IKSLM wrote: I was thinking about freelancing (the middle man is "$&%/!#=?*") and i see people here have experience with this kind of business. My question is; can you live with only the "freelancing income"? My fear is that with the freelancing i will not be able to generate enough of the income to fuel all the things i have going on.
You can. I did for many years. But you have to be aware of a few things, and capable of being disciplined.
1. You have to be hyper aware of the industry. For example, I was originally a Delphi programmer. I had to see years ahead that Delphi was going out, and be aware of the signs. Then I had to reposition myself, which leads to the second point
2. You have to be willing to remake yourself. In my case, moving from a lucrative Delphi consulting to C# was not exactly easy, nor straightforward. I first reinvented myself as a Delphi -> C# guru, which let me work on my c# skills, while legitimately providing value to the client. I became quite good at it, and quite known in that niche, which leads me to the third point...
3. You have to know when it's time to move. I could have become pigeonholed in that niche. There were still people willing to pay for my expertise. But moving when I did allowed that to be a subsection on my resume, rather than the whole of my resume.
4. You have to be disciplined enough to keep a good portion back for the lean times. I tried to keep a year in savings. And I was glad when a new contract took 6 months to pay. I just lived off of that, and was able to maintain a cordial relationship with them, knowing that they would pay (a successful fortune 500 firm), even though what they were asking was truly unreasonable.
5. You have to be willing to endure the lean times, in order to make the best money. You're only worth what your last contract paid. Many people make the mistake (because of not adhering to point 4 above) of taking a contract at a cut rate in order to get money flowing in. You have to play the long game.
6. Don't burn bridges. This is good in general, but when you work by word of mouth, for yourself, with no safety net... it's gospel.
7. Stay above the fray. It's easy to get drawn into the politics you see all around you in one way or another- you can't afford that level of attachment. Do your work, present the facts, and let everyone else with tenure take care of the rest.
8. Go in as if it's your last day everyday. Because it might well be. I advised a client one time that it was too early to end my contract. They said they were sorry to let me go, and I countered with the fact that I was talking about them, not me. I would be working Monday, and they would need me, and my rates would be drastically increased because of the after work angle. They let me go. I was working Monday. And they called me Tuesday. They didn't give me the chance to ramp down, and make sure their people were in a position to take the work on. Which leads to...
9. Be confident, but not arrogant. They're bringing you in because of a particular lack. You might not know everything, but take responsibility for finding out if you don't know right then. Because that's the reason you're getting the big bucks. But you don't want to rub it into the faces of the people around you. You want to be friendly, generous, and humble to those you're working with... which leads into...
10. Make use of those around you. You might be the best architect, the best coder, with the best credentials. But if you're doing well, you're going to be in situations where you don't know the business. That's where you rely on those that you're working with, and cultivate those relationships- and the people. In exchange for their help, leave them with something. Don't be afraid that you're going to make them better than you, or give away your trade secrets. I've stayed for a lot longer than I probably would have otherwise by following this rule. When they see that others are productive around you, and that that you're contributing to the enterprise, your worth skyrockets beyond what they're paying you.
Those are my tips. I'm sure there are others. But you can make a living doing it. You just have to be willing to accept a lot of risk, and a lot of stressful situations (but not necessarily stress). I stopped because I can no longer accept the risk, and wanted to slow down.
HTH!