Ask HN: Consulting on the side | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Consulting on the side

5 pointstwampss6 comments

I have a 9-5 job at a large company and intend on keeping it until my student loans are paid off. I know in the future I will gravitate towards joining/starting a startup, however the option of consulting (nights, weekends) is more accommodating to my schedule and lifestyle now.

Does anyone have experience with balancing a 9-5 job and a consulting business on the side? How did you get started? What are some of the pros-cons you experience vs. starting a startup? Any advice, lessons learned, or experiences you can share?

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When I started consulting I was able to find small "gigs" here and there by tapping my personal network to find out if people I knew (or people they knew) had any projects aligned with my skill-set that needed working on.

I was aslo willing to do a couple of projects in the beginning either for dirt cheap or free just to have a couple of reference customers--I found that trying to get a customer to pay for my service when I had no track record was difficult.

One thing I think I did (I was doing software development) as a consultant was to form an company (C-corp, since I planned--and did--to grow and hire on staff) was get insurance. In 2001, $1M insurance cost about $4K if I recall correctly. That was an added piece of mind to customers.

In terms of time management, you have to be careful. Back then, I didn't have a family, so coding during dinner time or late into the night wasn't an issue. a wife and kid later, that changes. Any consulting I do now is after the little one goes to bed and or on weekends.

Best of luck!

Thanks for this advice - this is exactly what I was hoping to get out of this discussion. Insurance wasn't even something I thought about until now.

I've been doing consulting for a few years (4+) and quit a few 9-5 jobs during that time. Frankly, consulting full time offers great pay and a boatload of flexibility. For a long time I went through firms and they ate 20-30% of my "profits" although they dealt with the billing and finding work, which is worth quite a bit. Lately I've been on my own though.

My startup activities are limited to at night (after the kid's in bed) and some time on weekends which does put a damper on things, but it also makes me more efficient and since I can think more (like when driving to a client) I tend to make less mistakes.

And I echo what aagha said, incorporate early. Some clients don't do 1099, only corp-to-corp. There are some tax benefits to an SCorp as well (you can take a salary which you pay employement tax for and then take distributions which are not employment taxed). I probably would have saved $30k over the last couple years if I'd incorporated rather than been 1099.

Why not work on your own stuff on the side, if you eventually want to do a startup, unless you just want the money?

Very good point - wish I had a good idea to work on! It's not ALL about the money, but it would be nice to have some side income. I think it would also expose me to a variety of different projects, ultimately preparing me for the startup life.

If you don't have an idea burning a hole in your brain, and can pass up the extra income, at least for the moment, you might consider contributing to one or two open source projects.

It'll give you exposure to a new code base, earn you some community good-will, and be a genuine differentiator when you do go looking for that new startup/consulting/whatever gig.

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