One question to know if you’re truly independent
Yes means you have leverage. No means you don’t.
Can you walk away?
That’s it.
That sounds like a simple question. But it’s a powerful one.
Why is that?
Being able to walk away from a situation brings leverage and acceptance of the consequences.
Can I walk away from this client?
Last year, I had a client. I wasn’t satisfied with the rate, and the work was very stressful. The situation tormented me. It was a classic: “Should I keep working with them because it’s consistent work, or should I respect my mental health and stop working with them?”
In the end, I decided to tell them I would raise my rates, and if they didn’t agree with it, I’d cut it loose.
I came to that conclusion because I was ready to walk away. I had confidence I could find another client, but most importantly, I needed to regain some headspace.
In the end, I stopped working with them and found other clients who were happy to work with me at a higher rate. The confidence I’d be able to find other clients gave me a ton of leverage.
Can I walk away from freelancing?
Right now, freelancing is my most successful endeavour. I don’t feel confident walking away from it even though it takes a lot of mental space, time and energy.
I would need other steady streams of income in order to say “No” to freelancing or at least reduce it. That will be my goal for this year. Buying a small business generating income and launching other projects to bring more variety to my income.
I want to be able to walk away from freelancing. I’ll probably still do some of it because it’s good cash flow. But I want the choice. I still need to build more leverage to walk away from it.
Can I always walk away?
Saying yes to walking away means choice. It means control over the situation. It means I have confidence I’ll be okay. It means I’ll manage the consequences of walking away.
But sometimes, you choose to be okay with the lack of leverage.
I moved to a new place in December. We still had January to pay for our apartment based on the lease. So, I called my property manager to ask if they would consider breaking the lease earlier so we don’t have to pay for January. Obviously, they said no. It pissed me off because we’ve been good tenants for two years. But I don’t have any leverage, and I won’t walk away (i.e., block my last rent payment and face a small court claim). So, I chose reluctantly to pay and not walk away.
Sometimes, it’s okay not to have leverage. I went on with my life.
What about you? Can you walk away?
3 juicy links of the week
A collection of threads from Kevin Espiritu
I enjoyed Kevin’s threads. They provide a lot of context, and you understand how he built a business in the gardening industry. I particularly like his industry because it’s far from people building apps and the tech world. It’s an industry with concrete ties in the physical world. I got burned on the next random app idea. Many people out there who are not in the tech industry need real stuff.
The unfortunate math behind consulting companies
This is an insightful read by Jason Cohen, the founder of WPEngine. He shares the pressure of too much work and the temptation of hiring. Although, hiring adds additional pressure because now, it’s the sales hamster wheel to pay for the overhead. Right now, my hourly rate is not high enough to hire someone and outsource my work. Although, my hunch is I will start delegating very soon. It doesn’t have to be with someone who does exactly the freelancing work I do at a higher rate, but at least helps with the admin side of it.
How Much Money Do Indie Hackers Products Make?
It's super interesting to see how much money Indie Hackers are making (of the ones that added their Stripe to the site). There’s a tiny percentage who are making even a minimal amount. Most of them do not make money. It’s great to know that it will take a while and a bunch of trials to get something that works. I’ll stay focused on freelancing and scaling this and then carve out time for products. At least, that’s my thinking now!
Checking how fragile you are by asking the question "Can I walk away?" is clever. I'll keep this to have as a rule of thumb.
Back in my analyst days, we looked at how fragile businesses were by looking at the % of the income that came from their top clients. This is a similar way to look at the level of robustness.
The follow up question might be "How can I make myself stonger by walking away?" Maybe walking away from a client can free up some of your time to get more clients or at a higher rate. You would become antifragile.
Great edition Kenny!
Congrats on your new chapter. We decided to end a lease early too (sold everything in San Diego and got a 1-way flight to Europe back in ~2016). Sometimes you need to shake it up like that.