PODCAST · business
Hit Subscribe Freelancer Q&A
by Erik Dietrich
We’re publishing the freelancer Q&A series as a podcast. Hope you enjoy!
Episodes
-
Pros and Cons of Sole Proprietor vs LLC for Freelancing
To view this as a video, head to our YouTube channel. As an indie, especially if you're a new one, you might be wondering about doing business as yourself vs starting an LLC. What are the pros and cons of each option? Join us to learn more. Link Picks Tricentis's cloud migration solutions help...
-
Should I Take a Lower Rate to Work with an Agency?
To view this as a video, head to our YouTube channel. If you're a free agent, you may find yourself in a situation where an agency doing the same kind of work as you offers to pay you to subcontract for them. Should you accept a lower rate for this arrangement? Join us to learn more. Link Picks...
-
Should You Do Strategy Work for Non-Executive Engagement Sponsors?
To view this as a video, head to our YouTube channel. A question came up in our community recently about whether or not to do strategy work for non-executive engagement sponsors. I talk a lot about engaging with economic buyers, particularly if you want to do strategic work. But what about...
-
Is Automation to Spare Enterprise Devs/QAs from Toil a Good Niche?
To view this as a video, head to our YouTube channel. Another podcast taking on ideas for services niche. In this installment, I look at the idea of creating automation systems to spare enterprise developers and/or quality assurance folks from toil. Join us to learn more. Link Picks Jim Collins'...
-
Can You Make a Living Selling Info Products as a Tech Expert?
To view this as a video, head to our YouTube channel. "Info products" are things like podcast courses or eBooks that anyone with an internet connection can create and sell pretty easily. Can you make a living selling these types of products to software engineers? Join us to learn more. Link Picks...
-
Is Helping with Strategic Decisions about Codebases a Good Niche?
This one hits close to home for me. A reader/viewer wondered if helping companies make strategic decisions about codebases is a good niche, and I can answer this because it was once kind of my niche. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Picks:...
-
How to Use Pricing to Show Your Value
As a freelancer and service provider, you'll likely offer value during your sales and onboarding process. But when should you stop? When should you charge for things to show your clients that your work is valuable? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Picks:...
-
How Did You (Erik) Arrive at Your Niche?
Long ago, when I was blogging more regularly about identifying niches, a reader asked me how I found mine. While I don't do a ton of exposition content, I thought this topic might be interesting for viewers. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: Spin.AI published a breakdown...
-
Should You Unbundle Strategy and Labor in Services Work?
If you're offering services as a freelancer, does it make sense to unbundle strategy from labor? This episode digs into that question. This podcast is courtesy of Hit Subscribe. Prefer to watch the video version of this podcast? View this podcast as a video, here!...
-
How to Avoid Being Treated Like an Employee?
If you have a single big client, engaging your services for an unspecified amount of time, it can be easy to fall into an employee-employer style relationship. How can you avoid that? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Picks:...
-
Is Improving Code Performance a Good Niche?
For a while, I was getting a lot of questions about whether something would be a good niche for indies. In this video, I answer the question of whether improving code performance is a good niche. Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: CSuite Content...
-
What Is the Difference Between a Niche and Positioning?
You may hear the terms "niche" and "positioning" tossed around a lot, often interchangeably. What do these really mean, and what's the difference? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: CSuite Content just shared a guide to enterprise reputation...
-
How Do You Start Consulting?
Maybe you're currently employed or between jobs. But it occurs to you that you want to go off on your own and start consulting (as opposed to freelancing with labor services). How do you do that? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: CSuite Content has…
more -
How Can You Go from Employed to Freelancing with Low Risk?
Plenty of employees entertain the idea of going freelance. But one of the biggest barriers to entry is the perceived risk of doing so. Is there a way to jump to freelancing with minimal risk? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: CSuite Content…
more -
Should I Gain Leadership Experience Before Freelancing Programming?
In this installment, a question submitter wonders whether it would be better to earn promotions into leadership before leaving the salaried world, or whether to leave as an individual contributor. Which is the right path? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of…
more -
Can You Avoid Having Your Efficiency Questioned by Having Flat Rates?
Occasionally, you might find yourself with a whale client, or at least a profitable one, that treats you poorly and shows no trust in you. How should you handle this? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: Enov8 published a helpful guide to data masking...
