Part Two: Technical Self-Employment For All

MoNickels writes "I've posted part two of the article series encouraging the unemployed to take up freelance technical support, including advice on knowing if this work is right for you, marketing yourself, learning on the job, handling and educating clients, managing the business, the temperament required, and the negative aspects of the work." See part one if you missed it.

Comments

Only one question..

[kmak]

What do you do about health insurance?

Re:Only one question..

[tbase]

Ummm, I don't know, maybe pay for it, like you do when you're working for someone else? Just because 100% of it isn't coming out of your check, doesn't mean you aren't paying for all of it. It's all part of the expense of employing you, along with unemployment insurance, worker's compensation, etc. That's why freelancer's generally charge a much higher rate per hour - they have to pay that stuff themselves, instead of having someone else do it for them.

Re:Only one question..

[PCM2]

Ummm, I don't know, maybe pay for it, like you do when you're working for someone else?

Yes, yes, spoken very authoritatively and with the requisite amount of condescension for a Slashdot poster.

Fact is, however, insurance is a much better deal when you get it through an organization than if you get it as an individual. That's because health insurance is a numbers game. If they can sign up an entire company, it's a pretty safe bet that not everyone in that company is going to be hospitalized at once. If it's just you they're signing up -- who knows what your problem is?

So it isn't just a matter of whether you're employer is paying for it or if you're paying for it yourself. As an individual, you're typically going to pay a higher monthly rate and still get a higher deductible or fewer benefits. Coverage for your children or spouse is going to be still more.

So maybe the question shouldn't have been, "what do you do for insurance," but "how do you get good, quality, comprehensive healthcare in the United States as a self-employed person"?

Re:Only one question..

[bigman2003]

You are absolutely, positively nuts.

That has to be the worst advice you can give to anyone in the U.S.

Playing the odds like that might be okay if you are single, young, and don't have any responsibilities. But, what if we are playing the numbers like that, and get hurt in the first year. Tons of money goes out the window, and you will probably end up bankrupt.

What if you have a problem with lingering effects? Maybe you need to take medication, or continuing treatments? Shit outta luck.

I was a person who ran a lot, worked out at the gym, etc- I was in very good shape, and excellent health. Eventually, I developed a back problem that required two surgeries, and dozens (upon dozens) of trips to the doctors office for treatment. This entire situation would have probably cost me well over $100,000. And I was 'healthy'!

Do you know how much an MRI costs? A myleogram? CT Scan? One set of those would wipe out a years worth of your savings- easy. Surgeries, hospital stays, doctor visits, medication, physical therapy, etc. etc. This is big bucks.

Of course, you could be an indigent (which is exactly the way they would classify you WITHOUT INSURANCE) and be treated at the County hospital. But, just take a look at their staff/doctors/clientele, and you will pray for something- anything - better to come along.

Just my opinion, based on my experience.

Re:Only one question..

[pongo000]

Form a legal corporation (or LLC, or LLP, or whatever) with two or three other individuals. Then you're eligible to negotiate group rates. You don't even have to like the people you're organizing with; just find some like-minded individuals who need insurance but don't want to be bilked by individual policy rates (if you can even get an individual policy -- good luck).

Re:Only one question..

[tbase]

Yes, yes, spoken very authoritatively and with the requisite amount of condescension for a Slashdot poster.

Right back atcha :-)

Excellent points, especially for the clueless whom I'll reply to directly in a moment...

You clearly state the other side of the coin - I was addressing the comment from the standpoint that many people think that the $30 a paycheck that gets deducted is what their insurance is actually costing them. Not even close. First of all, it's pre-tax, so it's even less. Second, most employers pay a good chunk as a benefit.

Obviously a group plan will be cheaper per person, assuming that the groups mean health demographic is roughly the same as the individual's. But when you compare making say $15 or $30 an hour as an employee to say charging $60 to $120 as a freelancer, you should be able to afford good, quality comprehensive healthcare. It's simply a cost of doing business like anything else. And like many things, it's more expensive for a small business than a large one.

The same goes for comparing rates of a business with 30 employees to a business with 300. Are you going to turn down a better job with a smaller company because the health insurance is more expensive? The problem is that the 'one man operation' only has himself to consider, so he often considers health insurance as optional, or too expensive to afford.

Great Checklist

[dlosey]

The personality checklist fits the bill of both a technician and an entrepenuer very well.

I'd also say it is a pretty decent description of the typical slashdot reader, IMHO

Re:Great Checklist

[edverb]

In conclusion, small businesses are ghetto. They're frequently late with payments, as well.

Not so, if you don't offer payments. I get paid upon completion of the job. (I'm not the author, but it's obvious he's insightful about being an ISV via his experience) If a small business can't agree in advance to pay upon completion, then I don't take the job. It's a simple matter of managing your receivables by not allowing them to accumulate.

