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.
Performance Improvement Plans are not about performance
The WSJ had a great article about how companies use "Performance Improvement Plans" or PIPs as a pretext for firing people. The Most Hated Way of Firing Someone Is More Popular Than Ever. It’s the Age of the PIP. -- In the messy business of getting rid of employees, the PIP is having a moment. A performance improvement plan is usually a list of tough-to-achieve goals to be completed within 30 to 90 days. Can’t shape up? You’re out. The percentage of workers who are subject to performance actions, including PIPs, is on the rise. In 2020, 33.4 people for every 1,000 workers had documented performance issues, according to software firm HR Acuity, which conducts an annual survey. In 2023, 43.6 workers out of every 1,000 were involved in formal performance procedures. That includes PIPs and performance counseling, among other measures. PIPs are intended to bring consistency and fairness to the way employees are judged and managed. Their stated goal is to lay out a path to improved performance—and sometimes it works. That said, many workers and even managers say they’re used primarily to provide legal cover from employment lawsuits or to cut costs without announcing layoffs. -- This is the kind of nonsense that drove me crazy as a W2 employee. Big companies use a tool that is nominally about one thing, but then use it for another. In this case, PIPs have nothing to do with improving performance, but rather, not getting sued by the employees they want to fire or lay off. I'm not opposed to terminating employees, whether it's due to performance or simply a change in strategy. But what makes employees feel crazy is when companies are not upfront about it. It's like when organizations change health care plans and they market it to employees as "improvements." Do they think their employees are idiots? They're trying to save a few bucks for the company because health care is expensive. If they just said that, the employees might not be happy, but at least you're not adding insult to injury. Look, you're not going to change this corporate nonsense as a W2. But, you can go work for yourself as a 1099. At least that way you don't have to be subject to the insulting BS companies throw your way. 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.
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...
Your client when you tell them no "That won't work" is the worst thing you can say to the client when they suggest an approach or solution to something. No one likes being told no, especially clients, and especially by their contractors. Instead of saying "that won't work," you should 1) Acknowledge their approach as one way to do that, 2) Suggest two or three alternate approaches along with your reasoning, and 3) Recommend one of them and say why This feels less "hostile" and gives the...
You're not fooling anyone robot...Source Yesterday I wrote about the advice ChatGPT gave me to navigate government bureaucracies as an "ideas" guy. It was good advice, and I was pretty impressed how it was able to link the concept of personality with a somewhat specific work scenario. But still, some things are going to require actual humans, and my guess is that society will value human authenticity even more once most things are done by robots. Here's an article describing what happened...