There's a great chapter in the book, The Art of Gig that describes the phenomenon of "sneakoffproofitis." --- "The problem is, as a free agent, you are your own boss, and you’re likely a bad boss, unable to relax, and driven by fretful anxiety about lining up the next gig. That would be bad enough, except that you’re also an omniscient bad boss. You know all your own tricks and nothing is hidden from you. You can’t sneak away from yourself. You have sneakoffproofitis. Here’s what sneakoffproofitis looks like. Your bank balance looks healthy for the moment. You have enough work lined up so the cash flow looks good for the next few months. You’ve only committed a modest fraction of your hours—say ten a week—to deliver that work. You’re temporarily cash rich and time rich. It’s a sweet situation, right? So why is it so hard to take your time/money surplus and do something interesting with it? The thing is, fun things are only fun when you sneak off from things that feel like work to do them. There is a certain creative freedom that is unleashed when you’re using up free time that feels like it is stolen from commitments towards necessary work. The courage demanded by the time theft fuels boldness in the sneak-off activity. This is funny because the idea of time theft is only well-defined for robotic labor where you are paid to execute a production algorithm, with a clear relationship between time and output. It is incoherent when applied to knowledge work where there is only a weak correlation between time spent at work and the quality/quantity of output." Rao, Venkatesh; Witherell, Grace. The Art of Gig, Volume 1: Foundations --- It's funny that as soon as you have some actual ability to take time off to do fun stuff as a 1099, you don't actually take it. We've become so conditioned by the oppositional relationship to a boss or employer that we don't know what to do when that relationship is gone. As a solo 1099 in the government world though, you probably have what looks like a full time job, so you can still trick yourself into thinking that you are stealing time or reveling in some sort of way. I recommend taking the random Wednesday off or bugging out early on Friday to take a nap. It may seem silly but it's a small way to enjoy the new work setup you've created for yourself. You'll get more comfortable with "stealing" time for yourself and be able to focus on more meaningful projects than napping (if you so choose). So beware of sneakoffproofitis, particularly if you are an anxious ambitious type. If you're interested in learning how to get your first solo 1099 federal sub-contract, check out my book: |
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...