Wednesday, February 01, 2006
self employed ... good or bad?
I'm at a huge dilema. I have been lucky enough to be self-employed right out of University, been to Europe 5 times because of it, and have great clients.
The struggles are many and the bonus' are many. It is quite hard to keep a steady schedule when you can work whenever you want. I am not money driven, so i have only ever worked to pay the bills and i spend the rest of my time relaxing and keeping the stress down. However, my clients ARE money driven and are trying to give me more and more work ... stress level goes up. I like the extra money, but not the extra hours.
On that note, I just lost a contract that I've had for a number of years that cuts my pay by quite a bit ... to add to that, i have incurred a few extra personal expenses that can't be avoided. I don't go the bar anymore and i rarely go out, so there aren't even any corners to cut. Anyway, the contract was a pain, but it was steady, so I liked it .. now it is gone. To make up for the extra loss, I have to find more work ... no longer steady.
So, comes the dilema. There is a great company in town that would probably hire me on the spot because I have been doing this for 5 years ... do i ditch my clients and get a schedule or struggle till i can get more work? To add to the problem, i have never advertised or put myself out there ... EVERY job has come from a referral from another client (maybe because I'm cheaper ... maybe it's the work ...?). So, it isn't that easy for me to find the work.
Self Employement UP's:
1) lots of flexibility
2) pick and choose projects and clients
3) sleeping in whenever
Downs:
1) completely self-motivated (up or down, i guess)
2) inconsistant pay check
3) sometimes i have to work weekends and strange hours (ie. last night i was up till 4:30am - which is what got this rant going - to make matters worse, i started getting calls at 8:30 and slept like s**t)
... i'll probably stick to what i'm doing as i would feel too guilty to bail on my clients ... and some of them are pretty big and relying on me ... probably more than they should.
The struggles are many and the bonus' are many. It is quite hard to keep a steady schedule when you can work whenever you want. I am not money driven, so i have only ever worked to pay the bills and i spend the rest of my time relaxing and keeping the stress down. However, my clients ARE money driven and are trying to give me more and more work ... stress level goes up. I like the extra money, but not the extra hours.
On that note, I just lost a contract that I've had for a number of years that cuts my pay by quite a bit ... to add to that, i have incurred a few extra personal expenses that can't be avoided. I don't go the bar anymore and i rarely go out, so there aren't even any corners to cut. Anyway, the contract was a pain, but it was steady, so I liked it .. now it is gone. To make up for the extra loss, I have to find more work ... no longer steady.
So, comes the dilema. There is a great company in town that would probably hire me on the spot because I have been doing this for 5 years ... do i ditch my clients and get a schedule or struggle till i can get more work? To add to the problem, i have never advertised or put myself out there ... EVERY job has come from a referral from another client (maybe because I'm cheaper ... maybe it's the work ...?). So, it isn't that easy for me to find the work.
Self Employement UP's:
1) lots of flexibility
2) pick and choose projects and clients
3) sleeping in whenever
Downs:
1) completely self-motivated (up or down, i guess)
2) inconsistant pay check
3) sometimes i have to work weekends and strange hours (ie. last night i was up till 4:30am - which is what got this rant going - to make matters worse, i started getting calls at 8:30 and slept like s**t)
... i'll probably stick to what i'm doing as i would feel too guilty to bail on my clients ... and some of them are pretty big and relying on me ... probably more than they should.
# posted by AllCdnBoy @ 10:48 PM 
