What is Digg?Sponsored by Travelzoo
$52 and Up-Airlines Slash Fares On Peak Holiday Flights. view!
travelzoo.com - This year, waiting until the last minute is NOT the best strategy. See why.
117 Comments
- alapoet, on 12/13/2008, -6/+152If you want to have the worst boss you've ever had, try freelancing.
- alanocu, on 12/13/2008, -3/+83After working freelance for the last eight years, I wouldn't have it any other way. The hardest part is starting and getting a good base of solid customers. After your name is out there for awhile, people start calling you. Buckle down hard in the beginning; soon after the hard work pays off.
- michaelpinto, on 12/13/2008, -0/+66Actually your clients also become "your boss" too — one thing that many folks forget is that when you run a service business you have multiple bosses that don't care that you have other folks to answer to.
- AlaskaLoneWolf, on 12/13/2008, -0/+51What a pessimistic article! For starters, working for yourself means that you're the only one at fault when things get fubar. While working for someone else, it's real easy to blame someone else for your own short-comings. Freelancing is the ultimate way of proving to yourself if you really are as smart, driven, and innovative as some of the only self-delusional 'think' they are. It is like rock-climbing. Gravity has little tolerance for fools.
- spriggig, on 12/13/2008, -7/+39If we had universal health care, the playing field between freelancing, small business and large businesses would be considerably more level and there would be higher job satisfaction and more innovation.
- seantubridy, on 12/13/2008, -0/+29Yeah, that's cause they're not a graphic design site - they're a site dedicated to helping freelancers. Why should they have to make their own icons? That's not what they do. That's what icon sets are for. And this is a free one - you're supposed to download it. They didn't steal anything.
- michaelpinto, on 12/13/2008, -0/+27One bit of vital advice that was missing: Save your cash! Most first time freelancers forget to put aside money for taxes and then get screwed. Also saving cash in the long term will help you for those slow cycles (always think of that before buying a new tech toy).
- MtheoryX, on 12/13/2008, -0/+19When you decide to work for yourself, you're trading one boss for many bosses.
The client is not your only boss. You may also have vendors and suppliers, the IRS, various regulatory and licensing agencies, possibly investors, etc. - Surferess, on 12/13/2008, -2/+20Digging for the guy on the rock! He totally distracted me from the article.
- jggube, on 12/13/2008, -0/+16Great insight - thanks for sharing. 8 Years as your own boss and setting your own time - must be heaven.
I posted this because I felt that it's relevant in our current economy. People losing jobs means many people may be considering freelancing and working for themselves. I've done it for a bit (3 years), there's definitely downsides - and I think the biggest mistake you can make at the start is taking on too many clients and falling behind on your duties; they'll never come back and a lot of your revenue is based off returning business. - axiomflash, on 12/13/2008, -0/+14That's what icons are for...
- jhuik, on 12/13/2008, -1/+15Dugg just for being about freelancing and finding its way to the front page.
- MtheoryX, on 12/13/2008, -1/+14Not only using a hosted blog solution at WordPress.com, but spamming digg with your url is NOT a good idea for "building up your name and credibility."
- jgerry, on 12/13/2008, -0/+12I've done freelance work before, a 3 year run a number of years ago, and I'm back doing it again for the past year while looking for a full-time job. The one thing that's not on that list, and that I always seem to have some issue with, is getting clients to pay. I quit freelancing the last time because I got sick of chasing down money from deadbeat clients.
- cubicledrone, on 12/13/2008, -0/+12But then you compare it to working for a lying rat ***** phone-flipping dandruff-covered donut-stuffing Gantt-chart-humping yellow-tie-and-blue-long-sleeve-shirt-in-July blowdried hairpiece-adjusting assclown and you say "freedom."
The next major wave of economic success will happen because of entrepreneurs and freelancers. It sure as ***** ain't coming from "business" people. - awesometastic1, on 12/13/2008, -0/+12what helps is to make all clients pay half up front. typically clients who won't do that are the one's that you'll have a hard time getting to pay in the long run.
The other added bonus is that those clients are more likely to be more responsive when you need information from them. I do freelance web work and I often used to find myself in the position where the web application was pretty much done, but in order to really finish i needed a bunch of content from the client to put in. This typically resulted in them stopping pestering me about getting it done and results in them stopping returning my calls hardly at all.
Once i started charging half up front I stopped having the problem of collecting fees in a timely manner and stopped having the problem of unresponsive clients when it was time for them to do their part. Sure you'll lose some clients, but they were the clients you didn't want anyways. - TheManikin, on 12/13/2008, -3/+14Excellent post. Companies that live by that are on a good track.
