Re: Making the Switch from Full Time to Freelance/Contract - Looking for Advice

[voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com>]

When I work for a contract house (as a W-2 or 1099 "employee"), I get
regular bi-weekly payments as well. I was speaking about working as a
freelance consultant ("corp-to-corp") where you have to invoice the client
company directly and deal with their accounts payable departments. When you
get into the Net 45 payment cycles, you can be waiting for 2-3 months before
you see any money.
-Wendy

On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 5:26 PM, Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

> I've not had any issue with EFT payments being made every two weeks after
> the first pay period has passed. It also took six months to find this gig;
> I
> hope I'm able to find another far more quickly once this one is over.
> Something about being over 50 and being "over-qualified" (the kudos one
> gets
> for being good at what one does).
>
> Jag
>
>
> On 5/7/08, voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> >
> > Louise,
> >
> > Make sure you have 6 months of living expenses in the bank (double the
> > usual
> > "emergency fund"). Expect to wait at least 2 months for your first
> > paycheck
> > after starting a gig - you typically bill monthly, and companies (on a
> > good
> > day) pay net 30. Net 45 is more typical, and net 60 is not unheard of,
> > either. Once that pipeline is filled, it's OK, but that first long wait
> > for
> > your first paycheck is not an easy thing. You also may have times where
> > you
> > are between contracts and having that 6 month cushion keeps you from
> > panicking about the mortgage payment.
> >
> > Contract positions can limit your shopping yourself as a freelancer. Pay
> > careful attention to the contracts you sign and don't sign any with
> > non-compete clauses (I've seen some that would prevent me from working
> as
> > a
> > tech writer in my industry for 5 years after terminating my relationship
> > with the contract house). FYI, I have had bad experiences with Volt as a
> > contract house. The up-side with contracting vs. freelancing with your
> own
> > company is that you can collect unemployment between gigs if you're a
> > contractor (you can't if you're self-employed).
> >
> > Expect to pay 1000/month for health insurance if you have to now insure
> > your
> > entire family yourself (even through a contract house - they offer group
> > insurance, but they do not contribute any money towards it). You may
> also
> > need to carry liability and other insurances.
> >
> > If you are going the self-employment route (and are working in the US),
> > remember to make quarterly tax payments to the IRS. On the up-side, you
> > will
> > find that you can now deduct a whole lot of things as a business owner
> > that
> > you weren't able to do before.
> >
> > In my own case, I have had the most successful indie projects from
> people
> > I've worked for/with before. Either working directly for them as a
> > freelancer, or from direct recommendations.
> >
> > I have also used freelance job boards and craigslist to find short term
> > gigs
> > with mixed results.
> >
> > Good luck!
> > -Wendy
> >
> > On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 2:33 PM, Louise Kasemeier <
> > louisekasemeier -at- yahoo -dot- com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I've finally decided to take the plunge and make the switch from full
> > time
> > > writing posiitons to freelance or contract positions and I'm looking
> for
> > any
> > > advice or wisdom from people who have already done it. I've been a
> full
> > time
> > > technical writer for ten years, here in the Atlanta area and
> previously
> > in
> > > th UK. I've worked in the software industry for most of that time
> > writing
> > > user documentation and internal/systems stuff, API references etc. In
> > the
> > > past 2 years or so I've also been doing a lot of work with DITA and
> XML,
> > > both as a content writer and on the technical implementation side of
> > things.
> > >
> > > I'm really looking for advice on the best way to find contracts and to
> > get
> > > my name out there. Should I use an agency or contact potential
> employers
> > > myself? Are there any good web sites or other resources out there that
> I
> > > should be looking at? Anything really that you think a newbie
> freelancer
> > > should be aware of.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Louise
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > >
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