Going 1099 is a book that teaches you how to become a solo federal sub-contractor and gain control of your working life, earn more money and unlock more free time. I wrote it because quite a few people have asked me how they can become a 1099. I figured it was best to write a single book that I can send them and that I can share with others who are interested. This newsletter goes out Monday - Friday and covers topics that will help you succeed in starting and maintaining successful 1099 career.
Become an expert
In my book, I argue that you don't need to be an expert in your field to become a 1099. I spend far more time emphasizing being "good enough" and instead, spending your time networking or building good client relationships. BUT, becoming an expert is also a viable path to going 1099, one that can often get you out of the federal space entirely if you wanted. For example, if you were an expert in AI right now, as in, PhD level, you could have your pick of jobs. Companies would come to you and say "hey we will pay you so much money if you come work for us and help us with our AI efforts." You could then counter with an offer to consult for them for a much higher fee for much less time. Now, the reason I don't spend much time on this in the book is because most people are not wired to become a top level expert in their field. It takes a lot of work and from what I could tell, a certain personality type that is able to focus on one thing for long periods of time. But if that sounds like you, you should do that. You can reduce your networking efforts and instead, just publicly display your work (e.g. a form of marketing). You'll do much better than just getting a 1099 version of a federal contracting job. If you're interested in learning how to get your first solo 1099 federal sub-contract, check out my book: |
I'm Dale, the author of Going 1099
Going 1099 is a book that teaches you how to become a solo federal sub-contractor and gain control of your working life, earn more money and unlock more free time. I wrote it because quite a few people have asked me how they can become a 1099. I figured it was best to write a single book that I can send them and that I can share with others who are interested. This newsletter goes out Monday - Friday and covers topics that will help you succeed in starting and maintaining successful 1099 career.
One of the reasons a company would bring on a 1099 or a sub-contractor is because bringing on a full time W2 employee would be too risky. If a contract has a limited amount of time left on it and there is a vacancy, companies may not want to hire someone because they're not sure if they'll have billable work for the employee after the contract ends. This is when hiring a 1099 would make sense, even if it reduces their margin. They're trading margin in exchange for a lower risky profile. In...
Hi all, Not returning to the newsletter just yet but thought I'd send out a link to an interview I did with Jonathan Stark on his podcast, Ditching Hourly. https://podcast.ditchinghourly.com/people/dale-davidson Jonathan advocates for getting away from hourly billing in your independent consulting practice. I agree, but I discuss why that's difficult in government contracting but why it might be okay anyway, particularly if you're jus getting started. He's a great follow for those of you who...
Hi all, I've enjoyed writing this newsletter for over a year now, but I've decided to take a hiatus for the time being. There is an extensive archive if you'd like to go back and read the previous ones. As always, if you have 1099 questions, feel free to ping me via e-mail at dale@1099fedhub.com. Good luck to you all! -Dale If you're interested in learning how to get your first solo 1099 federal sub-contract, check out my book: Going 1099: How to become a solo federal sub-contractor and gain...