Why I Went Freelance

A little over four months ago I left my full time job and started freelancing as a mobile development consultant. When I started thinking about moving on, I thought long and hard about what I would like to do — considering other local Brighton companies, commuting to London, and working remotely.

Ultimately, starting my own consulting business won.

I’ve written before about one of the factors in making this decision, however, there are some deeper reasons as well. Together these form a set of goals I have in mind when starting my consulting business.

Work with interesting people

While at my full time job, I really enjoyed working with a wide range of people — both those at ribot and the clients. While I’m sure that working for a product company would allow me to work with some amazing people, I really enjoy the range of people you get to work with when working on short and medium term projects.

Flexibility

One of the main reasons why many choose to freelance is the lifestyle and flexibility it affords. Because I am now “my own boss” I have more control over when I work and with who. In reality, that comes with a lot more responsibilities.

I am now responsible for finding the work, and I know there will be times where leads will be hard to find and sales will be hard to close. For me though, this is actually a really exciting opportunity.

I have seen this process happen in my past job, and been part of it on many occasions. It is exciting to have more control over how projects are sold and to experiment with the sales processes and techniques which I have been reading about.

Side projects

The final goal is a big one, and not something which working full time for somebody else would allow as easily.

However much I love working with clients on their ideas, I have loads of my own. Working for myself affords me the ability to decide to dedicate some time to work on these ideas and give them a proper try.

Some of these may start off and stay as fun little side projects, however I hope some of them will flourish and become a small business in their own right.

Leaving my full time job and going freelance was a big step, however, it is something which I think provides a lot of benefits which employment couldn’t match. I hope to continue working with amazing people on their ideas as a contractor, while also having more time to dedicate towards my own.

I am a mobile app developer in Brighton. Whether you are taking your first steps into mobile or you need to improve your existing app, I can help. I specialise in helping companies with their mobile strategy and Android & iOS development.

If you’re ready to improve your mobile presence, take a look at my website or get in touch.