DEV Community: otavio99

You Don't Need Confidence to Make Your Ideas Work

otavio99 — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:49:08 +0000

Too often, people stall because they want the idea to be perfect before showing it to the world.

But confidence isn’t a precondition. It’s a byproduct of experimenting.

Instead of aiming to feel “sure” try this:

Draft a rough version of your offer
Show it to 3 people who could actually benefit
Ask what’s missing, what’s confusing, what feels useful

This is how value is built, not in your head, but in the exchange.

Experiments lower the stakes. They move you forward. Clarity comes after action, not before.

So if you’re stuck, don’t wait to feel ready.

Design a small experiment. Talk to real people. And stay curious about what happens next.

How to identify 20% of what you need to do that actually matters

otavio99 — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 20:21:55 +0000

Something that has helped me more than once is to imagine that 80% of the results I seek will come from just 20% of my efforts.

But how to figure out what are the 20% that matters?

I don't have a definitive method, but here's something that's been working for me lately:

First, I write down the main outcome I'm aiming for with a given project or effort.
Then, I list all the tasks that feel relevant to achieving that outcome.
From that list, I pick one task that seems most essential, yes just one.
Over the course of a week or more, I focus only on that task and observe: What other tasks do I feel pulled to do, even when I've already committed to my main one? Then I allow myself to slowly starting the other ones until I feel okay with it.

Doing it helps me see which tasks are genuinely critical versus which ones just feel urgent in the moment.

A personal example

I was building an MVP and kept getting flooded with new ideas.It quickly got overwhelming because I didn't have the time to implement everything.

So I picked the one feature I believed mattered most and focused only on improving that for two weeks.

When I revisited my long list of ideas afterward, most didn't feel necessary anymore, they were just distractions that seemed exciting at the time.

Dreaming of working for yourself is anything but easy.

otavio99 — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 01:05:30 +0000

Because we’re constantly feeling:

The anxiety of not knowing where to start.
The overwhelm of too much information.
The stress of trying to handle everything at once.

Something that has helped me more than once is to imagine that 80% of the results I seek will come from just 20% of my efforts.

By eliminating what isn’t essential, you make space for what truly matters to get your full attention.

Sonhar em trabalhar por conta própria não é nada fácil.

otavio99 — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 23:18:46 +0000

Sonhar em trabalhar por conta própria não é nada fácil.

Pois estamos sempre sentindo:

Ansiedade de não saber por onde começar.
Sobrecarga de informações.
Estresse de tentar dar conta de tudo.

Algo que já me ajudou algumas vezes foi imaginar que 80% dos resultados que busco virão de apenas 20% dos meus esforços.

Ao eliminar o que não é essencial, você permite que o que realmente importa receba mais atenção.

Upwork Isn’t Enough Anymore. And That’s Okay

otavio99 — Thu, 08 May 2025 08:06:57 +0000

I used to think I just needed to send more proposals.

Boost the right gigs. Optimize my profile.

But over time, I realized something deeper was off, not just with the platform, but with the entire freelance ecosystem.

If you go to Upwork, at first, it looks like jobs are popping up all the time.

Feels like opportunity, right?

But most of these jobs are low-paying, low-quality, or outright spammy.

It's getting disheartening.

During the pandemic, I managed to land some gigs after just a couple of proposals (and I was a total noob who had just graduated). I even got a long-term client without having to pay a cent.

Afterwards I managed to land a full-time job as a PHP Developer and then I decided to focus only on it.

But when I came back to Upwork last year looking to make some extra money in my free time, the difference was shocking.

Dry as a desert, full of water you can't drink.

I won't completely rule out the idea that Upwork may be prioritizing profits over the quality of job posts.

But the truth is probably simpler: the market has shifted.

There are too many freelancers and not enough good, serious clients.

In the past, just out of curiosity, I tried some alternatives, Discord groups, Facebook communities, and even small local networks.

The same thing happens every time. Freelancers flood the space. Clients? Nowhere to be seen. They seem to be hiding.

Why?

Most clients aren't actively looking to solve all their problems. Heck, they might not even realize they have a problem at all.

Many run their business for years with a buggy site or no site at all. And the ones who do have a budget might prefer hiring in-house.

What's left are clients who have some money, but not many demands. I do believe some would love to spend more with freelancers, but often they'd rather learn how to do part of the work themselves or find a way to get it done with AI.

Freelancing outside of platforms isn't easy either.

Try doing an unsolicited audit and sending it via cold email. Most won't even reply. Not because your offer is bad, but because their attention is on running their business. They might have real problems worth hiring for, but they're not talking about them publicly --- and you won't know unless you get them to reply.

So yeah, it feels like there's no easy path. Platforms are crowded and expensive, but outside of them isn't much better.

Still, here's why I lean toward going off-platform. Once you land a client, they're yours. No middleman taking a 15 percent cut. No platform rules to follow. And you can actually build something meaningful for yourself long term.

That's why my takeaway is this: freelancing today requires treating yourself like a business. No more waiting around for the platform to hand you a gig.

I've come to terms with spending six bucks running a local ad, with a landing page explaining my offer. Actually, I probably won't even run ads at first, just do some old-school lead generation through Google Maps and cold email, while growing a social media presence on the side. If what I offer is good, eventually I'll get results (I hope).

As for Upwork, I'll still use my free connects on jobs that look legit.

Or at least I'll try.

But it's going to be one of the ways I find work, not the only one.