Nobody warns you about the operational overhead of independent work. Invoicing, taxes, bookkeeping, contracts, insurance - the meta-work eats your week if you don't automate. This is what I run.
When I left the bank, the part I underestimated was running myself as a business. Here's the stack that keeps it lightweight.
Invoicing & contracts
- Stripe Atlas + Stripe Invoicing. Setup is one weekend. Recurring invoicing for retainer clients is automatic.
- HelloSign or Docusign for contracts. I have three contract templates: project, retainer, and advisory. Re-using them is 95% of contract work.
Bookkeeping
- QuickBooks Self-Employed in the early days. Switched to Xero when I crossed multiple-currencies + expense management.
- Wise for receiving international payments without bleeding 4% on FX.
Taxes
- A real accountant. Not negotiable. The cost is worth it. I use one specifically familiar with software contractors.
- I make quarterly tax payments. I keep 25-30% of every invoice in a separate "tax" account so the bill never surprises me.
Insurance
- Professional indemnity insurance. Required by most enterprise clients before they'll engage. Renewable annually.
- Equipment insurance if you'd be hosed by a stolen laptop.
Legal
- I have one lawyer on retainer for an annual flat fee, who reviews contract changes and answers IP questions. Worth every penny.
Productivity
- Cron or Notion for tasks. I tried fancy tools, ended up with a single Notion database called "Active Engagements."
- Cal.com for scheduling - link is cal.com/sree-vardhan-tsn0pn.
- Linear for personal tracking on each engagement.
Communications
- Front for shared inbox if I bring in collaborators
- Slack Connect for client channels (one channel per client)
- Loom for async demos and explanations - saves hours of meetings
What I deliberately don't have
- A CRM. I have <50 active relationships at any time. Spreadsheet works.
- A website builder. I built srivvs.com myself, because that's also marketing my work.
- Project management software bigger than Linear. I tried Asana, Jira, ClickUp. None justified the overhead vs. Linear or Notion.
The discipline that matters most
Time-track every billable hour. I use Toggl. Even on flat-fee projects. Two reasons: (1) you learn how long things actually take, which makes future quoting more accurate; (2) you have evidence if a client questions an invoice.
The stack matters less than the discipline. Pick what you'll actually use.
References
Tagged
Sri Vardhan
Independent technology studio of one. I help founders and small teams ship serious software without the consultancy overhead. More about me.