Sell Hours VS Build Products
I have a full-time job in a small software company. I have loved what I do — programming — since I got my Commodore 64 back when I was 3 years old. I have a few spare hours when I get back home… so… I thought I could start some freelance work on my own.
One (BIG) question came up when I sat down in front of my laptop a couple of months ago:
Should I sell my hours or should I build a brand new product?
Well… What’s the difference? Basically, selling my hours is pretty much similar to what I do at my current job. Someone asks me to do something and he pays me by the hour (or goal, or finished product).
Building a product is something that you create from the ground up. It’s yours. You can sell it, or give it away. There are more than a few stories about freelance products that were REALLY successful (the WhatsApp story for instance). It also feels totally different.
Ok. Let’s say I’m going to sell my hours to a customer. He might ask me to build a Web site or a business app for his company. I will estimate the requirements, set a price and close the deal. That’s nice! You don’t have to come up with a brand new idea. Someone is telling you what to build. You just need to meet the customer’s expectations! (uh oh). Well… actually… that’s the most difficult part of selling your hours as a freelancer. Satisfying your customer! And not dying while trying.
If your price is too low and the customer is too demanding, you’ll end up unmotivated and with zero energy. It’ll take all of your precious time to finish the job and you’ll end up asking yourself “Why did I take this customer? Easy money?”
Hey, I’m being too negative here. Sometimes, the pay is great, the customer is happy with your work and feel proud of what you did.
Now, walk with me to the other side of the street. Let’s say that you build “Products”. Without customers, at least at the beginning. Just you (and your computer… and maybe a dog or a cat). Then you start thinking about that great idea that’ll make you a millionaire. And wow…! Decision fatigue starts consuming your energy. It’s exhausting trying to think of just a single mediocre idea… A successful one? Pheeww…
Sometimes, it’s not a matter of “Finding the Best Idea Ever”. Sometimes it starts with something small… really small. For example, I read this article from James Clear’s blog and I remembered learning about the story of Art Fry back in 2008. Long story short, Art Fry created 3M’s “Post-Its”. Yes! Those sticky papers that you can find in almost every office. He simply wanted something to keep his bookmarks in place (he spent his weekends singing in a church choir) in order to find hymns quickly.
Art wasn’t trying to solve “everyone’s problems”. He didn’t have amarketing survey of the surrounding urban areas to define a new product. He had a basic need. He wanted to solve his bookmarks problem. And he did.
Another story is the one about how Frank McNamara forgot his wallet while dining at a restaurant with some colleagues and his wife had to rescue him and paid the tab. He was embarrassed. So he simply invented what today we know as…the Diners Club® Card. That way, he never had to worry about not having cash to pay for dinner.
These stories are great. But let’s go back to my original question. It seems that building your own product sounds really good. You’ll be a millionaire and people will talk about you in their blog posts (yay!). But we all know that it won’t be that way for all of us, don’t we? Ok, how about selling your hours? Well… It sounds like an everyday job. It pays but… Would you be satisfied at the end of the day? It’ll depend on your customers, but I guess that the satisfaction comes from knowing that you built your own business and made yourself a name, even a small one. And that’s great too.
You learn very differently when building a product for yourself than building a product for someone else, or selling your time. They are different voyages. All of them are valuable.
Nevertheless, I really think that creating something of your own is incredible. And yes, it’s not an easy path. It’s a mixture of passion, luck, tears, and blood. But it’s well worth the effort.
Verlic Redclaw writes about team building and motivation, and he also shares info about design, software, and freelancing. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Verlic Redclaw 