Thread by @noididntreadit

Notes on The Rise of the Full-Stack Freelancer by @fortelabs praxis.fortelabs.co/the-rise-of-th…

1/ Freelancing used to be a specialist game by necessity, but no more.

"Full-Stack Freelancers are responding to a series of technology-driven trends — contingent employment, intensifying globalization, and automation"

1a/ "by taking advantage of the other side of the coin: technology finally becoming powerful enough, cheap enough, and user-friendly enough to be deployed productively by a single individual."

"manage a portfolio of income streams, not a job based on one set of skills."

2/ You have to change the way you think, instead of gaining from extreme depth you gain from synergy.

"Portfolio thinking recognizes that having multiple parallel projects provides many opportunities for synergy."

2a/ He compares time spent vs. money earned which is quite insightful.

"The two sources that make up 81% of my income take up only 34% of my time. My third biggest source of income, consulting, produces 13% of revenue but takes up 24% of my time."

2b/ Why not trim down to just the most profitable parts? It's not that simple.

"The customer has to know you, understand where you’re coming from, and trust you. This requires a rich, interactive process"

This is the sales process, executed on an individual level.

2c/ "The words of a paying customer are worth far more than a spectator’s." (oops)

"The different ways you monetize and derive value from your sales process are the items in your portfolio"

2d/ "Your introductory offerings are your qualification and filtering system, helping you identify not only the people who are most committed to your message, but also the best ideas and formats to help carry that message."

3/ You want a network, not just a funnel. This is where the synergy comes from, feedback loops between every part of your portfolio.

"But it isn’t just customers that traverse the network in all directions. Information and value do too."

3a/ "Since my portfolio is a network, it exhibits network effects: each offering added increases the value of all the others. Why? Because there is tangible brand equity involved"

4/ Off topic from the actual post, but this is a very keen way of being network inclusive instead of pandering to the presumed audience and losing those of us still on a payroll:

"A Full-Stack Freelancer does not see a black-and-white world of free agents vs. wage slaves."

4a/ "They are more than willing to incorporate full-time employment as one item in their portfolio...Breaking down this barrier, we see that the full stack is available to everyone. It requires only a level of engagement with technology as producers, not just consumers."

4b/ In the end, you're best off keeping your options open to follow what works instead of jumping from one all-in bet to another.

"Changing direction is just a matter of adding or removing an item from your portfolio, not making a dramatic, wrenching career change."

5/ There's a part 2 to this that goes into a lot more detail on the stack configuration and tools/costs for everything. Interesting data, but it wouldn't make for interesting notes.
praxis.fortelabs.co/the-rise-of-th…