I hear this from companies that are 1) too big to bother with or 2) do not want to hire an external person.
In the first case, the client has some workforce deficiency, and, if they're a tech company, they're probably hiring this "middleman" to temporarily scale. Once this happens, they've probably had tons of billable hours extracted from them, get sour, and swear off contractors, or double down because of sunk cost / devil you know. These are complex sales deals, even for experience service business, I'd avoid.
In the second case, it's just an excuse, and I think it falls into a category of similar excuses ("We don't have the time to spec work", "We don't want to work with someone new to freelancing", etc etc) and almost always these people either want an employee, or a someone to boss around, not results. Also best to avoid.
My guess is you're new to qualifying leads, and it's really hard when you start, so keep trying. Chances are you'll be tapping your professional network for leads, or pitching strangers if you happen to get on a call with them via cold email. I wrote a guide, based on my experiences, to closing deals here: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/crush-it-stop-it-profit-th... (sorry for the self-promo). This can work for a while, maybe get your first recurring clients. After a few sales calls for clients, You may realize getting leads to come to you is best, or at minimum people should have a reason to answer your emails like having some kind of branding or marketing, so start writing, coding, tweeting, or whatever regularly to get attention. Keep at it. It's hard work.
You already dislike middlemen, so I don't have to give you spiel. While I don't like it either, people have kickstarted successful freelancing businesses by using them temporarily. My first freelance gig was with a consultancy as a sub-contractor, of course I got fired after two weeks, but it gave me the hunger to find more clients and find my niche to pursue. I'm still freelancing/consulting after two years.
On top of everything, you will fuck up, and that's okay, so give yourself some breathing room financially and mentally.
If you have any questions about freelancing/consulting, I'd be happy to try and answer them.
Btw, I looked into IR35 regulation, and I'm not a lawyer/barrister/esquire and this is not legal advice, but the IR35 regulation people keep talking about in this thread is very similar to the contractor self-employed definition in US/Canada, so i think that is a load of bull shit too. You might have to jump right to fixed rate work then so you do not qualify as "Off-payroll Worker". UK government has a cute little tool for determining this: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-employment-status-for-t...
In the first case, the client has some workforce deficiency, and, if they're a tech company, they're probably hiring this "middleman" to temporarily scale. Once this happens, they've probably had tons of billable hours extracted from them, get sour, and swear off contractors, or double down because of sunk cost / devil you know. These are complex sales deals, even for experience service business, I'd avoid.
In the second case, it's just an excuse, and I think it falls into a category of similar excuses ("We don't have the time to spec work", "We don't want to work with someone new to freelancing", etc etc) and almost always these people either want an employee, or a someone to boss around, not results. Also best to avoid.
My guess is you're new to qualifying leads, and it's really hard when you start, so keep trying. Chances are you'll be tapping your professional network for leads, or pitching strangers if you happen to get on a call with them via cold email. I wrote a guide, based on my experiences, to closing deals here: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/crush-it-stop-it-profit-th... (sorry for the self-promo). This can work for a while, maybe get your first recurring clients. After a few sales calls for clients, You may realize getting leads to come to you is best, or at minimum people should have a reason to answer your emails like having some kind of branding or marketing, so start writing, coding, tweeting, or whatever regularly to get attention. Keep at it. It's hard work.
You already dislike middlemen, so I don't have to give you spiel. While I don't like it either, people have kickstarted successful freelancing businesses by using them temporarily. My first freelance gig was with a consultancy as a sub-contractor, of course I got fired after two weeks, but it gave me the hunger to find more clients and find my niche to pursue. I'm still freelancing/consulting after two years.
On top of everything, you will fuck up, and that's okay, so give yourself some breathing room financially and mentally.
If you have any questions about freelancing/consulting, I'd be happy to try and answer them.
Btw, I looked into IR35 regulation, and I'm not a lawyer/barrister/esquire and this is not legal advice, but the IR35 regulation people keep talking about in this thread is very similar to the contractor self-employed definition in US/Canada, so i think that is a load of bull shit too. You might have to jump right to fixed rate work then so you do not qualify as "Off-payroll Worker". UK government has a cute little tool for determining this: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-employment-status-for-t...