In today's society, having a day job is seen as the safest and most stable way to earn a living. An ever-growing group of people is starting to freelance, though. Both arrangements have risks when income depends on one stream of work.
Trading time for money has limits as an income strategy. Regardless of the hourly rate you are charging, you must keep selling hours to keep earning.
Freelancers trade time for money, too. But freelancers are less vulnerable than employees because they are constantly adapting to the variability of the market, while a job contract can make employees feel more secure than they are.
Freelancers are antifragile because they can see their vulnerability and adapt; an employee’s dependence on one employer can be easier to overlook.
Employees can lose their jobs at any time due to a variety of reasons. For many, that means losing their entire paycheck at once. And they are probably not prepared for it because they may not have prepared while the job felt secure, while being trapped in the system with a house, a car and a family.
So, being a freelancer means being less vulnerable and having more freedom. Great. I call this the freelancer contradiction because you may have more freedom and a higher hourly rate than an employee while still depending on billable hours.
That's why everyone, both employees and freelancers, could consider a side project alongside their work, in my opinion. The objective should be to generate money while you sleep (so to speak) one day.
The internet is ideal for this because you can build and test things relatively easily without any technical knowledge and you can automate everything. I can't code myself either.
Since I started freelancing in 2008, I have kept side projects going and tried several products. I failed a lot and therefore learned a lot. Failing is a stressor and stressors are information that help you adapt. That's why trial and error works so well.
Those projects have cost me time and money, but they taught me important lessons, like never try a physical product again, start small and ship early.
Two of my side projects, an online passport photo solution and a platform for applied product personality, have turned into main projects, are growing organically and are my sources of income now.
I just raised my consultancy rates because I want to do less freelance work and focus more on my products. For me, the time has come to reduce the hidden vulnerability of freelancing.