Starting new job... thoughts on freelance and 1099

I've been watching this thread closesly and appreciate all the advice as I've been considering the same thing myself.

I haven't looked into insurance costs just yet.

Just curious for those of you who do side work / own LLC work: Do you just do programming? Do any of you do design and/or panel builds?

I'd imagine the insurance would be similar, but I didn't know if it would be any different for someone that was building small panels for customers without on-site programming/etc.
 
Just curious for those of you who do side work / own LLC work: Do you just do programming? Do any of you do design and/or panel builds?
.

When you start you will do anything that comes along and pays, I still do troubleshooting because I like it, before I started my supply side I left my full time job and went on my own.

I would recommend anyone that has a chance to go on their own (part time or full) that they go for it... if for nothing else just the experience, you learn sooo much, take it slow in the beginning if you have the opportunity.

Remember dont burn your bridges when you cross them, my biggest customer in the early days was my old full time job.
 
When you start you will do anything that comes along and pays, I still do troubleshooting because I like it, before I started my supply side I left my full time job and went on my own.

I would recommend anyone that has a chance to go on their own (part time or full) that they go for it... if for nothing else just the experience, you learn sooo much, take it slow in the beginning if you have the opportunity.

Remember dont burn your bridges when you cross them, my biggest customer in the early days was my old full time job.

Thanks. I've been thinking my last 2 places of work would be some of my first customers. I totally get that side of things!

I'm fortunate that one of my first jobs was just myself and the boss in a small company, so I've already experienced having to do (nearly) everything myself. It actually makes my current job frustrating because I have no pull/say over some of the aspects that I feel could be streamlined a little better. Sometimes though, it is nice to be able to say 'not my problem' (even though it eventually becomes my problem)
 
I recommend an LLC to do side work, its easy. A single owner LLC is just a pass through entity tax wise. Big benefit if you're partially or fully self-employed, for me, is that you're allowed a solo-401K; max contribution is $55K or $61K per year if you're older than 50. And it allows you to short term borrow from yourself up to $50K for funding projects. Find a self-employed accountant who does tax preparation, he can steer you through all of the benefits because he's using them too.

Best thing I did was go self-employed. Bad thing is I don't get time to golf.


Wait, what? I thought if you become self-employed, you would have more free time to do whatever you wanted? You can take vacation pretty much whenever you want, get weekends off, take the usual gov't holidays also? Or maybe you in particular just have a lot of customers to work with?
 
Wait, what? I thought if you become self-employed, you would have more free time to do whatever you wanted? You can take vacation pretty much whenever you want, get weekends off, take the usual gov't holidays also? Or maybe you in particular just have a lot of customers to work with?

Its a myth lol. Haven't had a vacation lasting more than a weekend for 14 months now.

I have less than half a dozen machine building customers and they keep me busy even after I raised my rates with 1/2 day minimums. And most projects are time & material; they gave me a blank purchase order and I bill them when I'm done.

Its now getting to the point where I've begun to farm out pieces of projects. I don't want to take on employees because I'll not be eligible to contribute to the solo 401K.

Seriously, its tempting to take a full time job again. If for anything the ability to clock out and forget work until you clock in next. But in this area, contracting has become the norm. Beef up the staff with contractors and when the project is done go back to a minimum staff.
 
Wait, what? I thought if you become self-employed, you would have more free time to do whatever you wanted? You can take vacation pretty much whenever you want, get weekends off, take the usual gov't holidays also? Or maybe you in particular just have a lot of customers to work with?

Thats funny....

True story... I had stomach pain (severe) and went to my dr, they set up a CAT scan the next day so went back to work that day (Wednesday), I went to work the next morning (Thursday) and the CAT scan in the afternoon, after the CAT scan they said sit in this wheelchair because we are wheeling you over to the ER, I stayed that night went home the next AM (Friday) and went to work, after work went back to the hospital and stayed the weekend (I have diverticulitis and a small rupture) my point is, once you start its your life so you need to enjoy it or stay working for someone else when you can have time off.

My vacation is Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year
 
Thanks all for the wisdom. I need to read back through the responses more carefully and come up with better responses/questions. I didn't want you all to think I had abandoned my own post.
 
I hate to threadjack, but I'm now looking seriously at an LLC and doing some contract work (I've been contacted and have some lined up).

I'm looking into insurance. Is there a specific type or name of insurance I should make sure I have?

Thanks in advance!

(Edit: Looks like I should read closer. It seems the three I need to ask for are: Workman's comp,Commercial policy, and Professional liability)
 
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$1M is a typical requirement from my customers (automotive), only once in the last 5 years I ran into $2M.

Thanks. Since I'm in your neck of the woods, I'm guessing our customers are very similar.

I don't plan to work direct for automotive, but those I will be doing work for are.
 
Thanks. Since I'm in your neck of the woods, I'm guessing our customers are very similar.

I don't plan to work direct for automotive, but those I will be doing work for are.

I don't work directly for the big manufacturers (big 3, Cummins, Nissan, etc) its always through a OEM machine builder that has a vendor ID. But the insurance requirement goes all the way to the bottom.
 
I took the plunge and created my LLC.

It will be a while before I'm doing any work as the name, but I wanted to make sure I had my name registered before someone else took it.

I'll probably start my own thread in the future with any questions/observations as I come across them. Thanks again for all the advice!
 

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