As some of you know, professionally I’ve had a bit of a rather-roller coaster during the last few years.
Since 2015 I’ve gone through two redundancies (the last one during maternity leave – I will write more in this in the future), a short spell at a company that turned out to be solar years away from the company culture I strive in, an even shorter spell freelancing and finally decided to become an independent consultant and director of my own limited company.
During this summer I felt very tired of continuous job changes and felt I needed something drastically different. I wanted to focus on the work I do and enjoy (digital marketing) rather than worrying whether I will lose a permanent job yet again or whether my employer are really as family-friendly as they proclaim to be.
I realised this when I prepared for an interview and was talking about the great stuff I worked on 4 years before!
Why I decided to be a contractor
I longed for:
- Flexibility
- Variety
- No company mandated limits on my breaks from work
- If I don’t like a place, I’ll just leave at the end of my contract. No hard feelings.
Contracting normally means changing job often – but the change is based on a predefined contract. No surprises. I am now entering the work relationship on radically different terms.
The best part of being a contractor
This is something I didn’t expect. As a contractor you are hired to do something specific, and as such you are not involved with HR, you have fewer meetings and last but not least you are spared a large part of company politics. Bingo!
But you still get free coffee, fruit and food, you get to learn new stuff and experience a new company from the inside, and you can attend any free evening speaking events organised by the company.
Career progression & finding your next gig
Sure, there is limited career progression, but let’s face it – I never wanted to be a CEO or MD of a mega super sized company. I’m happy being the director of my own Ltd, enjoying my family and spending a few of hours a week on my blogs and meeting other FIers.
I found my current contract through a recruiter, and I am grateful to him because otherwise I would have probably never found this job I enjoy. But… this recruiter is insanely expensive! When I found out how much I am paying him, I was glad I was sitting down!
Here is my plan to find my next work contracts:
- Go direct. I hate networking, but I made a point of approaching things differently. Now every time I can I will say something like this: “I really enjoyed / I think I would really enjoy working with you. Let me know if you need someone with my skills (again) in the future. Directly and bypassing recruiters is best for me”. Tell them you are available. Tell them what you want. I will also attend more conferences, because you never know who you will meet.
- If I really need to go via a recruiter I will negotiate down the fee. I recently met a guy who works a recurring contract and every time he renewed he made the recruiter reduce the commission he paid them – from an initial 15% to the current 2.5%. Wow!
- I will give preference to contracts that allow me to work from home a lot so I save money and life energy and spend more time with my daughter.
Most importantly I am planning to take time off strategically in between contracts to recharge and enjoy life and my family.
The not-so-glamorous part of being a contractor
Oh, the admin! Founding a company means: incorporating a company, signing with an accountancy firm, opening a business bank account, registering for VAT (there are tax advantages to being VAT registered) and running legal background check (I won’t bore you with the details, but it has to be done).
Luckily you can pay accountancy firm a decent probably too high amount to do it for you, but you will still get more letters than you thought possible. The bulk of it is at the beginning to get started, then it will get better.
(Note to self: find a cheaper accountant.)
Earnings and tax
One of the advantages of being a contractor is that you have specific tax advantages. There is lots to read and consider, but essentially there are ways to pay less money to the tax man.
Another thing to keep into account is that you need to set aside at least a couple of month’s of your living expenses when you start off. You are unlikely to get paid at the end of the month like a regular employee – first you finish working the month, then you submit your time sheet which will normally get approved in a week or so, then you can raise an invoice which will get added to the recruiter’s or company’s payables and paid normally once a week, but only if you send your invoice ahead of the weekly payables deadline… In other words, it takes a couple of months before you can pay yourself your own salary regularly! Once you work for a couple of months it become a regular thing, but at the beginning you need some spare cash for your living expenses.
Summary of my first month
I am a little tired but excited about what the future will bring 🙂
[adrotate banner=”3″]
0 Comments