Tag Archives: self-employment

Are you a contract employee, free agent, consultant? Better read this from NYTimes

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If you're a reader of this blog who is selling services, particularly consulting or other kind of contract work, then — alas — one of the objections you need to be prepared to respond to is this one:  "The IRS (and state tax people) look very closely over our shoulder when we try to work with contractors.  The IRS prefers that we just put people on the regular payroll, so it is easier for the tax people to be sure we've paid all the taxes and such. So, sorry, we just can't risk buying your services."

So, given that objection, how do you respond?  My suggestion: read this article in the New York Times Small Business Guide section. It's by Katherine Reynolds Lewis, and it links to some other comments and related articles. 

Link to the article: "Hiring contractors without getting into trouble"

The article is written to advise the businesses that may take on contractors; that tells you the concerns and hot-button issues, which you can turn around to your own situation.

One comment: I can't find the reference right now, so am relying on memory, but seems to me there was an article not long ago that the IRS was in the process of hiring 6,000 new agents, mainly to police this issue, of firms seeking to take on contract employees as the economy was so weak they couldn't risk taking on payroll employees.

The good news? That's 6,000 new jobs!Great news in the headlines!

The bad news? Let's not  even think about all the contractors, consultants, free agents and free lancers who are not working because of the shadow of a potential IRS audit hanging over the process. 

More bad news? Let's not think about the work and productivity that could flow if businesses didn't need to "invest" so much in fighting and avoiding audits.)

 

“I was a Washington lawyer” — Washingtonian Magazine

"Involuntary" entrepreneurs Career reinvention New business start-up Self-employment Self-employment as career option Selling skills for new business start-ups No Comments

Here's another heartwarming, uplifting story (in Washingtonian magazine) of a lawyer who left the field of First Class travel and lots of dollars in return for lots and lots of billable hours , then reinvented himself into a happier field. "… what I wanted to do all along was tell stories. and play rock n' roll.")

His name? Ron Liebman.  His core point: if you're a practicing lawyer, ". . .to make it work you have to live the job. and if you live the job, there goes the rest of your life. It took me a while to get that."

It took me a while, too. Like him, I (also) was a Washington lawyer. And a New York lawyer. And a Virginia lawyer.  And, to paraphrase the old saying about boats, "The second happiest day of my life was when I finished law school and got admitted to the bar (s), but the happiest day was when I walked away from law and lawyering."

Why am I including this story: because this blog is about (beyond sales) career reinvention, going off on your own, career change, and self-employment as a career opton.

In any case, for more on Ron Liebman and his books

For his article in Washingtonian:  "I was a Washington lawyer"

 

 

“Military veterans choosing self-employment,” and succeeding, says article

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High Rate of Self-Employment Among Veterans

Military veterans are 45 percent more likely to be self-employed than those with no active-duty military experience, according to a new survey.

Posted 5/ 27 11 at 11:00 AM | News, Leadership, Starting a Business

 

Go to article on military veterans and self-employment

“Never too late to start a business,” USA Today

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That's the title  of Laura Petrecca's article in USA Today, but actually it's by no means just about "older" Americans: the stats indicate it's "just-plain American" (of all ages) who are starting new businesses, electing self-employment, and otherwise going off on their own as consultants, free-agents, and the like.  Here are some of the key numbers on self-employment from that article:

Continue reading → “Never too late to start a business,” USA Today

Independent contractors, consultants, free agents: article in New York Times

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The nature of work may be changing, suggests Michael Luo in The New York Times, as work may be "becoming more temporary and project-based, with workers increasingly functioning as free agents and no longer being governed by traditional long-term employer-employee relationships."

Michael Sinclair, featured in the article, speaking of his role as an independent contractor in the

Continue reading → Independent contractors, consultants, free agents: article in New York Times