In the previous essay, I listed how a software developer who values their autonomy can make money in 5 ways, but I explained how option 4 and 5 are not using code as primary leverage.

So, they are not in this series.

What this series will cover:

1. Service-based and subcontractor to software agency

2. Service-based and main contractor to non agency business

3. Software product-based like SaaS or downloadable software

If you want to read the details about option 1, revisit that essay.

This essay is going into detail about option 2.

Service-Based and Main Contractor to Non-Software Agency Business Customer

In the first option, recall that somebody must be hiring the agency to give work to them. That somebody is usually another business that's not an agency.

The difference in this option is that other business customer directly hires you instead.

The benefit is you get paid more. The downside is you need to take on more of the business analyst task of understanding the customer needs and translating them into requirements.

The reason is because you move from solving code problems for an agency to solving business problems for the customer. Some people might enjoy this more.

If you only want to write code and dislike talking to customers, you should NOT take this on.

If you're considering this option, here are some recommendations:

#1. Go For Businesses > 50 Employees In Developed Countries

Startup clients are those who want to turn their ideas into working software. Don't go for these as clients.

Why?

You will be competing against the agencies in the first option and they have the advantage of bigger scale and based in lower-cost countries.

Try to go for businesses with more than 50 employees and based in developed nations instead.

#2. Target Their Mission-Critical, Cross-Department, Long-Running Business Processes

Suppose you found yourself a potential client that is a business of 50 employees or more, what should you do to help them?

Go for digitizing their mission-critical, long-running, cross-departmental business processes.

Why?

You have to write code and talk to people. This means time is an even bigger bottleneck for you than in option 1 being a subcontractor to a software agency.

By going after this kind of work, the system you do build will also likely be:

1. mission-critical,

2. long-running,

3. and sufficiently complex

This increases your bargaining power to charge for recurring payments. And you need that to have stability else you find yourself hustling for customers all the time.

Unless you like that sort of thing.

You may find yourself at the beginning having to charge milestone-based payments when new customers don't have high trust in you yet.

But once your system comes online, you will find yourself inundated with improvement ideas from the customer. If you charge for every improvement idea they want you to implement, recurring payments is going to look very attractive to them.

If not, somebody must maintain that system as well, which is also a great segue into recurring payments.

Next Essay is Software Product-Based Business

In our third and last essay, we are going to cover product-based software business that a solopreneur can run.

Stay tuned for that.