Next level of freelancing and growth

Question

I have been doing freelancing as a developer for last 6 years. Initially I started while I was on job but now I am doing full time freelancing. There was a time when I was getting more work than I could handle. So I started to build my own team. But its hard to find enough good paying projects since their are lots of cheaper options available so it was difficult to earn enough to pay a good team as well. I tried cheaper resources as well but they are not reliable and their work is not upto the standards.

So, I'm at a stage where I cannot do freelancing for a long time and I have to do something to move ahead otherwise I've already started to feel I'm lagging behind. Freelancing was a great option once but now I have a family and have to grow somehow to support my family. I also don't have funds to establish a company so I'm bit confused how to grow now.

Answer 1

Why can't you work any more? I have 3 kids and I can still work full-time freelancing.

Obviously, you want to work less and earn the same or more as before. The only answer is to make a company. Or maybe an agency and take a percentage for each project. The cheaper option is to have your own men, but you must have projects each month. The less to earn is to have an agency, but there is not risk as you do not pay them salary.

No matter which option you choose, you will still have to be a manager and find jobs. Stick to quality and do not lower the price. One good project can sustain your company better than 10 small ones.

A few years ago, I tried doing this way and my "company" was broke after 3 months. Guys could not bring quality I expect and I could not control them as I was searching jobs and negotiating it. So this did not prove good for myself. I returned to my own team and again I started earn good money, but I still had to earn each dollar.

Right now, I outsource tasks (!), not projects, to my good friends who can get quality I need. I earn from 0% to 10% on their tasks, but I get quality and we finish projects. For my case, I can only work this way as I am 110% sure they deliver quality. So consider these things I spoke about.

Answer 2

I am freelancing since 12 years and previously I owned a company for 4 years with other 3 business partner and 2 employees.

Let me tell you that the company experience for me was really awful in all the aspects. I used to work endlessly and have no money because we had to pay rent, employees, etc etc, also we had conflicts on important matters.

Then I decided to leave the company and start freelancing on my own, it was hard for the first years, then I built my reputation and people I worked for started to recommend me to others and so on.

I'm happy with that because I never have big expenses, I have a small but functional office, simple accounting, and every work hour that I do is just for me.

Now since a few years I started to get more projects than what I can handle but I give tasks to do to other colleagues and friends that I trust. They help me with building all the parts that I easily put together. Sometimes I work just a few hours for a project and earn enough over the outsourcing tasks to be satisfied.

I also work for them when needed, we are a sort of freelancers team, we support and help each others when needed because we trust each others.