Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?

Re:Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a con... by tonyedgecombe on Saturday December 07, 2019 @06:14AM (#21729655)

I've had a couple of those projects come along. I remember one in particular for a UK pharmaceuticals company. I went to see them and the first thing they said was "We are so glad you are here, we have been looking for a solution for months without any success. At the moment it's costing us a million pounds a day."

It turned out they couldn't produce their compliance documentation and that was delaying the release of a new drug.

The solution wasn't that complex but it did involve the intersection of several different skills. They had in-house devs but none of them wanted to touch it, to them it looked like a problem, to me it looked like an opportunity.

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Re:Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a con... by bcrosby95 on Saturday December 07, 2019 @11:17AM (#21730996)

> They had in-house devs but none of them wanted to touch it, to them it looked like a problem, to me it looked like an opportunity.

It wasn't an opportunity for them. The Risk/Reward was probably insanely bad. If they fixed it, they are just "doing their job" and get a pat on the back. If it was that big of a deal though, if they screwed it up its possible they would get fired.

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Re:Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a con... by HeWhoLurksLate on Saturday December 07, 2019 @09:59AM (#21730572)

   > To them it looked like a 
   > problem, to me it looked 
   > like an opportunity.

This is probably the biggest lesson here- finding a reason why to do something versus not doing it is important!

I currently work as a lube tech for a local dealership. (Saving up for the future, and they have better hours and pay than $LocalFastFood.) My coworkers dislike A) vacuuming vehicles and B) doing tire rotations- because both of them take time and effort.

I like doing both of those- they take time- which means I get paid (job security!) and also helps the customer want to come back (arguably more important than any time savings from skipping a rotate or not vacuuming underneath floor mats.)

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Re:Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a con... by robaato on Saturday December 07, 2019 @10:09AM (#21730631)

So what did you charge them?!

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