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by jasonkester 4842 days ago
It definitely helps to establish a reputation for yourself before you take off and start contracting. You should be at the point where you know without a doubt that you could send out a few emails (or respond to one of the standing offers in your inbox) and pick up another gig. As such, "paralyzing fear" never came into the equation for me or any of the successful contractors I know.

And of course once you've done it a few times, you'll have previous employers bringing you back in for more projects. So at most you might only need to go through that fear stage a few times before you've established yourself.
1 comments
felideon 4842 days ago
> "It definitely helps to establish a reputation for yourself before you take off and start contracting."

Does this mean moonlighting and taking side gigs? If so, can it be done without sacrificing personal/family life? Not to mention, possibly living with exhaustion.

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jasonkester 4842 days ago
No. Just work for a few different companies and demonstrate that you're the best guy on the team to the people who matter. Eventually you'll get a call from a guy who's putting together a team and got your name from one of your old managers as somebody who's good at that sort of thing.

Of course, it never hurts to build cool, visible things that you can point to when people ask what you're capable of.

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