RE: new to contracting, all the usual questions

["Barbara Philbrick" <caslon -at- alltel -dot- net>]

Mac vs. PC: Depends on your industry. If you tend to be working with
marketing departments, Mac might be OK. There are occasional technical
writing departments that use Macs as well.

Stepping back a bit, though, I'd wait till you say yes to a contract before
I bought anything. You might wind up on-site with company provided
equipment, or in a situation where you're providing text and someone else
does the formatting. As long as you have a computer, you can get started,
say, putting outlines together in Word on a Mac, while you wait for your PC
with RoboHelp to come in.

If you're a member of STC, you can visit
http://www.stcsig.org/cic/pages/links.htm for lots of links to information.
In particular, I recommend the _Getting Started in Consulting & 
Independent Contracting_ book at http://www.stcsig.org/cic/gscic/.

Good luck,

Barb

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-199665 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-199665 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of rstevenson
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 2:01 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: new to contracting, all the usual questions


Hello all! I haven't been around for a bit -- got laid off and have been
getting myself organized. Since all of the calls I have been getting have
been for contract work, it seems like this is in my future; I like the idea.
I know there have been innumerable threads on this topic, and am currently
combing the archives for same, but if anyone has any gems of advice to
bestow, I would be very grateful.

Just at the moment, I am particularly curious about home office
setups/computer equipment that I might need to purchase. Does anyone
contract using a Mac, or am I going to have to buy a PC to be effective?

Thanks and good to be back,

Rebecca



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