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Hello from Belgium

MrMoon

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Hi to all.

My name is Thomas, I'm 34 years old and I live near Bruges, Belgium.

I have a bachelor degree in tech and worked as a system administrator ever since.

Last year I gave up my J.O.B. and started working as a freelancer doing long-term contracts at one location (> 6 months).
It started of exciting but soon gave me the feeling (or as I call it now, my FTE) I was just an employee sending invoices.

At the start of this year I read MJ's books and decided to stop trading my time for money and setup a proper CENTS-compliant system where I could apply my job experience.

Despite being motivated to get cracking I guess I ended up with a serious case of analysis paralysis and can't seem to find a proper idea to get started.

More and more I get the feeling that all the technical knowledge from my system administration job can only be sold by the hour and I am losing motivation.

If anyone passing by could give me some advice from a 3rd person perspective that would be great and much appreciated.

Anyhow, this is me. Nice to meet everyone. Hope I can find some great inspiration here.
 
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Wiezel

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Welkom :).

What's the reason you want to keep doing what you've done before? What about new skills? Are you filling a need? Can you scale/outsource it?
 

MrMoon

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Dankjewel :smile:.

The main reason to base it on what I've done before is to hit the ground running and not have to start over from scratch. It kind of feels like a shame to throw away all the effort I've invested in those skills.

Also, there's some aspects of it I find enjoyable (I'm fascinated by Docker containers, for example) and the aim would be to cherry-pick those.

What I'm doing now doesn't scale, it's 100% tied to my time. Outsourcing is not a valid option.

My goal would be to stop freelancing and have a proper system but I'm just stuck on building a CENTS system on top of the skills I have acquired during the past years.

Feels like my mind is blocking when I'm trying to think of ideas.
 

Wiezel

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As first you don't have start CENTS right away, as mentioned on many other posts on this forum the must have is a need (ceNts). Start networking, get experience and you'll find more problems in your niche you've never tought of. From there you can start creating a CENTS business.

 
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brief

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Hello from Belgium (Antwerp) ;-).
I'm in the same situation (trading 100% of my time for money). Had some entrepreneurial successes in the past but nothing sustainable in the longterm. Always smaller side projects.

If you'd like sharing thoughts or hold each other accountable, let me know ;).

Grtz
 

BelgianDude

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Welcome Thomas.

It looks like I'm in the same situation like you, working fulltime and living near Bruges.

Since you are a freelancer, which do you prefer? Keep working as a freelancer doing long-term contracts or become an employee again?
 

MrMoon

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Thanks all for replying, already had a good read on this forum. Thanks for sharing the thread, @Wiezel . I stumbled upon it before but haven't given it the detailed read it deserves.

If anyone wants to keep in touch/share thoughts/... as @brief suggested, feel free to send a DM.

@BelgianDude Definitely prefer freelancing over employee, not going back. The only way is forward :smile:
I have the VAT number now anyway and still hope to scale it into a CENTS business.

I prefer working with smaller clients in the local area over long-term contracts for the big players but most of you probably know how hard it is to find shorter contracts. I do think you can get a closer relationship with smaller family-owned business and really find out what keeps them up at night. Also, I hate commuting on the busy Flemish highways :smile2:.
 
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MrMoon

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Just my luck. Will have to keep an eye on that so I can join for the next one.
Maybe you can give some tips based on the intro? Would be much appreciated.
 

Longinus

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Just my luck. Will have to keep an eye on that so I can join for the next one.
Maybe you can give some tips based on the intro? Would be much appreciated.

Imo working freelance is a logical step between a job and a business. That was also the case for me. You have more control now, but you will have to aim to the next milestone and in the best case you can combine both. Start training your idea muscle by writing down at least 5 ideas daily, even if they suck. Try to understand how opportunities sound or look like. I used to have your problem, but I find TONS of ideas daily now.
 
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FastNAwesome

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Welcome to the forum!

More and more I get the feeling that all the technical knowledge from my system administration job can only be sold by the hour and I am losing motivation.

It kind of feels like a shame to throw away all the effort I've invested in those skills.

Hey, don't lose motivation:)

As a web developer I can understand your feeling very well.


And the great thing is - you don't have to throw away those skills, but actually can build on top of them.

E.g.Could you run a web hosting company? I heard it can be very lucrative (from someone who runs one). Yes, there are so many already, but you can niche down. E.g.serve the local market?

Or could you scale whatever you're doing right now, by hiring others?

On this forum you'll also find an abundance of inspiring threads.

Best of luck!
 

MJ DeMarco

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MJ DeMarco

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Have you tried recently? What size are the pics?
 

Longinus

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Have you tried recently? What size are the pics?

Yeah, works now !

 
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