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On September 21, 1997, RalphR3179 -at- aol -dot- com wrote:
>> Most contract ads I see say ON-SITE. Well, with few exceptions, I know
>>that I don't have to be on-site all the time to get the work done. In
>>most cases, given the tools I work with on-site, I am more productive by
>>far from my home office. My equipment is better and much more reliable.
Hear! Hear! But I am continually amazed at how difficult, if not
impossible, it is to get this fact across to Corporate America. The
best I am usually able to negotiate is a 50/50 split between of-site and
off-site work. Yet, in such cases, I actually produce about 80% of the
real work off-site.
>>As an independent, I take it as my responsiblity to gather information when
>>I need it. If that means a week on site, so be it. But on the practical
>>side, if I
>>take a six-month assignment on-site, my business suffers. Because for those
>>six-months, essentially, it doesn't exist. I can't do marketing work, or
>>return
>>calls, or follow up on inquiries: nothing. The problem: personal contact.
I take a different approach. If an employer insists that I work
on-site, I continue to do my marketing and networking, return phone
calls, follow up inquires, etc., just as if I were in my home office. I
either deduct the approximate time for these activities from my bill
(i.e., if I am on-site for 9 hours and spend an hour on my own business
activities, I charge the client for 8 hours, not 9), or I work on the
project in my home office at night to make up for the time I used on
personal activities.
This works well for me. So far, I have not had any complaints.
>
>>But I can respect that need. How easy is it to start a relationship with
>>avoice over the
>>phone? Being in business means you have to trust the people you work with.
>>You get to know someone by observing how they work and the work ethic they
>>have on the job. Then, as that confidence grows, you feel more at ease with
>>the contractor
>>working someplace else. When you are talking about the survival of your
>>company,
>can you do any less? I couldn't.
I agree with this. And I've found that, once employers gains confidence
in my work and my work ethic, they are likely to relax their on-site
rules for me.
In general, I am happier as a contractor than I ever was as a corporate
employee. If I had the same decisions to make over again, I probably
would have done the same thing, though -- that is, waited until my
children no longer needed good medical insurance. But that is my
particular hang-up.
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