Are you a freelance or one person company?

[Irene_he]

Hello, I think some people here maybe a freelance or one person company or independant consultant. I would like to hear how do you feel about working alone by yourself? What keep you doing this way and how long do you hold on it and if giving up, why? What is good and what is bad about being a freelance? The good part for me is the freedom to schedule the time and work/create things that I like. Bad part is you are alone, no inspiration by others and missing the fun of talking with co-workers etc.

What is your experiences?

Irene

[i2dx]

Irene,

I work as a freelancer, too.

I think it's the hard way, e.g. last year I worked 38 weeks as a resident engineer away from home at 4 different companies, you have to solve all problems on you own. Scedule time? if you speak in terms like "ok, one weekend in the month is free for book keeping", I can agree. The german translation is "selbstst

[Louis Manfredi]

Hi Irene:

I've been consulting for a bit over ten years now. The answers I always give:

The best thing about being an independent consultant is that you don't have to put up with the nonsense from the accounting department and the MIS department.

The worst thing about being an independent consultant is that you have to do your own books and fix your own computer.

Often times I work at home, when I do, a bad commute is if I trip over the cat on the way from the kitchen to my office and spill coffee on my bedroom slippers.

But, more seriously:

Sometimes I'm sitting on my thumbs waiting & looking for work, sometimes (like now) I'm booked at 150% for the foreseeable future for long-standing clients I don't want to dissappoint. Managing the uneven fluctuation in workload (and income) can be a bit of an annoyance. Even given the low committment companies give to regular employees these days, they try to hold onto employees with steady work and steadier paychecks, which is nice. On the other hand, if I want to take a day off because the weather is too nice to spend inside, or to attend to family matters, its entirely up to me-- worst comes to worst I can make up a Wednesday on a future-- or yes, Alpha (given a little planning) past Saturday.

I think that consulting is best if you have deep technical experience in a conventional work environment before you begin. I was a grunt engineer for a company for 17 years-- very experienced in test engineering, instrumentation programming and design, and wind turbine design before I started consulting. As a matter of fact, I was asked to do my first job based on a friend's need for someone with my particular experience, and that is what prompted me to set up the consultancy. I think the interactions and relationships you have with co-workers, especially more experienced ones, is very valuable when you start out-- To summarize, I think consulting is better for older folks than young'uns.

Its really fun to hop into a project where I can help, learn a little about something entirely new to me, add to the project with my specific expertise, and then count on the client's own staff to finish up the routine work. Downside is that often times you pour your full attention into something for a few weeks, struggle with it like crazy, and then never end up hearing the details of how the overall project worked out.

There's issues related to Taxes, Liability, Liability insurance, Health Insurance, retirement savings, etc. Even if you were writing from the U.S.A.-- and particularly since you are in Canada-- I can't say anything about that but to seek good professional advice and follow it carefully. The USA & other parts of the World too, I think, are full of folks who did really well as consultants, or independent mechanics, or whatever, but ended up going bankrupt because of Tax, Liabiliy, or Health issues, or reached retirement with a comfortable present & past lifesytle but no particular savings for the future. Lacking any reliable control over the arrow of time, best to get some of your money positioned nicely in the future-- just in case you get there with no reliable way to go back to the past. :thumbup:

Hope my rambling thoughts have been of a little help.

Best Regards, Louis

[Justin Goeres]

Irene,

I, too, am freelancing. I've been doing it on paper for just over a year, but in a more practical sense, for about 9 months. And I'm one of the young 'uns, so perhaps my perspective is a little different.

I agree with everything the other replies said. The flexibility and autonomy are unbeatable. If you can keep the pipeline full of work (but not TOO full), it's a great way to do things.

But there's also a downside (aka, there is no such thing as a free lunch). I miss the daily office interaction with colleagues. Because of that, I've found I have to be more conscientious with my outside-work social life, because I'm not getting any social interaction in my office at home (other than an occasional visit from a kitty-cat, which is not to be underestimated). But there's a component of professional interaction that I haven't found a way to recover yet. I can't walk down the hall and bounce ideas off of another engineer like I used to, and I think that's significant. That also means more effort to keep abreast of what's going on in the rest of the LabVIEW world, because if I don't read it myself, no one else is going to tell me about it . That's why I try to spend a bit more time in discussion forums like this one than I used to.

Also, I personally hate doing sales calls. While I love personally supporting my customers, I'm averse to the kind of self-promotion that freelancing requires. It's a skill that I'm picking up (and I'd rather be good at coding than at making people think I'm good at it ), but when you're on you're own you find out a lot of things through trial by fire.

Finally, bookeeping more or less sucks. It's not terribly difficult, but it's terribly distracting. My advice is to find a good CPA -- not just knowledgeable, but someone you really click with on a personal level. They can give you good advice on how to simplify the financial side of things.

Ask me again in another 3 years how I feel about it .

Justin

P.S. I have a friend who ran a small NI Alliance company out west for about 9 years (for those of you who know me, it's NOT the person you're thinking of), and then freelanced for a few more. He recently went back to work for a startup company, and while the steady pay is nice and there's a bit more of a safety net, he recently advised me to NEVER quit freelancing. His words: "Don't get a real job. I tried that, it doesn't work."

[LAVA 1.0 Content]

There are probably quite a few consultants, here..

Some of us are 1 co.-person, some others try to keep the headcount above 1.

It doesn't "feel" as if we are alone. Maybe some places can make you feel that way, but it's up to you to integrate yourself to each workplace.

I would not go back to being an employee. I don't see any real benefit of being an employee, plus there are some flexibilities... well rater some + & -, just as in anything...

The good... hummm... the idea of building your own company. The bad... well... it's better not to open that can of worms.. Just concentrate on the good. I never feel alone.. If I do, then I get together with other consultants.. Inspiration?? Wow.. there's an open floodgate in my brain.. wholly crap.. some many ideas, not enough time in this life.. but that's ok.. 5 hrs of sleep should be enough

The difficult part is dealing with bigger competition. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. You either have to be better (technically) or be a better salesman... And then it boils down to cost (to the customer).

You do get that extra boost of learning, and oh boy do you learn lots!!!

And a regular work-week is approx 80 hours, but you get 40 hrs worth of earnings..

Vacation / time off.. grab some whenever you can..

But do have fun.. and enjoy what you do.. Keep positive no matter what, and if you fall, get up and remember that you are a human being.. then smile...

[Irene_he]

Thank you everyone who replied to this thread. It is very helpful for me to read how other people think about being freelance or work by themself. Whatever situation you described, they helped to firm the thoughts. Maybe everything has two sides, it's up to each person to find the balance.

Very good reading of each replies. They all tell a very interesting story, opinions and experiences.

Thank you.

Irene