Ask HN: Tech people who are self employed. How do you do it?
I have realized that I love building software, and I suck at marketing. I'm trying to escape waged job, and switch to being self employed with more flexible times. I don't mind working long hours, but I have problem with 9-5, and being a wage worker.
However, as a techy, I can't seem to build useful things, or things that generate money.
Are there any tech oriented people who were able to quit wage work and turn into self employed? What did you do to achieve this?
i was in the same boat. loved coding but hated the 9-5 grind and had zero clue how to sell myself or my projects. what worked for me was ditching the idea of building something big from day one. instead i started fixing real small pains for people i knew. friends, family, coworkers.
i made dumb scripts that saved them minutes here and there, built small websites or automations that made their life easier. i never charged much, sometimes free, sometimes a small fee. but the key was getting feedback and iterating until they couldnt live without it.
then i slowly built a network, people started referring me, and jobs came from that. marketing wasnt some magic trick, it was just solving problems people already had and telling them how i do it.
also, find someone who loves marketing, partner with them. keep control over your code but let them handle the biz side.
freelance contract work can be stable and flexible too, dont feel pressured to build a product from scratch right away. grow your skills and network in parallel.
it wont be easy or fast but focus on real value, real people, and trust will follow.
I just commented elsewhere that your comment felt AI-written. Then I read this and I'm like "feels GenAI", then I see it's the same username. What's going on?
>I have realized that I love building software, and I suck at marketing.
-> it's not marketing you suck at, it's building for someone else that you do
>However, as a techy, I can't seem to build useful things, or things that generate money.
-> build something for someone else, don't think about revenue. Even if you build for 1 person, something will click when you see they're using what you build and only then you will figure it out.
Think of it like this:
-> do you have someone close that calls you when they have a problem where you're the expert in(something computer i'm guessing) - if yes, do the same thing, but build something after you understood their pain, iterate until they cannot live without your solution(big/small whatever it is) - don't let them design their solution - you're the solution designer, you need to understand their pain.
This is the most practical comment I've seen on this.
That's exactly what I experienced too.
Building for others is scary at first, because you can (and definitely will) face rejection sometimes.
I started out as a freelance marketer, selling WordPress websites to small businesses.
Over time, more and more of my clients began demanding CRM systems and automation.
Eventually, I expanded my technical skill set and studied computer science.
Conclusion:
Learn marketing — not just advertising, but things like positioning, understanding customer needs, and even cold calling. Or: get someone on your team who does understand marketing.
Current market needs (from my perspective) that a tech freelancer can solve and "easily" sell:
Websites for small businesses
CRM systems and automation
AI agents for mid-sized businesses
Working for wages doesn't have to mean 9-5 in an office. Many programmers work remotely with flexible hours. Most places I've worked had flexible hours and in-office requirements even before COVID.
Self-employment can mean selling time and expertise in the form of freelancing. Or it can mean building products you sell. It can lead to a combination of both -- building products and then selling time/expertise to customers. The biggest SAAS companies (think Oracle, Salesforce, etc.) make considerable revenue from services along with licensing their software.
I freelanced for a long time, selling expertise sometimes (not always) measured in time spent. A lot of successful freelancers bill in terms of deliverables, or on regular retainers, rather than charging per hour like a salaried job.
The main value derived from working for an employer, especially early in a career, comes from developing a professional network and accumulating business domain expertise. Building software to sell frequently fails because of poor understanding of the target business domain, which gets wrongly interpreted as a marketing problem. Businesses don't need software or code in the abstract -- they need and pay for solutions to business problems, something that adds value, decreases costs, improved efficiency, yields competitive advantage.
Form a partnership with one or more persons who are capable of doing the marketing.
Split any revenue with marketing but be sure to always retain control over your source code and development.
Switch to contract work or find a job with flexible at home hours.