| Thank you for taking the time to share your advice. Let me see if I can summarize your main points, and reply to them under my summaries. 1) Think of yourself as a startup, not a freelancer preparing for a startup. Agreed! I think on hacker news people get touchy if you call yourself a startup when you're really just starting consulting. However, in my mind, I see my company's product as myself, and I'm trying to create a minimum viable product this year. 2) Don't grok HTML/CSS or Linux, but do learn enough to get by. Do learn JS really well. Point taken. 3) Move somewhere cheaper. I might be wrong on this, but I'm determined to make it while living in SF. Others have done it, I will too. If I am wrong, I will go back to temping, save again, and maybe consider moving to Tahiti the second time around. I'm curious to know your story of starting up in SE Asia, what you did, what it was like, how things worked out. 4) Consider ditching Python web apps, learn PHP and how to configure CMSes like Wordpress, Drupal, etc. It's faster route to getting paid. Half the people I've talked to say "PHP + CMS!". Half say "Python and Framework!". I suppose I have some time to think about this more, while I get focus on building the fundamentals of my site. 6) Hustle, not programming language, influences pay most. So hustle. Definitely. 7) Consider skipping portfolio-building, start making and selling small products to turn immediate profit instead. Definitely keeping that in mind. My ultimate goal is to build products anyways, but I don't yet have the confidence to trust that I can build my ideas, let alone than anyone will want them. However, I do feel like I can build little websites for people, and sell those. So that feels like a safer option. But I am keeping myself open to other approaches, my plan is merely an outline and a starting point. I'm sure as I become more proficient, I'll start seeing product ideas within my means to execute that might be worth risking a little time to build. 8) Be flexible and creative with business models e.g. consider outsourcing. I understand what risks I'm comfortable taking, and which I'm not. I'll only feel comfortable outsourcing work that I can do myself. That way I can take responsibility in case the work isn't done correctly, by fixing it myself, esp when there isn't money to hire someone to fix the mistake for me. But that is a quibble. There would be situations where such an arrangement could work out, and I agree with the spirit of what you're saying. 9) Consider joining a web dev shop That's an interesting suggestion. Would a web dev shop would take someone without a portfolio? Honest question, I've never tried to join one. There are temp agencies in SF that specialize in placing web developers. I've considered going to my current temp agency later this year, and asking them to place me in whatever work they can find, on the basis of my fledgling portfolio. Not the same as joining a web dev shop, but similar idea of joining an agency that finds clients and matches my skills to projects in exchange for a cut. Thanks again for all your advice, I really appreciate you taking the time. |