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by mgkimsal 5083 days ago
"Back then I was in a pretty scarce situation so I decided to go for the first job I got offered since I needed money."

I've found that pretty much every decision I've come to regret has been made in times when I've been in bad financial situations, and I made the decision primarily based on money reasons.

A couple jobs I've taken turned out to be really bad choices, but I took them because I needed something right then. In one case, the company itself was not good (really dysfunctional team/operations inside) and I didn't feel bad about quitting - the other case, I did feel bad about quitting so soon after starting. The people were nice, but I realized I'd made a bad decision and had to get out.

Having a strong financial base to draw on when you 'go freelance' either due to choice or you get laid off(!) can not be overstated. I used to be relieved if I had a few weeks of living expenses in the bank, and look back now and wonder how I ever survived with that mentality. (Obviously I did!).

shameless plug - http://indieconf.com - the conference for web freelancers - has an open call for speakers. Some of the sessions we've had in the past have focused on freelancer financials and legal issues like the issues raised in the OP post.

tl;dr - It's really hard to make wise/good decisions from a position of financial insecurity. Well... it's hard enough to make wise/good decisions anyway - doing so from a position of insecurity multiplies that difficulty.

EDIT - misread this - the OP hadn't "gone freelance" - had just taken the first job offer that came along. So... not entirely a related plug above, but... the CFP is still open :)
1 comments
Loic 5083 days ago
It was a freelance work, "the company decided to stop paying me until the project would be completed due to the multiple delays". The post is fairly well balanced by the way, he totally agrees that issues were on both side.

The biggest mistake he made was: "I hadn't took holidays for 2 years at the time". This is really really sad. Normally in France you have at least 5 weeks of vacations a year, but you need to earn them for the next year. So, if you change job each year, you get the vacations paid as money but no free time. It looks like he did just that.

I am really sorry for him, freelancing is hipped all over the place but it is hard to do it well and nearly impossible without good money in the bank to support the bad months.

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