That being said, ***** the people at the IRS. - jaygeeze, on 12/13/2008, -0/+11Yeah, I found it to be kind of a downer, as if the author was advocating against freelancing almost (ironic because the site's for freelancers). I have never freelanced I'm a 9-5'er, and this story almost makes it feel like I'm the lucky one, and not the other way around. It's friggin' hard? Try doing the same thing over and over again for 30 - 40 years of your life.
- BalooUrsidae, on 12/13/2008, -1/+12No kidding. What's worse is when you end up in a situation I did. I was, in terms of this article, a "freelance courier," or in layman's terms, a van owner-operator. When fuel costs got out of hand and demand for shipping went through the floor last May, I had to lay myself off.
- SuperMoses, on 12/13/2008, -1/+12Dugg for freelancing being hard. I'm a freelance developer and freelance student (if that makes any sense). I work and study on my own time, luckily through University of London's exernal programme, I have that flexibility as a student. However, because of this flexibility I have to make sure I don't mismanage my time like spend too much of it on Digg :s
- copywriteink, on 12/13/2008, -0/+11I Dugg it because it makes a nice starting point, but there are several important tips missing. (I started my business as a freelancer in 1991.) First and foremost, you cannot think like a freelancer. The label tends to be great for aspiring writers, but not so great from the perspective of the businesses or publications that might hire you. It's better to run it as what it is ... a business, which would solve most of the problems presented because four of them are time management issues.
The only one that doesn't seem to fit under time management is the first: feast or famine. If freelancers thought like a business, they would think in terms of scalability and business management. That means drawing a salary against what they make, which would create a bank account for slow times (as opposed to drawing 100k one year and 50k the next) ... eg. Pinto is right!
Some of the comments on this thread are easily solved too:
* Check your local Chamber for small business health plans to take advantage of group savings.
* Join professional organizations (whether journalism based or business based, up to you) to avoid becoming isolated.
* Do some non-profit work to help your community while building your portfolio.
* Don't take every client that comes knocking or else you'll burn up your time on the most demanding.
* Establish set rates rather than attempting to guess what every account might pay.
Those are just few things you can do, depending on what your objective are. The biggest complaint my colleagues have about freelancers is that 75 percent of them are really looking for jobs. If you want to freelance, commit to it. - lcmatt, on 12/13/2008, -0/+11Sorry but if you gave me that URL as a potential client I'd turn around and walk away. Seriously buy some hosting and a domain.
- SuperMoses, on 12/13/2008, -0/+10I don't know.. based on the very first sentence, it doesn't sound pessimistic.. just more like words of caution:
"Despite how magnificent it can be to work for yourself, there are some things about freelancing that just plain suck." - DentThat, on 12/13/2008, -0/+10alanocu - what sort of freelance do you do?
- jggube, on 12/13/2008, -0/+10Haha Surferess! I had the option of selecting it as the thumbnail, but I figured it would distract people from what the story is about. My feelings were right! :)
- Mujokan, on 12/13/2008, -0/+10Are we going to get 50 posts on this thread along the lines of "It's hard at first, but once people realize you rock, it's great. Also, just by the way, here is my URL." (Not that I really mind, it's just a bit funny.)
- Mujokan, on 12/13/2008, -0/+8I have absolutely shocking self-discipline, which really hurt me when I was translating from home. But I'm finally going to get a grip on my personality problems tomorrow. I'm completely certain, this time...
- jschau2, on 12/13/2008, -0/+8Worst thing about freelancing----the taxes!!!!!!!!!!! I do not look forward to April at all!
- mattbrad2, on 12/13/2008, -0/+830%??! Good Lord man. Get yourself set up as an s-corp and give yourself a break on FICA taxes at least. Also, your obviously not taking advantage of write offs that owning your own business opens up for you. You have a vehicle? You have a home office? You pay interest on anything business related? Do you have inventory or any other business expenses at all?? At the end of the year, you shouldn't be paying anything remotely close to 30% taxes. Unless your business is doing exceptionally above and beyond what the IRS claims is "normal" for your line of work, then your either A) making a really good living and can such, totally disregard my previous rant or B) Not even close to being in the ballpark of paying the correct amount of taxes for your business.
- UniversalPoet, on 12/13/2008, -0/+8This truly depends on who your clientele is. If you're doing work for a professional or established company, take a % fee upfront, at midpoint, and at delivery, you won't have any problems. If you're dealing with a ma and pa type operation, and you're treating your freelancing as a hobby, yes, you'll run into the issues you mentioned. You're running a business, not doing a hobby. Treat it as such.
