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The Difference Between a Freelancer and an Entrepreneur
Seth Godin | December 16th, 2008 - 10:10 AM
(75) found this useful. Do you? 
Which are you? Are you sure?
A freelancer is someone who gets paid for her work. She charges by the hour or perhaps by the project. Freelancers write, design, consult, advise, do taxes and hang wallpaper. Freelancing is the single easiest way to start a new business.
Entrepreneurs use money (preferably someone else’s money) to build a business bigger than themselves. Entrepreneurs make money when they sleep. Entrepreneurs focus on growth and on scaling the systems that they build. The more, the better.
The goal of a freelancer is to have a steady job with no boss, to do great work, to gradually increase demand so that the hourly wage goes up and the quality of gigs goes up too.
The goal of the entrepreneur is to sell out for a lot of money, or to build a long-term profit machine that is steady, stable and not particularly risky to run.
The trap is simple: Sometime freelancers get entrepreneur envy and start hiring other freelancers to work for them. This doesn’t scale. Managing freelancers is different from being a freelancer. Managing freelancers and saving the best projects for yourself gets you into trouble. The cash flow gets you into trouble. Investors don’t want to invest in you because you can’t sell out if you’re a freelancer at heart.
If you’re an entrepreneur, it is impossible to succeed by using your own labor to fill the gaps. That’s because your labor is finite. It doesn’t scale. That’s because if it’s a job only you can do, you’re not building a system, you’re just hiring yourself (and probably not paying enough either).
The solution is easy. If you’re a freelancer, freelance. Figure out how to do the best work in your field, the best work for the right clients. Don’t fret about turning away work, and don’t fret about occasional down time. You’re a freelance for hire, and you need to focus on your reputation and the flow of business. Find partners if you like but keep the cash flows separate.
If you’re an entrepreneur, don’t hire yourself. Build a business that works, that thrives with or without you. It might not be good for your ego, but it will be good for your bank account.
Whatever you do, don’t mix em up.
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Godin: Facebook, Twitter, Telephone Are for Talking, Not Marketing | December 18th, 2008 at 12:08 am
[...] officially affiliated with FM, unless you count our informal Seth Godin Fan Club. He is, however, a sometime contributor to the OPEN Forum site, the content of which FM manages.) Comment on post SHARETHIS.addEntry({ [...]
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wannadevelop.com | December 23rd, 2008 at 4:22 am
“If you’re an entrepreneur, don’t hire yourself. Build a business that works, that thrives with or without you. It might not be good for your ego, but it will be good for your bank account.”
That is a very powerful statement and 100% true
Another great piece… Good job Seth
Best,
Mike
http://www.wannadevelop.com
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Solomon King | January 2nd, 2009 at 6:10 pm
For almost three years I was stuck in the “Freelancer trying to be an entreprenuer loop”. Like you say, it just wasn’t scaling, until I had to force myself to step back from production and focus more on building the business. Still a long journey, but it’s getting easier.
This article is a great reminder of where I should be heading.
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Mike | March 1st, 2009 at 12:24 pm
True, freelancers need to do their best work “for the right clients” and that last is key. The right client is the one who values your services and understands what is costs for those services. If you’re not being paid correctly for your work, you’re being taken advantage of (by your client and by yourself). Turning down “bad clients” is the best way to improve your reputation and cash flow.
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Blue Planet Photography » Blog Archive » The difference between a freelancer and an entrepreneur | March 1st, 2009 at 1:25 pm
[...] Godin, in a December post on the Open Forum asks the reader “which one are you?” To help the reader decide, short definitions of freelancer and entrepreneur are given, in case you [...]
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Freelancer or Entrepreneur | April 28th, 2009 at 8:20 am
[...] Freelancer or Entrepreneur [...]
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