Jovan Cicmil's Blog - Investing

I’ve been on Upwork since 2012. During the first couple of years on the platform, I made over $150,000 and worked for clients from all over the world. In recent years, I’ve naturally migrated away from Upwork - <a href="/blog/90-of-my-freelance-work-comes-from-recurring-clients-and-referrals" target="_blank">recurring work ...

Freelancers were solopreneurs before the word solopreneur existed. As a solopreneur, your life and your business are inseparable. Work-life balance is a concept that doesn’t quite apply here. As a business of one, your business is inseparable from your life. Businesses and investors often use diversification to reduce their risk exposure. As freelancers, we can do the same. Diversify ...

Are we in a recession or aren’t we? I leave the speculation (and arguments about semantics) to economists and TV panels. What I know is that the situation is complicated for the working person: companies are firing people wholesale, inflation is brutal, essential goods are painfully expensive, and debt is a huge burden. For many people, it’s hard to find silver linings. But, it is often ...

If you’re anything like me, you hate hype and you despise pump-and-dump schemes. Suffice to say, watching kids sell pixelated monkey avatars to each other isn’t exactly the sort of thing I enjoy. At first glance, this is what the much-hyped web3 is: an unregulated marketplace rife for speculation and fraud. A breeding ground for Ponzi schemes and a graveyard for many get-rich-quick ...

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) is an excellent metric for operators of subscription products. It’s an easy way to keep track of your company’s recurring revenue, especially if you offer several subscription packages. What it is not, however, is a measure of a company’s value. A concerning trend in the world of indie ...

One of the most common questions up-and-coming freelancers ask is: where can I take my career once I’m a successful freelancer ? In the corporate world, career-building is a predictable pursuit. Do great at your job, climb up the ladder, do great at that job, climb further up the ladder, and so on. For freelancers, it’s a ...

Some of the fastest-growing companies in the world are losing money every year, and yet investors have more and more faith in them each year. The bottom line remains negative, and the stock prices are soaring. Why is that? It all comes down to why the bottom line is negative. The fastest-growing companies often lose money for years because they’re reinvesting all their profits into better ...

I owe a lot to freelancing. As my readers know, it has provided me with reliable income and <a href="/blog/the-evolution-of-my-productivity-as-a-freelancer" target="_blank">ample opportunity for self-improvement</a>. However, freelancing isn’t without its challenges. Being independent also means being self-reliant. There is ...