11-24-2011, 09:18 PM
I've worked for myself for about 10 years now. For the last month+ I've been helping out, onsite, for a big company. Although the role I'm in is frustrating, it's been a good pressure cooker that's bringing out what's important to me in a job.
Trying to keep the story short, they're looking to hire me FT at a more senior level position. I don't know what I wan to do next.
I have a couple clients that I still work with and want to keep. I love web design/development/marketing/architecture... and these last couple months have shown me that I'm actually much better at it than I thought I was. I most enjoy working with tech, game and resort (ski/snowboard/mt bike) clients.
There's a ton of variables to such a decision. The web has become much more complex over the years, and anymore I can't do as much as I could before because it takes so many more hours. I had a team, but I built it from people I knew and knew were great at what they do. That's a bad way to build a team as it's not sustainable. It lasted for nine years but this last year has shown that change is inevitable. The way things were designed, I relied on extremely capable and motivated people and they are very hard to replace.
So continuing my own consulting doesn't seem very feasible as I'm just one guy and on my own I can't create the level of work I want to create. Dealing with government, taxes, accounting, health insurance... ends up sucking down ~25% of my time. Dealing with lots of other stuff that I wouldn't have to deal with at a FT position sucks down another ~25% of my time. That said, at a FT job, I waste ~8hrs/wk commuting (taking the bus, or I would have to buy another car) and another 15% of my time dealing with "capable challenged" people.
Another option that I hear happens though isn't common, is getting a part-time contract job for ~20hrs/wk, preferably working from home. That would pay the bills. Then spend ~25% of my time on my own clients, and the rest of the time on whatever I want.
That said, there's some perks of a FT job. Their insurance is very good - eg 100% vision is included. They also have a ton of corporate perks, including an employee Apple store where things like a $2200 MBP go for about $2000. There's discounts on Apple software too. They also have discounts at Dell, HP...
I don't like being away from my kid so much. I might be able to telecommute much of the time.
What would you do? I'm especially curious what the self-employed here think.
Trying to keep the story short, they're looking to hire me FT at a more senior level position. I don't know what I wan to do next.
I have a couple clients that I still work with and want to keep. I love web design/development/marketing/architecture... and these last couple months have shown me that I'm actually much better at it than I thought I was. I most enjoy working with tech, game and resort (ski/snowboard/mt bike) clients.
There's a ton of variables to such a decision. The web has become much more complex over the years, and anymore I can't do as much as I could before because it takes so many more hours. I had a team, but I built it from people I knew and knew were great at what they do. That's a bad way to build a team as it's not sustainable. It lasted for nine years but this last year has shown that change is inevitable. The way things were designed, I relied on extremely capable and motivated people and they are very hard to replace.
So continuing my own consulting doesn't seem very feasible as I'm just one guy and on my own I can't create the level of work I want to create. Dealing with government, taxes, accounting, health insurance... ends up sucking down ~25% of my time. Dealing with lots of other stuff that I wouldn't have to deal with at a FT position sucks down another ~25% of my time. That said, at a FT job, I waste ~8hrs/wk commuting (taking the bus, or I would have to buy another car) and another 15% of my time dealing with "capable challenged" people.
Another option that I hear happens though isn't common, is getting a part-time contract job for ~20hrs/wk, preferably working from home. That would pay the bills. Then spend ~25% of my time on my own clients, and the rest of the time on whatever I want.
That said, there's some perks of a FT job. Their insurance is very good - eg 100% vision is included. They also have a ton of corporate perks, including an employee Apple store where things like a $2200 MBP go for about $2000. There's discounts on Apple software too. They also have discounts at Dell, HP...
I don't like being away from my kid so much. I might be able to telecommute much of the time.
What would you do? I'm especially curious what the self-employed here think.