Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?
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@jaredbusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
$65/hr
Just no.
The billed rate for our part time (primarily helpdesk) person at the lowest rate for any client is $80-$85. Forget their exact rate.
Help for what?
There is a difference between charging $80/hr for 20 minute calls, versus $65/hr working 4 to 7 hours strait.
There are certainly web devs that charge up to $100/hr. And programmers are typically $80 to $200/hr depending on the languages and project.
An agency I work for does charge $100/hr but they get their work by being seen as an agency. So as a simple freelancer, I either need to be a household name in web dev, top of my game, or appear bigger than I am, or something else.
Keep in mind that in the web dev space, I compete with 3rd world countries who charge $10/hr and claim to do all the same stuff.Heck I'm not saying I'm not worth more. I only started freelancing 2 years ago and started at $40/hr, so I do plan on getting higher, but hourly rates do top out eventually. I have to scale in other ways too. And small towns just don't charge as much as "big city" agencies and corporations.
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@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
There is a difference between charging $80/hr for 20 minute calls, versus $65/hr working 4 to 7 hours strait.
Actually no.
And she is on site 4-6 a day 2 times a week plus other work form home time.
On average we bill one client 15-20 per week for her work.
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@jaredbusch said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
There is a difference between charging $80/hr for 20 minute calls, versus $65/hr working 4 to 7 hours strait.
Actually no.
And she is on site 4-6 a day 2 times a week plus other work form home time.
On average we bill one client 15-20 per week for her work.
For a help desk person? I think I'm missing the bigger picture here. You're talking about MSP and business management of technology right?
For me, at least until I run in bigger circles, my clients tend to be mom-n-pop sites who cringe at a new feature costing more than $100.
That's part of the problem, I need to get a foothold into networks with bigger ticket clients. People who have custom sites that need unique and specialized features.
Any time I run into work and it's just some person with a goofy Wordpress site, they don't have $80/hr for 15 hours weekly. That's for sure!
But to the point. Are you saying you wouldn't bat an eye at hiring a developer to work on a website for $80/hr? And do you realize that general developers can be found on Craigslist for $10/hr? You can definitely penny-pinch in this game if you wanted!
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@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
There are certainly web devs that charge up to $100/hr. And programmers are typically $80 to $200/hr depending on the languages and project.
These are often rates broken down for salaries. When consulting, you can normally be way higher than salary rates. $200/hr would be amazing for a developer on salary, of course. But when you consider that salaried people have insurance, taxes, etc. getting $200 on a 1099 is only "so" good vs. a salaried $250K salary with vacation and benefits on W2.
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@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
And do you realize that general developers can be found on Craigslist for $10/hr? You can definitely penny-pinch in this game if you wanted!
You really can't. Someone listing themselves as a developer and being one isn't the same. I work in development (not as a developer) and hiring at $100K salary in low cost areas is a struggle. Real developers with skills and some experience are in super high demand.
Logically, no one is offering $10/hr on Craigslist when there are $100K positions with benefits that can't even get reasonable interviews. Development is definitely anything but a penny pinching game.
Sure, developers struggle to compete with offshore work. But to get any quality offshore work you can't pay by the hour, you are hiring for years on salary. You can get lower hourly rates that way, but you can't do it hour to hour.
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@scottalanmiller said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
And do you realize that general developers can be found on Craigslist for $10/hr? You can definitely penny-pinch in this game if you wanted!
You really can't. Someone listing themselves as a developer and being one isn't the same. I work in development (not as a developer) and hiring at $100K salary in low cost areas is a struggle. Real developers with skills and some experience are in super high demand.
Logically, no one is offering $10/hr on Craigslist when there are $100K positions with benefits that can't even get reasonable interviews. Development is definitely anything but a penny pinching game.
Sure, developers struggle to compete with offshore work. But to get any quality offshore work you can't pay by the hour, you are hiring for years on salary. You can get lower hourly rates that way, but you can't do it hour to hour.
The key here is to find the people not looking at the 10/hr people on Craigslist. Sure there are SMBs that do that - and likely end up spending tons more paying someone else down the road to fix what the cheap people broke/couldn't do - but you don't want to deal with those customer anyway.
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@dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
but you don't want to deal with those customer anyway.
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@scottalanmiller said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
And do you realize that general developers can be found on Craigslist for $10/hr? You can definitely penny-pinch in this game if you wanted!
You really can't. Someone listing themselves as a developer and being one isn't the same. I work in development (not as a developer) and hiring at $100K salary in low cost areas is a struggle. Real developers with skills and some experience are in super high demand.
Logically, no one is offering $10/hr on Craigslist when there are $100K positions with benefits that can't even get reasonable interviews. Development is definitely anything but a penny pinching game.
Sure, developers struggle to compete with offshore work. But to get any quality offshore work you can't pay by the hour, you are hiring for years on salary. You can get lower hourly rates that way, but you can't do it hour to hour.
I would probably kill both my neighbors for a chance at one of these hard-to-get-interviews-positions.
Maybe you're talking about tech towns, Silicon Valley, NY, L.A., but in small town USA Bill Gates couldn't get a job here for more than $30/hr.
