[scardine]

It is a catch 22: unless you are spending at least half your time prospecting new clients it is hard to keep a steady income, but it is hard to invest that much time in the commercial side of your "one man show" if you are not charging high enough.

Every beginner underestimate how much salesmanship it takes to run a successful freelancer career.

[mpeg]

Yes, it's very difficult to balance and it's been an interesting experience in the sense that no one really cares about what work you've done in the past; if they like you on a personal level they'll hire you.

I'm comfortable doing sales, but it's maintaining that balance that I find difficult – if I spend too much time pitching I make no money as I have no employees to deliver the work and if I spend too much time working I get stuck in a cycle of feast and famine.

[mxuribe]

THIS 100%!

[peterbell_nyc]

Yup - another resource is "the E-myth revisited" which makes the point that if you want to be a baker, don't start a bakery because now you're dealing with taxes, permits, hiring, vendors, marketing, etc - not just baking.

Similarly, if you want to spend all your time programming, a true, short term consulting business isn't going to get you there.

I'd assume that (if all goes well) you'll bill 1000 hours a year (about 50% utilization with the balance going to sales, marketing, accounting, updating software, keeping up to date with the industry, etc). It's conservative (assuming you sell enough to be busy 40+ hrs a week every week), but it's better than assuming you'll bill 2000 hrs (40 hrs x 50 weeks) and finding you have to work 70 hours every week just to get by.

[tyri_kai_psomi]

I'd just like to offer a doubling down on this. If you are a software consultant you are first a salesmen and second a software developer (maybe third if you include marketing as a separate category from salesman)