Today I made the plunge, and I ended my last day under normal employment, to pursue my career as an independant contractor and eventually to form a startup. My journey from here will hopefully be a good one, though I am sure it will not be without its hiccups. I'll post how things are going, and write about what I learn for anyone else who is thinking of going this route. I need to look into things like taxes and incorporation and all of that, and I'm sure there are other people out there, reading this, who will one day need to know the same things. I'll let you know. Give you a little walkthrough on how things go. Maybe you'll find my journey to be a nice map for yours.
I am just so excited about this. CARDIAC. The Cardboard Computer. How cool is that? This piece of history is amazing and better than that: it is extremely accessible. This fantastic design was built in 1969 by David Hagelbarger at Bell Labs to explain what computers were to those who would otherwise have no exposure to them. Miraculously, the CARDIAC (CARDboard Interactive Aid to Computation) was able to actually function as a slow and rudimentary computer. One of the most fascinating aspects of this gem is that at the time of its publication the scope it was able to demonstrate was actually useful in explaining what a computer was. Could you imagine trying to explain computers today with anything close to the CARDIAC? It had 100 memory locations and only ten instructions. The memory held signed 3-digit numbers (-999 through 999) and instructions could be encoded such that the first digit was the instruction and the second two digits were the address of memory to operate on
Comments
Be copious about this stuff. Figure out a system. Pretend like you're writing a manual for a chain of franchises - how does the work get done, how often do you bill, who does the billing, how do the records get kept...etc, et al, ie...
And finally (I should write a book), don't ever EVER EVERRRRR get more than $5000 behind in billing with a client. You can still take him to Small Claims court for $5K.
Good luck, but it's only 1% luck. It's more about staying fastidious and aware. People work for themselves because they think they'll be able to do MORE of what they love, but the opposite happens because you're busy running a business.
1) Build your system
a) Income - Outgo
b) Receipt and record storage
c) Quarterly tax $$$ awareness
d) Figure out insurance, etc.
e) Open a business bank acct
2) Meet with a few bookeepers. Try and avoid getting "Quickbooked". That program will break your spirit. Just find a bookeeper who will do it ALL for you. You'll be happier. I promise.
3) Realize that the new career path might destroy your marriage and/or relationships. It's scary trusting clients to pay you in a timely manner, when you have a family who relies on you to bring in the dough, it gets to be hard on the psyche.