked at a big firm for a bit and then went out on my own. The flexibility of being self-employed and the inconsistency of cash flow is a big thing to get used to. I do not make ANY money in December (XMas break), March (Spring school break) and August (end of summer break). It took me a couple of years to understand and budget for that. On the plus side, I can work from the Bahamas, Whistler or anywhere and no one cares. And I do. My clients actually get a kick out of it when I skype them from a boat in the Bahamas or a chalet in Switzerland. I am lucky my clients are all internet people so as long as I am available 24/7 and do good timely work they do not give a shit what I do or where I am. p.s. Something I have found valuable is asking clients: do you have any particular concerns about this project? Or: In one sentence, what do you want to accomplish with this. If you come up with a solution to address those answers you are meeting the key elements for them.
This is great. It is really hard to get the client to tell you what they want / what they need. A lot of times I'll start really broad with "what are you looking to do?" ("I want a new website") and then I drill down by asking things like "Why do you want a new website?" and "Why do you want a new website right now" and on and on into the specifics. Eventually we get there. I will add your questions to my list! It's especially tough since people naturally assume that things are a certain way and are used to doing them that way and don't realize it's a problem that can be solved. The website I did for my old company was probably one of my best because I experienced the problems with the old site every day and I randomly and naturally got insights into the website from everyone in the office over months and months and months. It's hard to get that level and range of knowledge without spending that amount of time with all the people who use the site.p.s. Something I have found valuable is asking clients: do you have any particular concerns about this project? Or: In one sentence, what do you want to accomplish with this. If you come up with a solution to address those answers you are meeting the key elements for them.
I do a lot of e-comm work and it always gives me a good laugh me when people say things like they want to build another FB or eBay and need it this week for $1,000. OK I recommend to everyone that they read Getting to Yes. As far as I know it is essential reading in every law and MBA school in North America but it is about much more than that. I try to read it once a year and it is an easy read and only about 100 pages. It provides common sense strategies for achieving agreement with your spouse about what take out to get, your kids on what time they go to bed or a multi-national about how much they are going to pay for your business. Often times I have been working for someone that has been selling their business and, after many questions, I have found out things like that they want to be seen to have received a "better" deal than their brother-in-law who sold a similar business. Or that they have the same hairdresser and do not want negative gossip. The tax and financial issues of a deal are usually not more important that the emotional aspects. But getting to those fundamental issues, that are usually seen as ancillary, is tough.
Hell yea yo. What a great update! I'm in the middle of a great change myself, currently driving to Colorado to live there, barely know a soul, and it's great hearing how things worked out for someone after their big decision.
We have a lot of folks in Colorado. I know rob05c is there and 8bit is there and......I know I am missing a few more.