From Freelancer to Product Business: My Journey

The Beginning

After 25+ years as a freelance developer in the Netherlands, I decided at the end of 2025 that it was time to try something different. No more just trading hours for money, but building products that can scale.

This is the story of how I approached it.

The switch to products actually started quite innocently. I was tired of the race to the lowest hourly rate. I wanted to build something that had value, something that wasn't dependent on how many hours I could work.

Why SaaS?

As a freelancer, you earn money by selling your time. Stop working = stop earning. SaaS is different:

• Passive income - Products that earn money 24/7, even while you sleep
• Scalability - 1 customer or 1000, the work is the same
• Value proposition - You build something worth more than your hourly rate
• Leverage - Your code works for multiple customers at once

But honestly? The real reason was that I got tired of constant sales conversations. With a product, you sell once and then it works for you.

My First Products

I now have a few products live:

1. CronGuard - Monitoring for cron jobs, so you know when something fails
2. CertGuard - SSL certificate monitoring, never again expired certificates
3. Invoice Detective - AI-based invoice matching for businesses

None of these are worth millions (yet), but they run and they earn. And more importantly: they teach me what works and what doesn't.

The Challenges

It's not all roses:

• Time - Freelance work comes first, products in the evenings and weekends
• Marketing - Building is easy, finding customers is hard
• Focus - Too many ideas, too little time
• Second-hand problem - You look at your own products with tunnel vision
• Imposter syndrome - Who am I to sell this?

The biggest challenge? Learning that a product doesn't have to be perfect. Launch early, learn from feedback, iterate fast.

What I Learned

1. Start small - My first product was a simple 200-line script, not an extensive SaaS
2. Talk to users - Before you build, check if anyone wants it
3. Iterate quickly - Launch MVP, gather feedback, improve
4. Marketing is key - A great product that nobody knows earns nothing
5. Automate everything - From invoicing to onboarding, automate as much as possible

The Numbers

Okay, the realistic numbers:

• Revenue: Not yet viable, but it's a start
• Time spent: 10-15 hours per week alongside freelance work
• Learning curve: Steep, but every week I learn more

Want to Start Yourself?

Interested in building a SaaS product alongside your freelance work? It's possible, but it requires discipline and a different mindset.

The key is: starting. Now. Today. Not next month or next year.

I regularly share my experiences on this blog. Want to know which tech stack I use or how I built my products? Let me know.

Frequently asked questions

Can you build a SaaS alongside freelance work? Yes, but expect to spend 10-15 hours a week outside your paid projects. The trick is to start small: one well-defined problem, a minimal first version, and only expand once you have real users.

How do you pick your first SaaS idea? Start with problems you have yourself. CronGuard and CertGuard came out of my own frustration with failing cron jobs and expired certificates. A problem you feel yourself, you understand better than any market analysis.

What's the biggest pitfall moving from freelance to product? Thinking that building is the hard part. It isn't — finding customers and marketing are. A great product nobody knows about earns nothing. Invest in distribution from day one.

Do you have to quit freelancing to start a product? No. Freelance work gives you the cash flow and peace of mind to build without pressure. Let the product grow until it can replace your income before you make the switch.

Further reading

• What Is Cron Job Monitoring and Why Do You Need It?
• Why I Built CronGuard (And Why You Need It)
• SSL Certificate Expired? How to Check, Renew and Prevent It

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Want to stay updated on my SaaS journey? Get in touch.