Top 10 Misconceptions of Software Freelancing

“ ”
top 10
misconceptions
of software
freelancing
john hann
@unscriptable
Saturday, November 13, 2010

who wants to make
$$$$$$$$?

go back and get your
mba and follow the
advice of these books

that’s what i did*!
*except for the mba part

revenues > $100k/mo
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2
$11,000 $16,000
$30,000
$47,000
$63,000
$79,000
$103,000
$161,000
revenue proﬁt

sales cramming the
pipeline
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2
0.5
1
1.2
33
3.5
5
6
project duration
new projects per month

it kinda
sucked
the money was good, really good. :)
but i wasn’t 100% happy.
i wanted to code!

but i wasn’t going to
give up the money
:(

luckily, the 2001-2003
recession hit
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2
$23,000
-$4,000
-$16,000 -$16,000
$127,000
$79,000
$54,000
$37,000
revenue proﬁt

it was a painful
period of debt
repayment and
layoffs

but in 2004,
something magical
happened
(besides paying off my business debts)

i became passionate*
about javascript
*a.k.a. “obsessed”

i was also no longer a
consultant, nor a
contractor

i was ﬁnally a
software freelancer

but i had a lot of
unlearning to do

8 years running a
consulting ﬁrm did
not prepare me to be
a freelancer

i had a few
delusions… and got
tons of bad advice
from others

bad advice is like herpes

top 10*
misconceptions of
software
freelancing
*in no particular order
IMHO YMMV RTFM BBQ ROFL

“ ”the ﬁrst order of
business is to ﬁll
your pipeline

what they preach

reality check:
clients aren’t going to
wait for you

there is no pipeline

you’ve got to get out
there and ﬁnd clients
(and stay out there)

“ ”
recruiters are a
cheap and easy
alternative to
marketing myself

recruiter !=
career
coach

you must be in
control.
plot your own career
path

otherwise you’re just
a career contractor*
*oxymoron. contracting can not be a career

“ ”it’s ok to start out
at a low rate to get
a great client

$$ –> $$$?
how are you gonna justify this?

ﬂuctuating rates
strain the client
relationship

always start out high
and let the client
negotiate a good deal

walk away if the
client can’t agree to
your
minimum rate

“ ”
you need to ﬁnd a
client that’ll hire
you full-time for 3+
years

it’s “free”-lancing!
don’t chain yourself
to a client

skills stagnation +
revenue stagnation
–––––––––––––––––––
career death

“ ”
i need to learn
[popular skill*]
cuz that’s where
the jobs are
* asp.net, java, etc.

java
asp.net
node.js
jQuery
dojo

java
asp.net
node.js
recruiters
college
grads
unemployed
jQuery
clueless
dojo

indeed.com
java, asp.net – mature markets

indeed.com
dojo, jQuery – expanding markets

indeed.com
node.js – nascent market?

“ ”
the more skills i
put on my resumé,
the more
marketable i'll be

Jane Duzitall
Core Skills:
XHTML, HTML5, CSS2.1, CSS3,
JavaScript, jQuery, Dojo, Prototype,
Scriptaculous, Sproutcore, Mootols,
Mochikit, ASP, ASP.Net, VB, VB.Net, C#, C,
C++, 80x86 Assembler, Ruby, Rails, JSP,
Java, Spring, Sprong, SQL Server, MySQL,
Oracle, Sybase, Firebird, Postgres,
Berkeley, MongoDB, CouchDB

andy the one-man
bandy
kenny g
which one’s getting the
high-paying gigs?

andy the one-man
bandy
kenny g
which one’s getting the
high-paying gigs?
X

which one’s got clients
calling him?
andy the one-man
bandy
kenny g

which one’s got clients
calling him?
andy the one-man
bandy
kenny g
✓

experienced clients
seek specialists

“ ”one-man bands do
better during
recessions

which one’s still making
a buck?
andy the one-man
bandy
kenny g

a buck?
?andy the one-man
bandy
kenny g

a buck?
? ?andy the one-man
bandy
kenny g

a) goes hungry
b) takes a long vacation
c) reduces her rate
d) lays low until the market recovers
e) none of the above
what’s a specialist do in
a recession?

what’s a specialist do in
a recession?
lives off her nest egg
taps her long list of happy clients
ﬁnds creative ways to provide value
networks and travels more than ever
contributes more heavily to oss and blogs

“ ”i need more
experience to get
the good clients

awesome clients seek
passion

but where do they
look?
the internetz, duh!

experiment, tinker,
blog, contribute
create an online presence.
demonstrate your passion.

github is your resumé
your blog is your
marketing site

open source software
projects need your
brain
and awesome clients love oss

“ ”
i should ﬁre the
bottom 20%* of
my clients every
year
*80/20 rule, a.k.a. the “Pareto Principle”

yes and no

deﬁne “bottom”

deﬁne “bottom”
a) not interesting (not your passion)
b) high stress
c) no leverage

(no references, not bloggable)
d) small $$$
e) all of the above

pursue the most
exciting, most
bloggable gigs
no matter how small
low stress is good, too

even better:
eject the bottom 20%
of your resumé every
year
cuz your resumé sucks, dude

everything on your
resumé should sell
your value and your
passion
ditch everything else

“ ”
i'm gonna
moonlight b/c full-
time freelancing is
too risky

some things that are
riskier than freelancing
relying on others for your paycheck
not managing your own career

1) ﬁnd an expanding niche you can be

passionate about
2) experiment, tinker, blog, contribute
3) get out there / get noticed (meetups,

social networks, online communities)
4) avoid the easy path (recruiters,

job sites)
5) watch for your next passion
jump in with both feet

or not…
1) ﬁnd a simple, part-time gig
2) obsessively over-deliver
3) get a reference (put it online)
4) blog about what you did (think value)
5) repeat, aiming for a better gig / rate
6) quit your lame-ass job when you score

an awesome gig / rate

“ ”i’m going to learn
how to freelance
from a “top 10” list
bonus misconception

go create your own
strategy

questions?

vital tools
github.com
twitter.com
quora.com
stackoverﬂow.com
groups.google.com
lanyrd.com
meetup.com
indeed.com
linkedin.com
irc & mail lists

image credits
“we ate ur bills” – icanhascheezburger.com
“donut herpes” – myfoodlooksfunny.com
“ticket line” – u2albumreview.com
“one man band” – ﬂickr.com/photos/randychiu/
“kenny g” – idiomag.com
“dog tied up” – ﬂickr.com/photos/clintjcl

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