When I first started my web development agency, I only looked for part-time contracts.

I quickly realized these opportunities were few and far in between. I didn’t want to use marketplaces, so I had no choice but to reach out to full-time opportunities.

Problem: Most clients advertise for full-time employed positions when I was looking for part-time contract positions.

The first problem I had to solve was to convince them to hire me on as a “full-time” contractor instead. The way I explained to my clients why they should hire me as a contractor was that because I’m working remote, there are tax benefits for myself to be set up as a contractor. The truth is that it’s also beneficial for the clients because they don’t have to give me employee benefits and equity, so it’s actually win-win situation. This part was relatively easy to solve.

Next part of the problem was that most job posts are advertised as “full-time” positions. Through trial and error and starting many conversations with hiring managers, I quickly realized a way to get around the 40 hr problem is by slightly changing the wording of the contract from “full-time” to “billable up to 160 hrs per month”.

💡 The best clients are the startups who value their company’s equity, so they aren’t stingy in paying you cash up front.

On the surface level, it gives the client the right to optionally give you full-time workload as a cost saving measure. But in really, it opens up the room of full-time to be negotiated on case by case bases.

The negotiation is typically done through grooming and providing estimation of how many hours tasks would take - standard sprint planning work. So in reality, if you’re strategic about it, you can most likely pad your hours enough to not work “full-time” but still deliver an acceptable amount of value. Jump to the chapter on Pricing Strategy or Scoping the Work for even more tips on how to effectively negotiate your time.