Freelance without water: personal experience freelance engineer

In the view of many of freelancing - the ideal form of employment. You choose yourself where, when and how you work is not tied to the office and for the most part his own master. And it's really true. More precisely, only part of it.

Today we offer you the post of Mikhail Tsarev, who a few years ago, decided to leave the organization in which he worked and went to the free swimming, that is engaged in freelancing. The risk was justified, and now Michael is engaged in development of own project - "Studio Mikhail Tsarev». We are confident that his experience will be useful for people who think about the fact, to start working for yourself.

Having read many articles about freelancing on Layfhakere and other resources, wanted to share his view on the life of a modern freelancer. I try to write in the case, but not in the style of "7 errors", "3 Reasons" and so on. N., But a little poetry will still be. The article is addressed to all who belong (or are planning to treat) to freelance as its core business

and, possibly, as a step towards building their own business. At the end of the article provides practical guidance for those who are going to join the way of life "self-employed".

Why I left the office?

Very often we deal with the opinion that freelancers - is some losers, who had no career prospects, "nedospetsialisty", which values ​​the company did not bring, and the team get along can. I am going to retire? Yes, we are only too happy! And out of despair man goes into freelancing. Many actually believe in this myth. But I do not agree with him. In my case it was offered to stay, and the conditions were very interesting, that's just the desire to be already gone. Why? any man's problem is that, whatever he was doing, sooner or later he would get tired of it. If you came as an engineer - sit yourself, "engineer", year after year and not put out - what you design what you marketing? Of course, projects will be different, but that's a problem with them in the framework of a single organization will be the same: "we have so accepted." Over time, it begins to feel sick from it. On top of that your growth as a professional will be very one-sided and quickly rested into the ceiling. Change the organization in senior positions? As an option, yes. But the play will still have by someone else's rules and in a narrow corridor.

In this sense, freelancing - an excellent remedy for those who are interested to constantly evolve in several directions and, most importantly, flexible and painless update these directions if desired. In my opinion, no more sad fate than all his life engaged in unloved business. A choice made in 18–20 years old, not so often it proves to be correct. The destiny of man - a project life-long, and I personally would like to have full control over it.

Is this true freedom?

Freelancing Opponents argue that the "free floating" and not so free, because now every customer - your new boss. But the fact that this will be true only for those who agree with the statement itself. Everything comes from the head. My freelance - a "corporation name I". Client - my contractor, my partner, but not superior. We are with him, period. And maybe it's just luck, but customers who would argue with that, I have not yet come across.

Freelance - true freedom. Here only it is too early to rejoice. For now, among other things, you are free, and more from the regular flow of finance, stable Project load, insurance, hospital, communicate with colleagues and other components of life "Office slave".

What you waiting for?

First I would like to divide the list into two parts - both positive and negative moments, but in the process of writing realized that most of the items will be a plus for the one, but the disadvantage for the other. Everything is very individual and depends on the character, so that up to you:

• You'll have to take full responsibility for their lives.
• You yourself will decide when, where and how much to work.
• You yourself will decide when, where, how, and most importantly, what to relax.
• You will pay only for the actual work done, rather than the "at work", therefore, a freelancer living (includes family) and eating / not eating only what he could / could not earn.
• You can choose for myself and change the scope of its activities and further development, but will be deprived of the right to cease to develop.
• You're going to move very little and you will start to gain weight (yes, time on the road was not so and useless), will be forced to engage in sports even harder and more carefully monitor their health and body.
• Even the introvert will miss interacting with people.
• You will be easier to set aside time to meet with friends (but if most of your friends work for five days, do not be surprised that you will begin to distance themselves: common problems (talking points) over time will become more and less).
• You'll have to constantly evolve in the direction of which you probably never before thought (or did not want thinking): sales, marketing, accounting, strategy and tactics of negotiation, personal branding, and more more.
• The competition will swallow you as soon as you stop in its development.
• You can not for a long time to stay afloat, if he can not create for himself (or will find and modify existing) system and methods of accounting time customers, revenues, costs, and pricing policy and a strategy for further development.
• Among other concerns, you will never forget about these: budget planning and finding customers.
• You'll have to learn to communicate with people.
• Circle of acquaintances will be constantly expanding, and it will add interest, but sometimes it is very unusual people.
• You will understand how much it means a quiet and comfortable workplace, and not the fact that your apartment is suitable under these criteria.
• Responsibility and punctuality should be synonymous with your name.
• your income level will depend on how much you creative, talented and diligent in their work.

If you are still thinking whether freelancing, just honestly answer the question for you: 80% of what you have read above - this is a plus or a minus?

How to start? practical recommendations

On the topic of work + freelance freelancing or just walking a lot of controversy. I am of the opinion that if you already have a permanent job, then you should start with a clear alignment. And it does not mean to engage in "hack" in working time - you have the evenings, weekends and in case of emergency at night. Should resign only when the income from freelancing grow and this activity is fun and work really begins to interfere with the further development of your business.

