Ask HN: Is it a good time to start freelancing?

The key to successful freelancing is the ability to network, cold-call, negotiate and sell. Only after you have successfully completed these steps are you in a position to actually perform the work. Then you still have to invoice and collect the monies owing.

I have freelanced on and off for a couple of decades. Due to the amount of not-technical work required, I find working through agencies more effective.

Economic conditions don't determine when it is a good time to freelance.

People throwing money at you to take their project, is an ok time to freelance.

To a first approximation, there is no good time to freelance because to a first approximation, every potential freelancer is under-capitalized.

Yes, there are success stories, but generally building a successful consulting business means years and years building a base of good clients and even a little initial good luck (like landing one good client right away) doesn't change that.

Good luck.

If it's something you really want to do, I suggest you start doing it despite the world situation. You can't postpone your dream lifestyle by 3+ years only because there's a recession or whatever else. It might be harder than it would have 5-6 years ago, but also if you start now when the economy gets better again you'll be in a fantastic position.

As usual, the advice is to start on the side while having a job, so I wouldn't recommend quitting your day job and going into freelancing with 0 clients. But there's different ways of going about it that are not as abrupt (freelancing on the weekend, reducing your current hours, finding a different part-time job..)

I do freelancing. Any one person‘s advice is going to be from a pretty low sample size, but here is mine: the specific industry and the geography you have contacts in matters a ton more than “the economy“ that you read about in the headlines. Maybe that’s a good thing, or maybe a bad thing, but I would recommend talking to the exact people you would be trying to sell your services to.

If you cannot get meetings with those people, it is not a good time to start regardless of the overall economy

Are you asking whether it's a good time to start freelancing full time or at all?

If the former, my advice is usually that if you have to ask, the answer is no. If you have enough work piling up to require you to freelance full time, then freelance full time. Otherwise, you're asking for pain. In my experience, the people who do well as a freelancer already have a solid professional reputation established, a network of people who are eager to give them work, etc.

If the latter, then yes, absolutely. IMO: every software engineer should take on freelance work every once in a while (time and circumstances permitting). Handling the entire end-to-end process (sales, discovery, implementation, delivery, payment, etc -- not necessarily in that order) not only helps build understanding of why things happen the way they do at work (especially if you work at an agency/consulting firm), but it helps to build communication skills that are helpful to your day job.

I think its good time. Theres still lots of money around and companies which are profitable are investing in their solutions. Ive recently started working for US companies from my EU location and there seems to be very much need for my services. In fact I can pick how much and for who I do my freelancing work.

IMHO, this is the perfect time to start building for yourself because 2023 is going to be highly unpredictable in terms of your main stint stability. Companies will start finding freelancers instead of full-timers for their non-core verticals.

External variables such as pandemic or inflation do not directly affect the freelance community because each company/clients manages its accounts differently. The few keys are word of mouth, networking and the quality of the work offered. Obviously the price issue often comes into play but it is more dependent on your competitors than on "undesirable" and uncontrollable effects.

I've never noticed a big link between the stock market and my freelancing business. Perhaps there are more laid-off developers looking to freelance during a downturn, but companies also hire more contractors/freelancers during times of economic uncertainty and hiring freezes.

In any case, economic conditions count for about zero compared to your leads and sales skills.

Now is as good a time as any. In fact, starting a business - and that's what freelancing is - during an economic downturn isn't a bad idea at all: Less competition, more opportunity to niche down, potential clients who will actually need your services and will continue to do so when the economic outlook is better again.

I think so if there's a value in your service.

https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/consultin...

Any hints as to the profession you might try practicing freelance, your experience in it, or the geographical area you're hoping to work in?

Normal jobs become harder to acquire during economic "down" periods. Hunting freelance remains the same in my experience.