- xerigen, on 12/13/2008, -3/+11The reason I stopped freelancing was CERTAINLY not health care.
- taxali, on 12/14/2008, -1/+8I hope ur not a web designer ;)
- Chongo, on 12/13/2008, -1/+8the first year I freelanced, I just didn't really think about the tax thing. I figured I would just file my taxes and owe money. Well, a few years later and I'm STILL Paying that off.
However, over the last couple years I have begun to put aside 30% of every paycheck, no matter how big or small. I put it into a high interest (well, the highest I can find) savings account and at LEAST make enough money to cover the tax prep fee's plus have a a good 5% of that left over come tax time. It works great and I actually did have the willpower to not blow it. - cubicledrone, on 12/13/2008, -0/+7"Pay in advance or get lost" also known as "money talks, ***** walks."
That policy pays for itself in about six ***** hours. There's no such thing as a good client who won't pay in advance. - ExRe, on 12/13/2008, -1/+7Ah, shouldn't you be doing that regardless of what your job is?
Common sense shouldn't be vital advice. - mrgreg, on 12/13/2008, -0/+6I've done Freelancing before, in the Sirius Sector, to be precise.
- metik, on 12/13/2008, -0/+6Tip: Try and get as many monthly reoccurring things as possible. It takes the edge off. Any freelance profession can figure out how to add in a "maintenance fee". For example if your a web designer re-sell the web hosting. Do that a few times and you can get a few bills paid a month.
Also, you can use freelancing as an in to a permanent job you would not have gotten otherwise. - stuffradio, on 12/13/2008, -0/+6I've been doing this for roughly 3 years now. It's tricky at first, but you get the hang of it :)
- Rndm_Tngnt, on 12/13/2008, -0/+6Yep. I'm screwed come tax time.
- cloudberries, on 12/13/2008, -0/+6Those icons aren't even the same.
What exactly is your point, and how does it relate in any way to the article or subject matter? - inactive, on 12/14/2008, -0/+6don't change gutistg, the world needs more people like you
- tempysmurf, on 12/13/2008, -2/+7Dealing with the feast & famine cycle:
This is created by fools who work at one job at a time. You can prevent this by doing that simple thing called planning and marketing continuously.
Managing every aspect of business entirely on your own:
Most of this is easy and doesn't take much time, the rest you hire other people to do it for you, such as an accountant, lawyer, etc.
Finding time to market yourself, do client work, deal with clients, keep up the administrative stuff, and still grow the business:
You have to develop a successful business model first. If you can't do it all yourself, hire someone to do it for you. You'll have more time for the activities that make you money instead of the ones that waste time.
Balancing work and life (and often family) while dealing with all of the above:
You're going to have to work hard to begin with, but with the right planning, you should be able to free up your time so that you're working only 8 hours a day and preferably less as time goes on.
Getting sick, going on vacation, or otherwise not working 24/7 while still dealing with all of the above:
That's what the contractors and employees that you have already set up from the steps above come in. - Bogo, on 12/13/2008, -0/+5@tempysmurf: You need to have a much more solid foundation to hire people, and time to train them. Again, it's all about not taking too much on at the beginning, which is a *really* easy mistake to make.
If you hire a contractor/employee into a small company, they won't know much about what they're doing, otherwise they'd be doing it themselves. - amercer, on 12/14/2008, -0/+5Oh thtop it, we know exactly what she's talking about.
- nysus, on 12/13/2008, -0/+5Damn, vehicle mileage. That one kills me.
- DigitalBrian, on 12/14/2008, -0/+5you have no idea do you :) right now there are millions of hard working Americans who can't afford Christmas presents for their kids, I just dropped $600 at ToysRus and I probably end up doing the same again before Christmas is here.
If you set up your freelance right, you are SET and you will be growing your savings wearing your PJ's. - rpieszak, on 12/13/2008, -1/+6Amen brotha!
- ZombieLuv, on 12/13/2008, -0/+5Read the bottom of the page, “Folder icon by Iconfactory.” It's crazy to assume that a freeelance website would commission someone for an icon, is it?
My guess is they said, “Hey, we really like those aqua icons you did. Would you mind making us one that’s slightly different and then we can exchange money.” You know, like freelancing. - tempysmurf, on 12/13/2008, -0/+5Don't save, invest, preferably back into your own company. The whole point is that you have to make things happen yourself. You spend money to make more money easier.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 122 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is