Before firing necessarily Skopje amount for which you (and your family) will be able to spend at least six months. My mistake was that I have accumulated only two months of "autonomy" and the time when the money ran out, a constant flow of customers still did not. In general, do not repeat this mistake, it can be costly: it is really nothing to eat, nothing to pay for housing, and relationships with loved ones will begin to heat up. Well, if you will, and once you begin to earn not bad, it is still not in a hurry to spend their savings. Let it be your personal stabilization fund, which is useful in a period of calm among the clients (eg, summer), and you have not just mentally thank me for this advice. Generally, the transition should be prepared, with prepared in advance.

If you already know what kind of services you will sell to people, make sure that there is a demand (information on testing niches on the web is full of - I see no reason to repeat). Again, if you do not know - Solve this question before you write a letter of resignation. And, most importantly, first try: find the customer has received and fulfilled the order. Once I tasted, considering the time of fulfillment of the order and compared with payment on the current place of work. You may find that the game is not worth the candle. For example, a freelance engineer in Russia is poorly developed because the engineering activities, as a rule, very much tied to a specific production. Orders in the field of mechanical engineering is almost impossible to find. It is for this reason that I have been freelancing combined with the main work. Be ready to change. I'll slowly turn to the projects related to real estate and design, t. To. In this sector work more.

Finding clients, exchange and competition

Most of the time a novice freelancer holds in the constant search of customers.

Many recommend beginners to go to the exchange. Honestly, I can not imagine how a novice can get the order on the stock exchange, given the current state of affairs. Profile without feedback and completed orders can attract the customer unless a meager price. But, firstly, working for "food", you quickly lose interest, and secondly, dumping, it is known to kill any market. That is what we have now in most modern exchanges for freelancers: spoiled customers in search of free labor and the newcomers, who fight passionately for any order.

Competing with freelancers from Belarus and Ukraine will be quite an interesting challenge for you: if you can prove to the client that you are rightly asking for the same work twice or even three times as much? Press on the "quality" will not always, t. To. The quality of these guys are very often truly "level." How to solve this problem? Think for yourself: very much depends on the particular industry, but the problem exists, and it is a fact.

It would be unwise to criticize the exchanges and offer nothing in return. My answer - social networks. It's really a very convenient way to search for customers: you can search and segment potential customers by age, profession, geography and conduct spot mailing of its offer (not to be confused with spam) to communicate directly with people to create their community and receive orders through it, choose whom what and under what conditions you can offer.

Also worth mentioning message boards and forums. At the initial stage should not neglect these methods to attract customers - it really works.

The main task for a freelancer for the first year - to make a name for himself. To do this, collect feedback. And social networks and then come to the rescue: reviews left "alive" people in your group or pablike - a very good contribution to creating a personal brand.

The next step is the creation of the site: on it you can publish more information about yourself and their services, portfolio, reviews of social networking and feedback directly to the left website. If everything is done correctly, then over time you get new customers from search engines.

Who could argue with such an approach, someone will stand up for the dignity of exchanges, I described his personal experience, and now simply say, "It will not work", - it has not come out. Ultimately, the task of finding customers everyone decides for himself. It's pretty complicated, but interesting and creative process. Obviously, the higher your level will be as a specialist, the less you will worry about the problem of competition and finding customers.

How much do you earn or where the promised millions?

You should not have any illusions on that freelancers - a very wealthy people. It is often said that the average income of a freelancer above average salary level of his professional working in the organization. In fact it is true, but often forget to add that this is true for an equal number of working hours. A freelancer, especially as a beginner, it may simply not have the number of orders to work 160 hours per month. More honest, in my opinion, will this assessment: having established all processes that you can not earn less than permanent work, with work half the time. For example, I used to spend on the road for 3.5 hours per day. I thought it was that in 8 years I spent in the subway, traffic, buses and shuttles 8 months of his life. Opening impressed me. At the moment I tend to work for 3.5-4 hours per day, 5 days a week. That is the time that I had spent on the road. Income thus comparable to my income in the company at the time of dismissal. But it is necessary to clarify that it was just about working on the project, but a few hours a day is spent on work with clients and project development. Just a few hours - on the development of oneself as a professional: reading books and thematic forums, viewing various video tutorials. From this can not be avoided, but the amount we get a total of 8 hours a day. And most importantly, I work at your own schedule: something to do early in the morning, something in the afternoon, if you wish on creative tasks can work and in the evening. I have no "again Monday" and "finally Fridays."

As you can see, there is not millions. But I knowingly wrote in the beginning of the article about the attitude to freelancing as a step towards the creation of businesses. The next stage of your development (of course, if you want) will shift from direct execution of project management. After all, no matter how you may be a professional, to sell more than 24 hours of their time per day, you can not, and this is unlikely. So that the financial ceiling is considered to be very easy. And if one of your orders is increasing, and the time begins to be missed - it's time to think about creating a team. Find reliable performers are not so simple, but still the task doable. If the case goes, it makes sense to start their own company, officially hire people even rent an office. Working as a team, you will understand that a million of profit - is not so much. Just be prepared for the fact that at one point, your best employee put on the table a letter of resignation - nothing personal, he just decided to start a new, free life ...

Summary

The main idea that I wanted to carry through the whole article: freelance - it highly cool, but it highly not for all.

Someone is willing to live their lives on "auto-tuning", but if you prefer to "manual mode", the think, analyze, act - will succeed!

Everything stated above - my personal opinion, the truth does not pretend. I will be glad to discuss the details and argue in the comments.