Re: The Freelance Life: Is It Good?

[John Garison <john -at- garisons -dot- com>]

I've been a freelancer off and on over the course of my career. Now it's 
on again since I moved to Vermont and HP decided to boost their stock 
price at the expense of my job (and those of several thousand others ...).

At any rate, I've always enjoyed contracting. The variety of work is 
interesting. In the last few months I've been working on stuff ranging 
from software that detects encryption in software applications and helps 
you get governmental approval to export it to a new generation computer 
chip.  Can't get much more varied than that.

When there's work, it pays well, too. And I am able to work primarily 
from home, so the dress code and commute are in my favor. Getting work 
can be challenging, but remember the three cardinal rules: Network. 
Network. Network.

Downsides of contracting include the old mantra "You spend half your 
time looking for work, half your time doing the work, and half your time 
trying to collect on the work you've already done." Actually, I've only 
been stiffed once and we still settled on 70% but they were going out of 
business, so I was lucky to get that.

It's not for everyone, but if it is for you, it can be excellent.

My 2¢,

John G


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