In May of 2019, during the first few months of the Coronavirus pandemic I made the decision to start an e-commerce / web development freelancing business, Tinybox Software Development.
This was the first time I’d ever been fully self employed. I had a tPonne of fun, launched a bunch of sites, and learned a lot along the way.
Why Scale Down Then?
- Growth: I want to keep learning and growing technically, and without challenging, weird problems for me to solve I’ve been feeling stagnant.
- Stability: It’s extremely hard to get approved to rent an appartment without a boss someone can call. Freelancing can pay great, but it’s hard to prove stability unless you’ve been doing it for awhile.
- Burnout & Stress: This is heavily related to No. 1, and 2 on the list above. That said, Juggling work is hard; On average I was working on 3 projects at the same time, and felt like the pace I was working at wasn’t sustainable.
Is This the End?
No! I still plan to work on freelance projects, just at a much smaller scale.
I genuinely enjoy doing the work when it’s not something I’m working on 25/8- so I’ll likely keep doing it.