I do love where I live and want to work remotely but I guess it's like I said, I'm just not rubbing shoulders with the kinds of people who fill these sorts of positions. But then again I'm not a top tier programmer, I'm a web dev, I know a couple languages but I couldn't program a new MS Windows if you follow.
Where I live with a family of 5, take home pay of anything near $100k would be quite comfortable. And here I am pannicky over leaving my job for 3 or 4 hundred a week. It's pathetic.
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@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@scottalanmiller said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
And do you realize that general developers can be found on Craigslist for $10/hr? You can definitely penny-pinch in this game if you wanted!
You really can't. Someone listing themselves as a developer and being one isn't the same. I work in development (not as a developer) and hiring at $100K salary in low cost areas is a struggle. Real developers with skills and some experience are in super high demand.
Logically, no one is offering $10/hr on Craigslist when there are $100K positions with benefits that can't even get reasonable interviews. Development is definitely anything but a penny pinching game.
Sure, developers struggle to compete with offshore work. But to get any quality offshore work you can't pay by the hour, you are hiring for years on salary. You can get lower hourly rates that way, but you can't do it hour to hour.
I would probably kill both my neighbors for a chance at one of these hard-to-get-interviews-positions.
Maybe you're talking about tech towns, Silicon Valley, NY, L.A., but in small town USA Bill Gates couldn't get a job here for more than $30/hr.
No, talking small (well medium) sized town Georgia for the specific example I dealt with this week.
I know rural NC having the same price range issues.
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@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
I'm a web dev, I know a couple languages but I couldn't program a new MS Windows if you follow.
Not sure what Web Dev means here. Most web devs are full stackers and are near the highest pay ranges. Windows desktop apps are the bottom of the barrel in price, that's legacy work that doesn't attract good companies or programmers. It's needed some times, not knocking it as a thing, just it's not where the big money goes.
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@dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@scottalanmiller said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
And do you realize that general developers can be found on Craigslist for $10/hr? You can definitely penny-pinch in this game if you wanted!
You really can't. Someone listing themselves as a developer and being one isn't the same. I work in development (not as a developer) and hiring at $100K salary in low cost areas is a struggle. Real developers with skills and some experience are in super high demand.
Logically, no one is offering $10/hr on Craigslist when there are $100K positions with benefits that can't even get reasonable interviews. Development is definitely anything but a penny pinching game.
Sure, developers struggle to compete with offshore work. But to get any quality offshore work you can't pay by the hour, you are hiring for years on salary. You can get lower hourly rates that way, but you can't do it hour to hour.
The key here is to find the people not looking at the 10/hr people on Craigslist. Sure there are SMBs that do that - and likely end up spending tons more paying someone else down the road to fix what the cheap people broke/couldn't do - but you don't want to deal with those customer anyway.
Yup, people who are looking there aren't really looking for anything serious. And those aren't recurring. It's a one shot deal for basically no money. Those customers aren't getting any real work done, either.
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@scottalanmiller said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@dashrender said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@scottalanmiller said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@guyinpv said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
And do you realize that general developers can be found on Craigslist for $10/hr? You can definitely penny-pinch in this game if you wanted!
You really can't. Someone listing themselves as a developer and being one isn't the same. I work in development (not as a developer) and hiring at $100K salary in low cost areas is a struggle. Real developers with skills and some experience are in super high demand.
Logically, no one is offering $10/hr on Craigslist when there are $100K positions with benefits that can't even get reasonable interviews. Development is definitely anything but a penny pinching game.
Sure, developers struggle to compete with offshore work. But to get any quality offshore work you can't pay by the hour, you are hiring for years on salary. You can get lower hourly rates that way, but you can't do it hour to hour.
The key here is to find the people not looking at the 10/hr people on Craigslist. Sure there are SMBs that do that - and likely end up spending tons more paying someone else down the road to fix what the cheap people broke/couldn't do - but you don't want to deal with those customer anyway.
Yup, people who are looking there aren't really looking for anything serious. And those aren't recurring. It's a one shot deal for basically no money. Those customers aren't getting any real work done, either.
/cough fiverr.com /cough
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As for desktop applications for Windows, I do not quite agree. Depends on the target market, in terms of the country
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@baldwin_cannon said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
As for desktop applications for Windows, I do not quite agree. Depends on the target market, in terms of the country
Were you responding to the Fiverr comment?
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@denis_mcgee said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
Of course, it is better to choose an area, in which there are constant orders or customers who are looking for specialists to support existing projects. But specifically in the same web development, there is quite a strong competition, especially for beginners.
It's a developer's market. Companies can't find qualified people, it's hard to even get people to interview.
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@scottalanmiller said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@denis_mcgee said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
Of course, it is better to choose an area, in which there are constant orders or customers who are looking for specialists to support existing projects. But specifically in the same web development, there is quite a strong competition, especially for beginners.
It's a developer's market. Companies can't find qualified people, it's hard to even get people to interview.
IT is getting to be like this too, now.
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This post is deleted! -
From the OP, I was going to post about the inherent risks of being an entrepreneur, but seems
this is not where the thread went... -
Been a while, would love more follow up. If only because things are slow, lol.
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@scottalanmiller said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
Been a while, would love more follow up. If only because things are slow, lol.
/Sarcasm
The transition went well, left the desk jocky position for a much more horizontal one where the hourly rate is between $95-150 depending on services rendered.
