Fuck it , im quitting my 9 to 5 job and go freelancing. I have some savings and 2 or 3 clients , dont have children so fuck it, I wanna go surfing when the waves are good, and work when i feel like working.<p>Please save your negative comments about freelancing, I wont change my decition.
The thing is worst thing that can happen is in 6 months Im starving and I need to find a new job. (getting interviews offer 2 or 3 times a week now, so that wont be a problem)<p>So asking for your experience, have you done this? ideas? thoughts? (again: only possitive experiences)
Great decision! I have done the same and not looked back.<p>The first few years are the worst. You’ll have times when you are worried and want to throw in the towel or just plain overwhelmed. Unless you are destitute and need the money from a full time job - push through this! The freedom on the other side is worth the sacrifice.<p>- Automate everything you can. Billing, business related payments, etc. Give yourself the option to skip a day or two and not think about it.<p>- Get a good CPA! Anything you need for the “business” is now a write off. The comments that you'll pay more in taxes are total BS. As an unmarried, childless and non home owning CA resident I lost over 42% of my income to taxes working for someone else. I now have an effective rate of ~25% when you take into account all the write offs.<p>- Once you establish yourself you can be more selective in not taking clients that tie you to a specific physical location. Accommodating timezones from the other side of the planet is far less demanding when you are doing it barefoot on the beach.<p>I played the startup game for a long time. I had some mild success but over same timeframe I would have made far more doing my own thing earlier. I now make substantially more than my fancy titled tech job. More so, I work far less and wouldn’t give up my free time to make more. I choose when I work, how I work and to some degree the type of work.<p>Last thing, don’t listen to the people who tell you it can’t be done or not worth it. I have witnessed a lot of people attempt this and fail with the number one reason by a large margin being succumbing to the doubt instilled by others. Worse, its instilled by people with no experience in doing it themselves or in some cases jealousy. Yes, it will be hard in the near term. Yes, you will have many failures along the way. Shake yourself off and start over. Find other like minded people to learn from.
Good Luck! My advice to you would be proof read any emails you're sending out. That stuff might not matter at a 9-5 (it should). But you won't get any work if you can't type a proper email without spelling mistakes.
Save for taxes. You can choose to pay quarterly to make it easier than paying a giant lump sum at the end of the yeaar Also, look into contributing to a SEP IRA (ask your accountant for more info).<p>Ask your ex-colleagues and coworkers for referrals. Many times my referrals are basically working as a consultant for past coworkers and their new companies.<p>Don't always work for the money. Give yourself some time to learn new stuff otherwise, you'll burn out and end up treating it like a regular job.
Save as much as you can, and don't forget there are three parts to freelancing:<p>Getting the work<p>Doing the work<p>Getting paid for the work<p>You have to take care of all three tasks.
Always be closing. Seriously. Everything needs to be logged and moved into your sales funnel.<p>Pick what matters, grow your team, trust your gut, and don't give up! :)<p>[side note] For some reason I read this post in Teddy KGB's (John Malkovich) voice from Rounders (1998) <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128442/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128442/</a>.
Do it. Life's too short to spend in the cubicle farm.<p>If you're currently in an expensive place like US/EU/Australia, relocate to a developing country that has good infrastructure and a low cost of living. This way you'll give yourself a <i>much</i> longer runway, and you can decide to work only part time if you want and still live comfortably while having a great work/life balance.<p>Thailand is a great choice; I've been here several years and know many other people who've done the same thing successfully - I've heard no regrets from any of them. My income is comparable with what I would be earning back home, but for every month of full time work I do I can afford to take two months off. I'm not going back.<p>Check out the "digital nomad" community, which will give you a lot of tips and advice on this lifestyle. It's not for everyone, but if you're young and single, you have no reason not to try.
Ah, the good old days! I spent the first half of my career freelancing, and the second working for the man. My current status is fine, but I do look back fondly on the freedom and the limited exposure to company stuff. It was no less work, though. I worked pretty damned hard to keep customers happy, and being freelance didn't take away the essentially obsessional nature of programming (for me). I learned to compensate by taking long trips between contracts, something that would be impossible with my current FTE status.<p>Best of luck.
I can't speak to the freelancing aspect, but I can to the fuck it quitting. I've been traveling the last two years, mostly in and around Vietnam. Vietnam is amazing, cheap, and I highly recommend it if you can work remotely. Places like Vung Tau and Mui Ne have some of the best kite surfing in the world.
The most rewarding parts for me were:<p>- Being valued for my results<p>- Having to learn skills in disciplines different than my specialty, such as law, sales, & accounting<p>- Getting better insight into my productivity/output levels (and being able set my schedule around when I was most productive)<p>- Solving a variety of different problems<p>- Never a dull moment!<p>Have fun!!
Unless your current clients can continuously refer you to your next one, expect to do a lot more talking (selling and spec'ing) than at your last job (assuming you were part of an engineering team as a programmer).<p>Great choice -- I did this two years ago and it changed everything :)