-
How to Handle a Lucrative Client with No Trust in You
Occasionally, you might find yourself with a whale client, or at least a profitable one, that treats you poorly and shows no trust in you. How should you handle this? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: Enov8 has a helpful guide to test data...
-
How to Avoid Giving Away Consultative Services as a Throw-In?
Sometimes a client is looking for labor and expects you to bundle in the strategic piece. For instance, they expect architecture to come along with a software development project. How to handle this? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: Enov8 recently...
-
Setting Up and Filling Your Funnel with Leads to Avoid Gaps
Depending on fate to bring you business can lead to gaps between projects. How do you setup some kind of sales funnel and get leads into it to avoid these gaps? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: Enov8's guide to data masking. This comparison of...
-
How To Handle a Client Wanting Work When You're Sick?
You're collaborating with your client on a time-sensitive deadline and you get sick. How should you handle that? Whose problem is it, ultimately? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: Enov8's list of enterprise architecture tools to be aware of in…
more -
How to Calculate Runway When You Have an Initial Contract
You've got a full-time job but want to go indie, and you line up your first contract. How do you think about how much runway you need to create between current savings and that first contract, for when it expires? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week…
more -
How to Build a Marketing Funnel with an Audience on Another Platform
If you've built an audience on a platform other than your own website, how do you go about turning that following into a marketing funnel for something you're offering? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: This post from BlinkOps explains Identity and...
-
What Should You Do When Asked to Implement a Bad Idea?
It will sometimes come up that a prospect or client asks you to implement something that's either too vague to work or a flat-out bad idea. What should you do in this situation? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: This round-up of application…
more -
Is Strategic Advice a Good Up-Sell for a Programmer?
If you're a programmer (or, generally, a labor-based freelancer), is it a good idea to sell strategic advice as a kind of "up-sell" to your normal offering? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: An Introductory Guide to Application Portfolio Management…
more -
How Should I Price an Hour-Long Training Session?
I do a lot of theory in this series, but here's something practical. How would I recommend someone price an hour-long training session to teach social media tactics to a salesforce? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: Sprint Scheduling: A Guide to…
more -
How Should I Handle a Non-Compete Agreement from a Client?
Sometimes, a client may ask you to sign a non-compete agreement as a prerequisite for engaging with them. Should you do it? How should you handle this situation in general? Join us to learn more. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: How regression testing is performed An...
-
How Can You Move to Niching and Value Pricing?
The default with freelancing is to charge by the hour and do generalist work. You might have, however, heard of value pricing and heard the idea that you should establish a niche. How should you go about doing that? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: Test Suites and Their...
-
Does Having More Leads Mean You Can Raise Your Rates?
As you grow your business successfully, you'll have more demand for your work and, thus, more leads. Does that naturally mean you can raise your rates? The answer is more complex than you might think. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: UI test automation: What it is and…
more -
Is It Worth It to Bring in Subcontractors?
If you establish a practice and start to earn a good bit of business, sooner or later you'll have to contend with the decision of whether or not to bring on subcontractors to help you. Should you do it? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Get Started With Salesforce QA and...
-
Will ChatGPT Replace Freelance Programming?
I resisted talking about ChatGPT as long as humanly possible, but I did wind up getting a question in the backlog about it. So, will ChatGPT replace freelance programming? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: How to Do Test Data Management in Agile: 8 Best Practices Android...
-
Freelancer or Self Employed: What Should You Call Yourself?
If you go into business for yourself, what should you call yourself? Freelancer? Self-employed? Something else? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Enov8: The IT & Test Environments Management Company
-
What Bookkeeping Software Should I Use to Freelance?
If you're thinking of hanging out your shingle or have just done so, you might wonder whether to use bookkeeping software and, if so, what to use. I have a surprisingly specific and opinionated answer for this one. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the month: TEM Metrics - Test...
-
How Freelancers Can Avoid Self Employment Tax
When you go off on your own, at least in the US, you might be in for a rude tax awakening. In this video, I talk about what self-employment tax is, and what you can do about it. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the Month: An in-depth look at spike testing with examples Follow our...
-
Which Meetings with Clients Should I Bill For?
You're a freelancer and doing regular work with your clients. If you bill by the hour or, more generally, for time and materials, which meetings should you bill the clients for? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the Month: What are the different types of release management? Follow...
-
When Do You Look Too Much Like an Employee?
