On September 2007 I started a journey. I left a position as a System Architect in a big Software company and started a career as an independent consultant. This have been a hell of a journey. Two years ago I returned to the warmth of the payroll (business was doing great btw as a freelancer). Along these years I found myself many times answering questions on how this is done. This lead me to the conclusion that the know how may be of an interest to the community and I want to share with you. I believe that anyone who considers becoming an independent contractor/consultant will greatly benefit from this talk.

1. THE FREELANCER JOURNEY
Haim Yadid

2. About Me
• Developing since 1984
• Developer , architect, group manager
• Independent performance expert for 8 years
• Head of backend engineering in
• Java.IL
Drakaris

3. Sleep Sort
f() {
sleep "$1"
echo "$1"
}
while [ -n "$1" ]
do
f "$1" &
shift
done
wait
https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Sorting_algorithms/Sleep_sort

6. SEPTEMBER 2007

7. THE BIG MONEY

8. BEAR
NECESSITIES

9. MEET YOUR NEW FRIENDS
‫חשבון‬ ‫רואה‬ ‫דין‬ ‫עורך‬
‫מע״מ‬‫לאומי‬ ‫ביטוח‬‫הכנסה‬ ‫מס‬
‫ביטוח‬ ‫סוכן‬
?‫החברות‬ ‫רשם‬

10. CONTRACTS
• Every customer has it’s own standard
contract that can’t be changed
• It can always be changed
• IP - who owns it

11. ‫שלך‬ ‫החברים‬ ‫את‬ ‫חפש‬ + ‫שוטף‬
• ? ‫זה‬ ‫את‬ ‫צריך‬ ‫עדיין‬

12. Increasing Income Paradox
• Making more money ?
• Less money in the Bank
• & Vice versa

13. EXPENSES
HOUSE/
OFFICELAPTOPCONFERENCES
WORKSHOPS PHONE CAR

14. THE SUBPRIME CRISIS

15. NOW WHAT?

17. HAVE A VISION OR

18. WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT ?

19. DON’T BE GENERIC
• What do you do ?
• What don’t you do ?
• What value you bring to your customer ?
• Why the hell should they hire your
services ?

20. • Performance Optimization
• GC Tuning
• Concurrency Validation
• Scaling Systems

21. PRICING YOUR SERVICES

22. INVOICES VS SALARY
‫פיצויים‬
‫פנסיה‬ ‫קרן‬
‫השתלמות‬ ‫קרן‬7.5
5
8.33
‫עבודה‬ ‫כושר‬ ‫אובדן‬2.5
2
‫שונות‬ ‫הוצאות‬
‫מקצועית‬ ‫אחריות‬ ‫ביטוח‬
2
30%

23. INCOME
• 35000 NIS / month
• 35000 * 1.3 = 45500
• 45500 + VAT

24. CALCULATING HOURLY RATE
• 45500 * 12 = 546000 + VAT
• 130 billable hours a month
• ~ 350 NIS per hour

25. THE HIGHER IS BETTER?
200
300
250
350
400
500
600+

26. RETAINER & DISCOUNTS
• Having long terms contracts balances your
cash flow
• Buy you peace of mind
• Can set the ground for wild short term
projects

27. Based Pricing

28. TIME IS MONEY

29. ALWAYS NEGOTIATE

30. REACHING CUSTOMERS

31. Direct Contact
• Cold emails
• In mail (Linked In)
• Calling ppl
• Knocking on offices doors
• CEO car chasing

32. It was my Idea!!!!

33. PUBLIC
VISIBILITY
Blog Podcast Public Speaking
Conferences Stack overflow LinkedIn
TwitterFacebook

34. Training

35. LEAVE
SLACK TIME

36. ATTENDING
SPEAKING

37. MEDIA BUYING &
CONTENT MARKETING

39. Working with a Coacher
• Find one who is very practical
• Help you define your vision and set goals
• You will not be alone
• I have a recommendation if you need one ;)

40. Playback

41. Standup

42. Script writing

43. • Affiliation
• Core of business
• Building huge stuff

45. @lifeyx