This hackernews post makes it sound like independent consulting is almost all negative! I certainly realize it’s a poll, and they’re wanting to talk about pain points, but I have to say that half of those options have little or nothing to do with being a freelancer. ”Getting good requirements” and “scope creep” are almost two sides of the same coin, and affect everyone in any sort of web development arena – dare I say, many in other service professions as well. These also go hand-in-hand somewhat – once a client understands a rate (hourly, weekly, daily, whatever), the inevitable ‘scope creep’ will have a way of modifying itself to a degree. But, change is inevitable, and (within reason) as long as the client understands the changes will cost more, I’m generally fine with it. I did say “within reason” because we’ve probably all had the project that dragged on with no end in site due to changing requirements, but hopefully we all have few of those 
So, turning this around, what do you love about contracting?
Freedom/flexibility? Financial rewards? New/exciting challenges on a regular basis? Something else? All of the above? :)
