Re: Downside of contracting

[RalphR3179 -at- AOL -dot- COM]

As one who has lived through several "Feast and Famine" cycles (as we all
have)
I am more than willing to testify to the disruptive nature of the beast.

I have been working as an independent for four years and I have yet to break
the
cycle. Some are shorter, some longer, but you never know on which side you
will
end up. It is tough on me, tough on the wife, and it can play heck with the
credit
rating,  I know. But in four years I have slowly had several things beaten
into me.

As much as I hate to admit it, with all our technology, the ticket has to be
location,
location, location. I am always hearing of our brethern in Silicon Valley and
other high
tech locations who have more work than they can use. Well, if that's true,
call me. I'm
sure we can work out a good deal. Because I am here to tell you that it ain't

necessarily so.

I'm in Southwestern Michigan and there is NO high-tech market to speak of in
this
area. I'm close to Chicago, but the only reason I have survived this long is
that I love
to write. I'll take on most assignments that I know I can do a good job at.
Sure, I have
preferences, but paying the bills and eating are higher.

It amazes me how slow corporate America is to grasp facts. A wealth of
resources lie
only a phone call away, but they won't call. Many don't even have the
courtesy to
respond to marketing inquiries. Most contract ads I see say ON-SITE. Well,
with few
exceptions, I know that I don't have to be on-site all the time to get the
work done. In
most cases,  given the tools I work with on-site, I am more productive by
far from my home office. My equipment is better and much more reliable. As an
independent, I take it as my responsiblity to gather information when I need
it. If that
means a week on site, so be it. But on the practical side, if I take a
six-month
assignment on-site, my business suffers. Because for those six-months,
essentially,
it doesn't exist. I can't do marketing work, or return calls, or follow up on
inquiries:
nothing. The problem: personal contact.

Employers have a need to meet the people they work with on a daily basis. I
suspect
that many independents started like I did: they were down sized, then turned
right
around to work for the company that laid them off. The difference? Their
company is
still there. My ex (Zenith Data Systems) moved out a long time ago.

But I can respect that need. How easy is it to start a relationship with a
voice over the
phone? Being in business means you have to trust the people you work with.
You get to know someone by observing how they work and the work ethic they
have on the job. Then, as that confidence grows, you feel more at ease with
the contractor
working someplace else. When you are talking about the survival of your
company,
can you do any less?  I couldn't.

I have spoke to contractors who say they only work off-site. Well, I think
you are
very lucky to be in the location you have. Believe me, only a handful of
companies in
other parts of the country will even discuss the idea.

Another problem is education. Many companies feel that they can hand a copy
of
Microsoft Publisher and some notes to a secretary and get a useful document.
Well,
there is a very large gap between a truly useful document and something
generated
by a secretary, even if he/she does their very best. There is a totally
different skill set
involved.

Creating a document requires a lot of skill. We want to know who will use it
and how.
We use interview skills to gather information and to follow-up on information
that just
doesn't "feel" right. We know how to join and structure a document so there
is a flow
to it and how to index and tab it so the information can be located. It
short, we know
how to do it right, but many companies don't want to do it right, they just
want to get
it done. Usually at the tail end of a project with too little information and
to few
resources.

So what do we do? Well, I for one will keep on pluggin'. I was born to write
in one
way or another. I will keep trying to sell my services to clients who need
them,
whether they know it or not, I will do the best job I can despite the
clients' insistence
that I use the wrong tools in the wrong way. I will continue to try to
educate them the
best way I know how even though they don't want to learn. And I will continue
trying
to do it right in the hope that my clients will learn to appreciate the
difference.

Ralph F. Rumpf
Documentation Specialists

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