How To Become A Freelance Software Developer With Charles Max Wood (339)

Life Skills That Matter | Create Work That Works For You

Charles Max Wood provides a detailed case study of how to become a freelance software developer.

He's been a software developer for the past 13 years as an employee, freelancer, agency owner and now a podcast producer.

He's the founder of DevChat.tv, a network of podcasts for software developers, including the Freelancers' Show, Javascript Jabber, and Adventures in Angular to name a few.

Lot of great lessons in our conversation including:

1. How listening to podcasts helped him learn software development opportunities.
2. Why keeping your job is emotionally safe.
3. How to talk to a spouse who is nervous about freelancing.
4. How his network helped him understand he was underpricing his software development services.
5. Red flags to know about before you start working with a new client.
6. Advice on how to become a freelance software developer.

Life Skills That Matter In This Episode

• Self-directed learning.
• Build community.
• Tell your story.

How Charles Works and Thinks

• Wake up time: 6:00 – 7:00 am
• Core work activities + habits: 1) Bringing technical expertise to the podcast network. 2) Being the active face of the business. 3) Doing sponsorship sales.
• Ideal work environment: In his home office, but he also gets a lot of mental work done while out running.
• Regains focus by: He’s not always good at it, but a lot of times he gets back on track by getting back into what he’s learning or generally doing something to get a clean break from the distraction. If nothing else is working, he’ll use The Pomodoro Technique.

Inspirational Quotes

“At that point, finding a freelance client, doing a lot of this stuff, it wasn’t as hard because I had the internet to go do my marketing on.”

“Once I got laid off from that last job, I realized that the only way for me to have any control over my destiny was to take control of my destiny and not go work for another company.”

“That’s where I feel like I’m really called to work is to just help people kinda achieve their dreams in development and get to that next level.”

Coaching Advice

Been thinking about working for yourself for a long time? Charles shared this advice to inspire you to finally take action:

1) Go sell something to somebody. It doesn’t have to be a transaction for money. It could even be selling a new idea or practice to your boss.

2) Know that you’ll probably screw something up as you learn, but you’ll figure it out and be OK.

Resources + Bonus Materials

LSTM Lifestyle Calculator

Ruby Rogues Podcast

Shopify

Russell Brunson

Related Episodes

Make Your Career More Resilient By Freelancing With Nathan Ryan (227)

Farm Management Software Developer Scott Anderson (052)

Connect With Charles

Website

Podcast Playbook

LinkedIn

Twitter

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