Offering half a muffin can often be helpfulvia X When you're trying to go 1099, you're largely focused on what you want. Imagining getting what you want is highly energizing and motivating, so it's easy to focus our energies there. But it's important to focus on what you can do to help others. For example, when you network with people, see if there are ways you can assist them. Maybe they have a friend looking for a job in your field, and you can meet them for coffee and make an introduction...
2 days ago • 1 min read
Treat Yo Self ... to non-billable funvia Reddit One of the fun parts about going 1099 is find opportunities to increase your billable rate. My own billable rate progress sent from something like $85 -> $100 -> $110 -> $115 -> $160 ->$180 per hour over an eight year period. Those early rate increases made a big differences. Actually all of them made a big financial difference. But the thrill of bumping up your rate wears off quickly, and then you're left with figuring out how to make your work...
3 days ago • 1 min read
A literal ghostwriter Over the course of your project, there will times when you need your government client to contact someone else to get something you need. It could be an approval to do something, a form to fill out, or whatever. Sometimes, clients are slow about it and it's holding up your work. One technique that I have found works pretty well is to ghostwrite the e-mail for them. This means you write a draft of the e-mail to the target recipient as if you were your client. For example,...
4 days ago • 1 min read
Sad networking event... I went to a sub-contractor networking event yesterday hosted by my prime proposal partners. Networking events with government contractors are my least favorite thing to do. I hate juggling my beer and small plate of snacks and making awkward chit chat. Now, some people love this stuff. They love talking with everyone and connecting on LinkedIn and blah blah blah. That's not my style. It's very draining to me. So what I do instead is to set up a goal of talking to 1-3...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Must...bill...more...hours.... Everyone will get sick and miss work. It's a fact of life. As a 1099, you likely get paid hourly, which means you don't get paid when you stay home and stop working. Then your check is smaller than you expected, which is never fun. So what should you do? Simple: bake it into your billable hours projection. If you worked every business day, you'd bill something like 2000 hours per year. If you know you'll take vacation, subtract that estimated amount. Say 160...
8 days ago • 1 min read
Ahhh the rewards of 1099 life... I used to be big into the credit card points games. I loved flying first class and staying in luxury hotels for free or almost free (still do in fact, I just slowed down during COVID and adding a kid to the mix). I started doing this before I went 1099, but as a 1099, you have a big advantage. You can sign up for business credit cards with large sign up bonuses since you have a business and You will regularly make large estimated tax payments each quarter The...
9 days ago • 1 min read
A walking push factor right thereSource: www.foxconnect.com/office-space-blu-ray-widescreen.html There's a truism about employee attrition that says employees don't leave bad companies, they leave bad bosses. Basically, a bad boss is a push factor, something negative that makes you want to change. A pull factor, is something positive that attracts you to leave. You may have a good boss, but an even better boss with better money is available to you at another company. My path to going 1099 was...
10 days ago • 1 min read
The procrastinator's mottoSource: Giphy I regularly procrastinate. There are lots of tasks that I don't want to do. I get a great sense of relief when I push off something I don't want to do. But, if you're going to be successful as a 1099, you'll need to find ways to counteract this tendency. I read somewhere that procrastination is your brain not buying your plan. If you have a goal that says "I need to go 1099," that means nothing to your brain, and you're going to procrastinate. So the...
11 days ago • 1 min read
I wouldn't use a megaphone to stay to of mind but you get the idea I've noticed an interesting pattern with some of the subscribers to this newsletter. Some of you will sign up, read the newsletter for 3 months, and then finally, buy the book. This newsletter goes out Monday through Friday. My guess is that if it only went out once per week, those subscribers would not have bought the book. Out of sight, out of mind. But, because I'm in their inbox almost every day, when the time is right...
12 days ago • 1 min read