I realize that critizisms like "how parochial his worldview is" sound impressive, they just happen to be wrong. The bit about ignoring the print magazines is spot on, you'll find exposure to 50x more useful (and interesting) concepts reading Slashdot than you ever will reading "Top 10 Mobile Devices for 2003!" in one of the many periodicals offered beside the checkout in Staples.

I imagine you're a tech too, and have experience of your own, but to encapulate that whole article into some "worldview" box of your creation is ridiculous. This article consists of practical advice, not a manifesto.

Lastly, can you think of a more never-ending source of revenue than repairing Winblows boxen when they crash (as they occassionally do ;-)...at $75-$120 an hour?!? Sure I use GNU/Linux myself personally (and I recommend it as often as possible to my Windows clientele), but I'm not above whipping a Windows machine into shape when I'm getting $75 an hour to do it. Heck, it's fun. Some of my clients are already getting used to Mozilla and OpenOffice.

Is that really what we set out to do?

[teutonic_leech]

I didn't study non-stop for the last 11 years just to join the ranks of technical support. The whole reason for me to get into technology and eventually into IT was to 'build cool sh...t' - not to listen to some technophobe bitching about why her/his system got corrupted after opening some suspicous email attachment. Seriously, is that all we'll be relegated to do? Hey, I rather start laying bricks then - at least I have something productive to look as the fruits of my work. Just my two cents, I bet many will disagree - but I'm not wired that way...

Re:Is that really what we set out to do?

[artemis67]

Everyone has different goals for their careers, though. Your goal is to build cool stuff; mine is to eventually build my own business. If I could walk out today and duplicate my current income by freelancing, I would absolutely do it.

But I take issue with the article's author that there is enough freelance tech support for everyone. A lot of programmers are going to naturally fall back on that as their jobs move overseas, and it will quickly become saturated.

Beware of anyone promising a "one size fits all" fix for this downturn...

Re:This is an easy one

[smitty45]

"2. Never admit that you don't know something - act like you know everything that has to do with computing" Terrible idea. Every dweeb out there has enough ego to support pretending that they know everything. I keep my clients by being able to admit I don't know, then find out. They appreciate the honesty, instead of the pseudo-consultants that talk up a storm.

Re:This is an easy one

[Zooka]

2. Never admit that you don't know something - act like you know everything that has to do with computing

2a. Never get caught in a lie. Admitting you don't know something might be a negative, but it's better than proving yourself to be deceitful.

Re:This is an easy one

[Zooka]

"I keep my clients by being able to admit I don't know, then find out. They appreciate the honesty, instead of the pseudo-consultants that talk up a storm."

Exactly. If you don't have the answers to simple questions, then you you're just doomed. But no reasonable person expects you to have all the answers to all the difficult problems. "Hmm, I don't have the answer to that one now, but I'll have it for you by this afternoon." - has always worked well for me. It shows you not only to be honest, but smart, confident, and able to work outside of a set boundry.

Re:This is an easy one

[Shant3030]

2. Never admit that you don't know something - act like you know everything that has to do with computing.

Interviewers can smell bullshit from a mile away.

Just what I want....

[gatkinso]

...an unemployed (God knows the real reason why), person off the street working on my network... while he is learning his job via OJT.

Wonderful.

Re:Glamour

[Jason Earl]

Glamour my @$$. There is nothing remotely glamorous about doing tech support for small businesses. It's all about showing up, getting things to work, and getting the heck out. He runs a one person consulting business. At the end of the day his stuff either works, or he doesn't get paid. Yes, talking to people is a requisite part of being in business for yourself, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have to actually fix his clients problems.

$50 to $100 may sound "glamorous" to someone who has never been in business for themselves, but the fact of the matter it is that this fee is so low that larger consulting firms can't even pretend to compete. Those prices simply don't leave any room for overhead. Once you take into consideration that you only get paid for "billable" hours, and the fact that you get to do all the bookkeeping, billing, tax work, etc. it isn't nearly the deal that it appears to be. Being a plumber or an electrician is probably more lucrative.

It's definitely doable, and there really is plenty of work. However, it's hard work, without paid vacations (or respite of any kind :).

non-for-profit companies as starters.

[KKBaSS]

Snag a local non-profit & help them, get them going with all the latest
slickest stuff from novell and what opensource has to offer as a show of what you can do.
http://www.giftsinkind.org/ has a great Novell product donation policy, &
http://www.techsoup.org/ has some other good stuff too (i want that 24port
cisco switch, can i be a nonprofit too? :))

Also check out www.computerclub.org/nonprofit.htm, that has some good links
on it also, & had good luck with members of www.cristina.org too like reboot
from Atlanta.

Plunk a couple of these very satisfied not-for-profit companies up as testimonials to your work & you may very well be off & running with your own consulting biz. Just dont forget about the nonprofits once you actually have paying clients.

Re:This is an easy one

[geekoid]

if that were true, I wouldn't be sitting next to a guy with '5 years' of .net experience.