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Discussion on: I am a full-time freelancer aged 21. I work mostly in PHP and React. Last year I made approximately $75,000 in revenue. AMA!

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deadcoder0904 profile image
Akshay Kadam (A2K)

Congrats again, Richard!

What would you do differently if you were to do it all over again? Any advice for first-time freelancer who is just starting out?

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pretzelhands profile image
pretzelhands

Thank you!

For advice regarding first-time freelancers I wrote a big list in one of the other comments, so I recommend checking that out!

As for what I would do differently, there's not that many things. But here's a list:

  • Have more runway: I feel like things would have gone a lot better if I had 12 months of runway instead of 6-7.

  • Acquire clients while employed: This is the big one. Aside from saving some extra money, looking for clients while in my old job would have been smart. Build up a few connections and when you have enough a contract or two ready to sign pull the trigger. You would have a lot less risk that way.

  • Starting solo: Since I started out with a colleague by my side, I would opt to not do that instead. Yes the talking is nice, but it means that you immediately have to pull in twice as much revenue to keep both of you afloat. That can be immensely difficult.

  • Invest in a better home office space: This one I noticed recently. My first year I worked out of coffee shops which was nice, but at home I only had the kitchen. I'd invest in a home office setup sooner so that when I am actually at home, work is as comfortable as possible. You will be spending a lot of time there, so might as well make it nice.