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Comment by mcv | Hacker News Reader

I'd been a freelancer for a couple of years, when I talked to a recruiter about switching to a salaried position. He refused. Said there was no going back from freelancing to regular employee. At the time, I thought he was stupid and closed minded. Last year I wasted a couple of months proving him right.

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i happily left freelance years ago because i got sick of the hustle of hunting down clients and then convincing them i was worth hiring and then convincing them not to shoot themselves in the foot and then watching them do it anyway and ..... ugh.

I'd happily work for myself with some sort of SAAS thing again, but no way i want to go back to freelancing unless I'm desperate.

There are different ways to freelance. I'm following the coward's way: recruiters ask me for big long-term projects, and I work as freelancer on those projects. Just one project at a time, little time and effort wasted on acquisition, and I still get more money and freedom than a regular employee.

Agree - if you hate your freelancing setup, consider a change in setup. I've basically got it where I have two long term ongoing clients where I'm effectively a part part time remote employee. Weekly checkins, do 10 hours a week, minimal fuss. If you aren't being respected as a professional, consider if your rate is too low. I'm charging $125/hr and it's actually increased the quality of clients. Of course this assumes you are sufficiently good enough to be worth a high rate and can self-manage.

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