Open Thread: How Do You Know When to Go Solo?
A Web Worker Daily reader asks:
Recently, I have been mulling over the decision to go out on my own and be a full time freelancer. Do you have any advice on goal setting or any other good measures on when it would be a wise decision to move from being an employee to going out on your own? I have been developing sites on the side for 6 months now and have gotten a pretty good flow of business just on word of mouth.
Full-timers might want to have the next few months of work pretty well pipelined along with a financial backup plan before making the leap. The backup plan could be six months savings in the bank, family who can help you out in a crunch, or the ability to quickly get temporary work through an agency. Of course, you’ll also have to arrange for health insurance if you aren’t covered by a spouse’s benefits.
What do you think, readers? If you’re a soloist, how did you decide when to make the leap? Or are you considering it right now?
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Before I went solo I made sure I have enough savings to survive for 8 months (that was really hard and took a long time).
Moreover, try moonlighting first. That’s really hard and stressful, but if you can do, then you are up for the challenge.
Going on your own is not easy; you will have to do what you do plus accounting, sales and marketing so get ready for 10h+/day including weekends.
The decision is much easier if you are young and on your own (my case).
I tried freelancing when I was about 19 or so, but I didn’t have any idea what I was doing because I had no business management experience. I just went with the flow of my job at the time when working in Production at a newspaper.
At the beginning of 2006 I thought I’d have another go at it, since then I’ve had a few websites and freelance graphic work thats come in on the side. Websites, web hosting, dvd production, brochures, business cards, and whole packages. While the work flow isn’t steady (I have a full time job and can’t dedicate time to my freelance work as yet), I still get bits and pieces with that money coming in handy for spending on things I want :)
I spent about 3 months researching at the start of 2006 and I’m slowly persuing businesses about work in my spare time. But you can never do enough research!
Now I work full time in I.T., I study, I have my freelance work on occasion and I run some hobby sites which give me the chance to learn more development and how to use the tools available to me on the web.
The decision may be “easier” when you’re young, but it’s more urgent when you’re, uh, middle-aged. It’s no fun to hear your doctor tell you that your next order of business is to get the hell out of your job. I’ll take unemployment and no stroke over employment and a stroke, thank you very much!
I’m considering going full-time myself. I’m just about at the point where I can support myself financially without my regular paycheck … but saving up 6 months’ worth of income might be a good idea.
I was working solo full time long before I hit the internet with a website. Now for the relavent searches, I come up top and I am always booked solid if not over booked.
I would suggest reading this book by Dan miller. Its titled 48 days to the work you love. He has a website too ( and a blog!) at http://www.48days.com. Reading this book will make a world of difference. I would also suggest building a solid portfolio, establishing brochures and business cards and let them float freely. Cater to businesses just starting out in the internet world. Find those people by finding local businesses in your area ( doctors & dentists too) that lack a website. Send them a brochure and follow up with a phone call or “special offer”. I would also say to build a financial nest, just in case. Blessings Diana Adams
Well, in retrospect, its kind of funny how i decided to take the leap. A total irrational decision to leave a well paid job at one of the best software companies to work with. I had no idea of what I will make or where I will get work from. I had no contacts at all that could fetch me some work. I just had an extreme fear of ending up doing some work which I didn’t want to, for the rest of my life. I did had few advantages though, I am still in my late 20s, unmarried and some bucks saved for the rainy days. Probably more than any of these advantages, it was the burning desire to create something, to hear that “Wow!” from the clients and the fear of ending up doing nonsense stuff for rest of my life, that pushed me to take a leap. Things have been working up slowly since I left my job. But it took lot of convincing initially to get projects from clients, since I didn’t had any portfolio to show either (ouch! one of those Catch 22 situations).
So what I have noticed is that there are many things which you can worry about later once you have taken the leap, rather then waiting for everything to get right before you start. I would say, you would be very lucky person, if you can get everything right and make a seamless move to world of full time freelancing. But yes, there are few things which would be really necessary before you make a move:
a). You got to have something in pocket, if you want to take on this adventure.
b). At-least an idea of product you want to build or the things you can do to get projects.
c). Lots of patience and passion.
But yes, its really not easy decision to make, and it becomes even more difficult once you start it, here is why: Why not to do a startup
My advice is probably not good advice, but it comes from my experience, for what’s it worth.
The way I operate is this: at any given time, I work on several things at once. I have two priorities: how interesting a project is to me, and how much money it makes me. Projects that make me little money and aren’t interesting slowly move to the back of the line, until I cut them off completely. I balance the rest depending on the current state of affairs.
The disadvantage of this is having no life outside of work, plus it’s impossible if you have a family. You also need a lot of energy to be able to do this. The advantage is I’m never bored, and I have multiple income streams (at this point in time, I have six). Some of those are almost completely passive.
The bottom line is this: you don’t have to jump from one stone to the next. You can juggle several things at once.
I have a slightly different viewpoint, because I’ve actually never had a non-freelance full time job – I started my freelance career right out of college, mostly due to a lack of jobs that I actually wanted to take and a fear of ending up in a field I hated down the road. Two years later, I can’t imagine doing anything else. I’m a writer/blogger/new media consultant ( and clearly, I’m still trying to decide what to put on my new business cards).
Of course, it probably is much easier to go solo when you’re young, single, and still used to the college lifestyle. After all, even a studio apartment seems big after a dorm room!
I love how these articles always make “full-time employment” into some kind of mythical utopia where Dad’s rich and Momma’s good-lookin’
The truth is the boss can and will throw you out on the sidewalk where you will do a 20 yard face-slide into a lightpole so fast it will take a couple seconds for your teeth to catch up. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been there, how much you make for the company, how good a job you do or how qualified you are. Every single non-CEO in the modern workplace is never more than 15 minutes from an empty office.
You’re all freelancing now. Your company just hasn’t gotten around to firing you yet. Face it.
Some good advice up above. It’s hard to know precisely what to suggest to the writer, without knowing their situation. Family? Risk tolerance? Skillset? Network? Local market?
But anyway, I’ll open my big fat mouth. I jumped out on my own when I came back from a big trip in 2003. I guess I had 3 or 4 months of expenses in the bank. I cut my expenses to the bone, pinged people I had worked with relentlessly for work and made things go.
As for goals, or how you know when you should go solo: when you think you have enough work for the next 3 months (again, I’m a developer, not a new media consultant or graphic designer). When you have lined up some of the paperwork (corporation, taxes, health insurance). When your current job isn’t giving you want you want. When you have 6 months of expenses in the bank (not current lifestyle expenses, but ‘oh crap, I’ll be eating peanut butter and jelly again’ expenses). When you’ve sat down and talked to a couple of contractors in your area (both geography and expertise) and asked them how things are.
Hope this helps.