Freelancers, especially newbie freelancers, can find themselves caught in situations where their only, large, 40-hour-per week client starts to treat them more like an employee than a freelancer. What should you do? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the month: End-to-end testing…
more -
Is California a Bad Place to Start a Business or Practice?
I've been asked this more than once, but eventually got around to doing a video about it. Rumor has it that California is "business-unfriendly," and, if you live there, you should start a business in another state. What's my take on that? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the…
more -
Should I Run Away If Someone Offers Equity?
It's a situation that a lot of techies can relate to. Someone comes along and offers you a stake in their business, instead of money, if you build their vision for them. What should a freelancer do in this situation? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: Oracle testing 8…
more -
Is It Okay to "Fake It 'til You Make It?"
We've all heard the phrase "hake it 'til you make it." A reader asked me if this is a good mantra to live by. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Links of the week: Data: What Is DevSecOps? Key Components of a CI/CD Pipeline
-
Should I Approach Freelancing Differently During a Recession
At the time of recording, there's a good bit of uncertainty about the economy. Against that backdrop, as a freelancer, should you approach your work differently? View this podcast as a video on YouTube.
-
What is the Best Way for Freelancers to Get Paid?
Wire Transfer? Check? Cash? If you're just starting out as a freelancer, what's the best way to get paid? View this podcast as a video on YouTube.
-
What is My (Erik's) Worst Client Experience?
One of the questions that came up in my reader/viewer backlog was specific to me and my background. What is/was my worst experience with a client? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Using Pytest Fixtures: A Step-by-Step Guide With Examples
-
Is Coaching a Good Line of Work for Independents?
There are all kinds of people billing themselves as (non-athletic) "coaches" out there. As someone looking to go freelance, is becoming a coach a good line of work to get into, specifically in the B2B/professional world? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Learn Regression...
-
Should Freelancers Have References, Like Employees?
It's common (at least in the US) for employees to furnish "references," which are essentially friends or colleagues who vouch for them as character witnesses. As a freelancer, should you also do this? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Test Environments: Why You Need Them...
-
What Are Taxes Like for Freelancers, Compared to Employees?
When you're an employee, you probably only really think about taxes once per year. But what about as a freelancer? Well... it's a little more complicated than that. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Get Started With Salesforce QA and Testing: A Tutorial
-
How Many Hours Per Day or Week Should Freelancers Work?
In this video I field a question about how much per day or per week a freelancer should work. That's not really an easy question to answer because, in a sense, it's not the right question. View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Testim Salesforce Testing
-
Is Freelancing Riskier Than Employment?
If you're a salaried employee, freelancing or starting a business can seem like a major risk. But just how risky is it, actually? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Test Automation from Tricentis
-
Should You Charge for Discovery Calls?
Once you start taking sales and discovery calls, sooner or later you might have the impulse to start charging people for your time during this process. Should you do that? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Serverless Computing for Dummies
-
Is Data Science as Viable for Freelancing as Programming?
A lot of the questions I field about freelancing and business come from people that are programmers. But what about data science? Can that be as viable a trade for freelancing as programming is? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: The basics of secret management
-
How Do You Win Long Term Clients?
Many freelancers, especially new ones, will want to earn long-term clients. How do you go about doing that, and is it actually valuable to do? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Cypress vs. Selenium: What’s the Better Testing Framework?
-
Is It Normal to Feel Guilty about Raising Rates?
One of the most important (and stress-inducing) times in the career of a freelancer/business-owner is when you increase your rates or prices. Is it normal to feel guilty when doing so? View this podcast as a video on YouTube. Link of the week: Tricentis SAP Testing
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
We’re publishing the freelancer Q&A series as a podcast. Hope you enjoy!
HOSTED BY
Erik Dietrich
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Hit Subscribe Freelancer Q&A have?
Hit Subscribe Freelancer Q&A currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Hit Subscribe Freelancer Q&A about?
We’re publishing the freelancer Q&A series as a podcast. Hope you enjoy!
How often does Hit Subscribe Freelancer Q&A release new episodes?
Hit Subscribe Freelancer Q&A has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Hit Subscribe Freelancer Q&A?
You can listen to Hit Subscribe Freelancer Q&A on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Hit Subscribe Freelancer Q&A?
Hit Subscribe Freelancer Q&A is created and hosted by Erik Dietrich.
URL copied to clipboard!