Re: Your Start Date Ever Changed?

["Bryan Sherman" <bsherm -at- gmail -dot- com>]

This happens more often then I would like. It is an unfortunate fact of
life, especially if you are a contractor. It is something you have to build
into your rates and expectations (imo).

I have had a few times that I suspected the client was at least being
over-confident on how soon the project started, but I don't have any clients
that I think would lie to get me attached to a gig. If I did, they wouldn't
be clients long... :-)

This is in many ways my least favorite time of the year professionally. If a
gig falls through, is delayed, or ends prematurely it's rather hard to find
a replacement project in November/December.

Sliding off your topic, a lot of my work comes through a third-party
company. They take a pretty good chunk of the rate but they pay invoices
very promptly (typically before receiving payment from the client), find me
the jobs, place me at companies that would never deal with me one on one and
actually are concerned about my down time . There are a number of times they
have apologized and worked hard to find me an interim project (the part
on-topic to your question). I know I have heard folks make global statements
like "taking more than x% is out of line of you are a 1099" but I always
look at what services are rendered for a cut. Sometimes a firm taking 10% is
a rip-off, and another taking even 50-60% is a bargain. BTW, 1099 is
US-Speak means you are not an employee and are responsible for all taxes.

Bryan

On 12/16/06, Richard Lewis <tech44writer -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote: