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Self-Employment vs. Employee

lordylordy Member Posts: 632 ■■■■□□□□□□
in IT Jobs / Degrees
Dear all,

after reading a lot and talking to friends my plans to become self-employed next year are getting more precise every day. In the beginning it was just a swift idea but I am now more focused on it than I ever was. I don't hate my job as an employee but I just feel that being self-employed would give me the chance to develop, see more, meet more people and maybe earn a few extra dollars/euros.

With 10 years of experience in Unix/Linux and Networking I want to become a Consultant to join companies when they run big projects or are temporarily short staffed. This, of course, is not a new concept but I have talked to a few persons that do this and they seem to be rather happy with it. At least the turn down offers to become employees again.

I would like to hear from you guys on the forum who have either tried, are currently self-employed or plan to be in the near future. What are your thoughts? What are you expecting? Why are you doing it? Are you successful? Would you ever go back?

Kind regards,
Lordy
Working on CCNP: [X] SWITCH --- [ ] ROUTE --- [ ] TSHOOT
Goal for 2014: RHCA
Goal for 2015: CCDP
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    ConradJConradJ Member Posts: 83 ■■□□□□□□□□
    I was self-employed and contracting to two companies for nearly a year. I got offered a full time position with one of them and took it.

    Yes, I dropped in hourly pay by nearly half, BUT personally I like to be able to budget efficiently on what I know I will be getting. I get paid salary+mileage+overtime, so I can baseline my budgeting on salary and anything above is a bonus.

    The problems with being self employed and consulting or contracting are a) you can't guarantee a paycheque so getting a mortgage and/or loan is awkward and b) it's twice the work. You have to really focus on keeping your paperwork up-to-date, and everything needs to be very well documented - remember to CYA!

    But, the pay can be great, and damn near everything can be written off against taxes!
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    lordylordy Member Posts: 632 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Yeah, mortgage is a very valid point. I would guess that banks are a little picky if you don't have a steady income. On the other hand one might be able to post a bigger down-payment with the earnings from a self-employed job.

    Paperwork is also a factor. I am currently looking for some Mac Software that would support somebody like me in correspondence and book-keeping. If anybody has a hint, please drop it here icon_smile.gif However, I don't worry to much about it. I don't think that I would have to write more than a dozen invoices per year so that should be doable even with OpenOffice. Regarding taxes I would absolutely go for a tax consultants. Those dollars/euros for their services would be very well spend.

    More input is welcome :)
    Working on CCNP: [X] SWITCH --- [ ] ROUTE --- [ ] TSHOOT
    Goal for 2014: RHCA
    Goal for 2015: CCDP
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    apena7apena7 Member Posts: 351
    I use the Zoho suite for my consulting needs. Their invoice software allows for 10 free invoices per month, which is perfect for me. They also have CRM and accounting programs that you could look into. It's all web-based, so there shouldn't be any problems working from your Mac (fingers crossed).

    Email Hosting, CRM, Project Management, Database Software, Office Suite, Document Management, Remote Support, Online Forums Software, Intranet
    Usus magister est optimus
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