I have no time to get into this article, but I wanted to comment as a PSA to any would be designers thinking about going freelance.

Freelancing is insanely difficult. Have you ever noticed that the people pushing this stuff are self-help guru types? They create content about "making the jump" and "setting yourself free with freelancing". They are selling you a product.

You can make much more working as a full time employee than the article says you can, but don't take my word for it 1.

I will say (and don't mind chatting on how I got there) that I lost my full-time agency job as of May 2014, took a month off (pre-planned vacations and our babymoon) and then started Blackairplane in June. June-August I only brought home 8k in freelancing money (that was before taxes). It took a while for people to associate Blackairplane w/John Howard and for me to find my rate (currently 75/hr to 125/hr design vs consulting) and get comfortable with clients. Dribbble has brought in about 40% of my work this year and the rest have been other clients and/or referrals. I am now making roughly $180k this year but putting it all into Blackairplane. I have my own office space and utilities and have used a few contractors to help out with larger projects (roughly 30k/yr). We are not an agency as I am the only full-time guy. But I do (an openly on my site) use other designers/front-end devs to fill in the gaps. My clients have yet to have a problem with that.

I will say a few things about going into freelancing that hopefully might help someone 'making the leap' -

1. It is incredibly hard, and you might not make that much money.
2. As long as I was making enough money to pay the bills, I was WAY more happy than when I was working for an agency.
3. Making 'a lot' of money takes 'a lot' of work.
4. Be extremely careful with the clients you choose to work with. But love on the ones that you take on. You can be firm and loving at the same time. I'm still learning.
5. My main sources that get me work are word of mouth, dribbble, and then SEO, articles etc. Word of Mouth is HUGE.
6. I HATE networking. I suck at it. So making sure each of your clients LOVES you is a big deal. Well, at least the good clients. Work hard to love on them, treat them right and provide great timelines and incredible work.
7. Be Accurate. Clients hate when they have to hand-hold you, but some love micro-managing.
8. Be proactive. Instead of waiting for clients to stumble upon you or ask the 'how are things going' questions, jump out there and beat them to it. I relate it to keeping drinks full at the table even when the food may be taking a while to cook.

I know many of you are probably doing way better than I am but this last year and a half has been a ride. Very cool to see progress and see where this next year may take me.

The title is misleading, sure. But do you know what you CAN'T get rich doing? Complaining about stuff on DN. There's a lot of wasted energy trying to prove who "knows best" when there are people getting rich left and right both employed and freelance. It's inspiring for those it speaks to, don't read it and move on if you disagree.

Good stuff as usual, Paul.

And if she put $500 a month in any sort of retirement plan (which is doable at $49,000 a year at 22) and never increased the contribution amount, she could retire at 65 with $1.2 million. I'd say that's a pretty close to being rich.

Fallacy. There are plenty examples of people getting "rich" by working for someone else.

But being rich isn’t one of my goals – and it shouldn’t be, when you decide to quit your day job and become a full-time freelancer.

Nice article, but totally flawed on a factual standpoint .

First, loads of people got mad rich by working for someone else. They just did it by working for the right company at the right time. See Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and most of the Silicon Valley success stories.

Second, in terms of financial flexibility, the author also seems to forget that a freelancer income is tied to clients (hence fluctuate with the market), when most day jobs incomes won't fluctuate downward. This, imo, get you a lot more of financial flexibility, as you can worry less about rainy days.

Last, every freelance job is different, as most day jobs are. While it's great for the author that he gets by financially, we cannot generalize his experience to every fields or markets.

I have a deep respect for Jarvis. His writing is consistently inspiring, and he's made a living freelancing for more years that I've been working in the creative industry.

But it seems that the only pitfall of this article is not adequately describing "rich." If you're looking for Financial Freedom, you can do that off of savings, budgeting, and investing. If Financial Independence is your goal, start something that people want to buy, or sell your startup. The chances of anyone achieving Financial Independence based on salary/working for someone else is nearly impossible.

That's just my two cents, anyways. And Tony Robbins. :)

I found full-time employment compensated me at almost 5x the income of my best year freelancing. That said, the potential for growth just wasn’t there.

Most would agree that owning your own business has the most growth potential, it’s just crazy hard with freelance, content or SaaS.

There’s definitely a balance to be had.

I’ve always favored work opportunities that offer consistent pay, but leave me significant time to study and work on my own projects—still not rich though…

"You Won't Get Rich Anyway"

But You Also Probably Won't Get Rich Working for Yourself

I like Tim Ferris' approach to wealth: how rich you are is relative to how much you have to work. I'd rather make less money but have more free time by living frugally and working intelligently.

I really like Paul’s work and respect his effort.

In the design community, sometimes I feel like I’m back in my punk rock days, and I’m around a bunch of starving artists who are trying to sniff out authenticity. Who is real, who is not and who is a poser.

Sadly enough, many of those I know from those days with a poor relationship and orientation to money are struggling financially now.

“How dare you say anything about money?”

The title of the article is a fairly common expression.

The word “rich” is a nuanced word. Who really cares?

If the word gets you that wound up, you better take a look inside and examine your relationship with money, examine how you practice your craft and view opportunities.

Others are right in that most won’t get “rich” freelancing.

However, those that take up a serious independent design practice may make more money over time, and be richer in time and mobility versus the cubicle pixel monkeys.

That said, there are many ways to scale a lone wolf practice far beyond the dollars for hours game. It’s up to you, your ability to think as a business person and your beliefs of what is possible.

So, if Paul’s thing is not right for you - that’s ok.

Again, it’s all about your belief system of what is possible - and you.

Wanna play it safe. Fine, play it safe.

Why tear someone down who is trying to do something positive for designers?

I didn't read the article as if "getting rich is the goal". It's just a vector of a belief system.

Not in it to get rich.

Don't get me wrong, it'd be sweet. But I've been put on this planet to solve issues. And imo; Real rockstars only care about the music.

You will not get rich freelancing. You can certainly make a good living, but you will not be rich.

80k a year isn't going to cut it, even if just the 1st year. In short, to freelance for a living, you'd have to be ridiculously good and charge like a boss. I know many of us aren't at that point yet.