Hi all
So following this digging up I feel obliged to respond to my own post!
My status has changed, so has my Lynkoa profile!
So it's been more than 7 years since I took the plunge by leaving the world of salaried employment for that of the self-employed.
When I reread my post from 2016, I see that my questions and fears in 2016 were relatively well-founded.
First of all, I am lucky enough to work in a field where there is work and I have kept in touch with former trusted collaborators. Some of my former employers, colleagues, friends, or schoolmates have become my clients.
In terms of workload, I'm even lucky enough to be able to choose my projects and I guess it's not given to everyone!
The crux of the matter is the almost impossible management of the schedule! Every customer imagines his project more urgent than that of others! So you have to be able to handle the workload. I rarely have visibility more than 15 days into my schedule. In the long run it's ultra stressful! (we have too much work => stress / we no longer have visibility => stress)
Of course, on paper I can manage my schedule as I want, but in reality customer exchanges are all done between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. There are billable services but there is also everything else: administrative, banking, accounting, computer maintenance, quote writing... Time-consuming unpaid tasks that often go unnoticed by an employee. In the end, I often find myself at the office in the evening after dinner and regularly on weekends. When I go on " leave " (which is not paid!) I always have the computer with a connection under my arm! So you need a companion who is understanding on the subject!
In terms of working time, it's almost double that when I was an employee! The proof is that I hardly hang out on this forum on which I was active!
Indeed, at times we feel alone in the face of a difficulty. (some examples encountered: a crashing PC / a software conflict / a customer not paying / a health problem...)
So I learned to delegate and to seek help, especially from other freelancers like me.
I purposely started with the negative aspects! The positive points are that I work in an environment that I choose, on problems that I am passionate about and that make me discover new things every day. The satisfaction of the work done is good for his ego. Working with pleasant and trustworthy people is priceless. Having managed to limit travel time and the time lost daily in traffic jams as much as possible (in 2016, I spent 2h30 a day in the car) is a real improvement. This status also allowed me to leave a big city to settle in a house in the countryside. From a financial point of view, I have also improved my situation significantly.
In short, not everything is rosy, you have to be autonomous, motivated, know how to face stress and fatigue! If I had to do it again? I will do it again! Would I do it for a long time? The future will tell! I have other business ideas in mind to test but mechanical design is still a real passion for me!
Looking forward to discussing the subject.
Thomas
