Re: Contracting: for the Robust Only

[Penny Staples <pstaples -at- AIRWIRE -dot- COM>]

I think that some of us have the right kind of personality
to thrive as private contractors; others don't.

I worked as a contractor for just over a year, and found
that the roller-coaster highs and lows were more stressful
than I liked. When I had work, I had lots of it -- it meant
pushing hard and working 12 - 16 hour days, 7 days a week
to get the work done. Not good if you have a young child
(which I did, at the time). When I didn't have work, I'd be
scrambling to find more work, and then sitting around
worrying about how we were going to pay the bills next
month. Some people do well in this kind of environment.
I didn't.

The answer for me was finding a job with a company that
I liked. Working for a large corporation is not the only
alternative to working for yourself. I'm currently working for
a small place (<15 employees), where I get to set my own
hours, and where I have a lot of control over the kind of
work I'm doing. In these times, no job is ever really secure,
but this one will do for the moment!

So my advice is to think carefully about how you handle
stress before you branch out on your own. There's no
shame in a regular paycheque.

Regards,

Penny Staples
pstaples -at- airwire -dot- com

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