Hi all,
I've been reading this forum for the last few days so thought I would 'unlurk' firstly to say thanks for all the advice on this site but also to introduce myself and where I'm coming from.
I was permie for 10 years from 2000-2010 but then the chance came up to work on the Olympics. It was a fixed 2 year contract (though I was perm it had an end date. Semi perm?). A few of the guys I worked with at LOCOG were contractors and after chatting to them I decided I would like to go in that direction. After I left the Olympics an ex-colleague of mine approached me as he needed contractors with my skills initially for 3 months but with the strong possibility of an extension. That was last week and I have today agreed my first contract! I'm quite excited. I'm fortunate that my old man is an accountant who already deals with some clients who are contractors so I'm sorted there. I was going to set up my Ltd co tomorrow but am now considering using an umbrella for the first 12 months of my contracting life. I'm happy with the rate and think I have got a bit lucky to have been able to do this without an agent but rather by using some contacts I already had.
I feel like I should be a bit more organised than this, but I didn't expect the decision to be followed so quickly by a job offer. I'm sure this is right for me and I'm adopting the attitude that I'll budget for having 9 months work out of any 12 month period meaning that any time 'on the bench' shouldn't be too stressful cash wise (and it will let me spend some time with the family, something that was sadly lacking during my 2 years on the Olympics). I'm not viewing this as an easy way to make quick money but more as a way to chose how I work. Or is this sadly misguided?
My only worry is that with only a 3 month offer on the table at the moment I'll be out of the game over xmas which I imagine isn't the best time to be trying to find a new gig. Once again, however, I could be wrong!
So there we are! All advice/abuse/free beer greatly accepted!
I've been reading this forum for the last few days so thought I would 'unlurk' firstly to say thanks for all the advice on this site but also to introduce myself and where I'm coming from.
I was permie for 10 years from 2000-2010 but then the chance came up to work on the Olympics. It was a fixed 2 year contract (though I was perm it had an end date. Semi perm?). A few of the guys I worked with at LOCOG were contractors and after chatting to them I decided I would like to go in that direction. After I left the Olympics an ex-colleague of mine approached me as he needed contractors with my skills initially for 3 months but with the strong possibility of an extension. That was last week and I have today agreed my first contract! I'm quite excited. I'm fortunate that my old man is an accountant who already deals with some clients who are contractors so I'm sorted there. I was going to set up my Ltd co tomorrow but am now considering using an umbrella for the first 12 months of my contracting life. I'm happy with the rate and think I have got a bit lucky to have been able to do this without an agent but rather by using some contacts I already had.
I feel like I should be a bit more organised than this, but I didn't expect the decision to be followed so quickly by a job offer. I'm sure this is right for me and I'm adopting the attitude that I'll budget for having 9 months work out of any 12 month period meaning that any time 'on the bench' shouldn't be too stressful cash wise (and it will let me spend some time with the family, something that was sadly lacking during my 2 years on the Olympics). I'm not viewing this as an easy way to make quick money but more as a way to chose how I work. Or is this sadly misguided?
My only worry is that with only a 3 month offer on the table at the moment I'll be out of the game over xmas which I imagine isn't the best time to be trying to find a new gig. Once again, however, I could be wrong!
So there we are! All advice/abuse/free beer greatly accepted!
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