It happened this morning, which is odd \u2013 but everything happens sometime. In this case, it was at precisely 08:05am – and I have the chat log to prove it! A client asked a completely straightforward question \u2013 one they have every right to ask and every reason to expect an answer for. The question? \u201cWhen will it be ready?\u201d<\/p>\n
Something clicked in my head and it became clear to me I\u2019m done with freelance software development<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n Now I am not going to get all woe is me here. My clients have been fantastic to work with. I am very picky about the and and every single person I deal with regularly is someone I have a relationship with stretching back years and years. They have been incredibly tolerant of my demands as well. What demands? That I work from home, don\u2019t interface with their clients (I subcontract almost exclusively) and I choose my own technology and environments.<\/p>\n In short? I am a prima donna. <\/p>\n I have made a big pile of money doing this for a living and I love software development<\/strong>.<\/em> Developing software is not, essentially the problem. The problem is selling my hours, which is what freelancing is. The thing about selling hours is, I only have a max of 24 of them every day. In order to make more money then as a freelancer my options are…<\/p>\n That about covers it \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n To be honest, option 3 <\/strong>has always been in the cards. I have been working hard planning a number of strategies that get me out of this freelancing thing. I have been planning that for more than 15 years or so\u2026 I just have always priorities my current client projects over the other projects because once you take someone\u2019s money and make a promise you make it your top priority till you deliver. Anything else would be unethical. Except if your good at it, and I am, then there is always another project line up and you can go on from project to project thinking every time that after the next one you will take a break.<\/p>\n So far, it hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start a list\u2026<\/p>\n Finally, in the words of the great (albeit fictional) William Stranix played by the awesome Tommy Lee Jones\u2026<\/p>\n \u201c<\/b>I got tired of coming up with last-minute desperate solutions to impossible problems created by other fucking people.\u201d \u2013 William Stranix<\/a> in Under Siege<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n As of now, I am no longer taking on any new freelancing contracts. I will be devoting all my energy, attention and talent into finishing up the projects that are in the pipeline until I have fulfilled all my contractual obligations. I expect to be done with all of it by February 1, 2010. <\/p>\n If you are a client with a current contract do not worry, your work will get done \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n After that date I will still be available to my existing clients for various services, I will simply not be taking on \u201clarge\u201d software development. This leaves me with the ability to consult in other areas that interest me\u2026<\/p>\n I intend to do those things as needed to help myself and my clients prosper \u2013 but to put less than 25% of my work energy into those areas. <\/p>\n I have a number of projects in the works. We will discuss them when I am ready \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It happened this morning, which is odd \u2013 but everything happens sometime. In this case, it was at precisely 08:05am – and I have the chat log to prove it! A client asked a completely straightforward question \u2013 one they have every right to ask and every reason to expect an answer for. The question? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":53198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[286],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3734"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/legacyiamsenseiken.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The problem<\/h3>\n
The options<\/h3>\n
\n
And you picked?<\/h3>\n
Why now?<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
What kind of work will you still take on for clients?<\/h3>\n
\n
And the rest of your time?<\/h3>\n