Ask HN: What should I know about becoming a contractor?
I'm losing my mind at work, thking about becoming a contractor to help bootstrap my startup.
I'm thinking of pumping out some Django/Twitter bootstrap sites for some local businesses. What should I know before I start? What books cover the details? What tips should more people know? How do I handle my finances myself?
5 comments
[ 6.3 ms ] story [ 25.0 ms ] thread- get a written contract
- get paid in regular intervals
- document everything
-Don't try to do everything yourself at first, if you can out source it for a nominal fee, do it. Focus on your circle of competence.
-Get a written contract. Always. No matter what. Not kidding.
If your goal is really to bootstrap your startup, your best bet is probably to hang on to the day job as long as possible - if only for the predictability of income.
1. Depending on your locality, set 30% aside for taxes. Unless you make a ton of money, have almost no deductions and/or don't have a very good accountant, you won't pay anywhere near that, probably much closer to 10-15% of your gross pay.
2. Get an accountant.
3. Get a lawyer.
4. Decide right now which you'd rather do - compete with outsourced labor and college kids on sites like oDesk and Elance for $15-20/hr, or bill $80-150/hr for a few clients. I went the second route and while it was a lot harder to get work, I didn't need to spend 40 hours a week just writing proposals.
5. It doesn't matter if it's a $150 job for your best friend from HS or a $25,000 for a national corporation, have a contract signed with a deposit check (usually 50%, can be smaller for larger jobs) before you do any work outside of a proposal. I usually did 50% unless the job was over $10k, then I might go as low as 20% if it was still enough to sustain me through to the next milestone & 20% payment.