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.
Give up (sometimes)
Let's say you have what you initially consider a hot lead on a 1099 gig. You had a good conversation with the prime, you have a verbal agreement on the rate, and they promise to get your paperwork submitted in a few weeks. After a few weeks you don't hear anything, you politely follow up. The PM says things are moving a little slow but to be patient. Then after a few more weeks nothing else happens so you follow up again. Same excuse. You're beginning to get frustrated and have already been planning on how you're going to do with all that extra money and free time. What do you do next? I recommend giving up ... on this opportunity. After more than a few months, something probably happened that killed the opportunity. You're just torturing yourself by continuing to hope this deal will go through. What you should do instead, is to continue to pursue other leads. Don't get hung up one particular one, even if it seems like it's going through. It's not a done deal until you have a signed sub-contract and a start date so until that point, keep pursuing other opportunities. Giving up is sometimes, the smart thing to do. 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.
You have more time for this as a 1099Source I've worked for myself as a 1099 both before I had kids and after I had kids, so I feel qualified to describe some of the tradeoffs of having kids as a 1099. Advantages: You have more autonomy and control of your schedule. This comes in really handy when you need to come home because your kid is sick or when random stuff pops up. You generally earn more so you can spend some of that money outsourcing things that take time away from your kids...
Move faster than this to impress your clientSource The government is slow. Like real slow. Its employees are slow, and so are a lot of contractors. If you can just be a little faster, you'll look impressive. For example, I just started onboarding onto a new project and the account set up process has many steps requiring annoying phone calls to the help desk and submitting various forms. A normal pace for a contractor is to stretch this out over a week. I did most of this in a day. The client...
I maybe wouldn't gift a sweater at your next meetingSource One of the unintended benefits of writing my book is that it gives me a fun talking point when I'm networking for my business. For example, I met with a couple yesterday who run a small contracting business and I gave them a copy of my book as a small gift, which led to an interesting discussion about why and how they started their own business. I'm opposed to spending too much time on formal marketing activities when you're trying to...