Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 13:32     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What agency did you work with before?


Op here. I would prefer not to say, sorry!


Fair enough and understandable. Relating to your post and just hope I’m not headed to that sort of place!


Op here. I can share that the agency I was working for was consistently rated extremely low on the employee satisfaction surveys you can look them up. Avoid the agencies at the bottom if you can.
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 13:29     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What agency did you work with before?


Op here. I would prefer not to say, sorry!


Fair enough and understandable. Relating to your post and just hope I’m not headed to that sort of place!
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 13:17     Subject: Re:Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:My husband has been a contractor for 15 years and has been successful without doing a lot of BD at all. Its all been word of mouth and luckily his clients keep coming back. But he doesn't have health benefits so that all falls on me. And when I lost my job due to COVID cuts, that really sucked because it put a lot of pressure on me to find a new job. During COVID. And I work in the hotel industry. Sounds like your spouse's job is more secure so that's good but just keep in mind that its putting all that pressure on him. Which can lead to resentment (ask me how I know).

You are also not getting other benefits like 401K match. We do contribute to an IRA but my 401k is far higher due to company match even though he works in a higher-paying industry.

I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy your current gig. Just make sure that your husband is 100% on board.


Both my spouse and I have been contractors for many years. We were able to contribute both the employer and employee portion to the 401k. Some years we contributed $120K per year (both over 50, too).

We had an LLC, and we got lucky with the QBI deduction, and the LLC pays for the health insurance premiums.

We do pay the employer's portion of the tax (12.5%), so that part hurts.

I went back as an FTE, and I now I don't get the large employer 401k contribution.

There are pros/cons to being self employed.
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 12:41     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have an attorney friend who has worked contracts for many years. She is always worried about securing the next contract. I think she enjoyed the variety and flexibility before, but now that she is older and single, she would prefer more stability. Unfortunately, she has not found anything permanent despite looking for quite a while.


OP Here. Ugh. Yes that is another consideration. I think my prior jobs were definitely more prestigious than the work I am doing now. I don't care about the prestige at all but I should think about where I want to be and if I want to keep doing this forever.


I'm not a lawyer (anymore) but in my field, I've gone back and forth between freelance/contract work and staff jobs - for exactly the reasons you're citing. I LOVE the freedom and flexibility of freelance work - then I start feeling like I could use more stability - then I start hating that someone else basically owns my weekdays and go freelance again - back and forth.

I think if you can swing it, freelance work is pretty fantastic. And if you get tired of the hustle or want a job that's easier to describe to your mom, or whatever!, you can go back on staff. (Assuming you're not burning bridges by being contract, in your world - it hasn't been a problem in mine.)
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 12:37     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Do you Emma $15k before taxes? Do you have health insurance through your spouses?


Op here. Yes spouse has benefits. $15k was before taxes.


Yeah this is pivotal. You are reliant on your spouse.


Op here. Um, yeah I'm reliant on my spouse and he is reliant on me. Isn't that what marriage is?


Yes, it just changes the perspective of your situation, and whether others can do what you do or relate to you. To make your gig work, you have to have a spouse with a stable job that has health insurance. Other people wouldn't be able to relate to that, and hence it is pivotal information in your request to see if anyone can relate.
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 12:11     Subject: Re:Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My husband has been a contractor for 15 years and has been successful without doing a lot of BD at all. Its all been word of mouth and luckily his clients keep coming back. But he doesn't have health benefits so that all falls on me. And when I lost my job due to COVID cuts, that really sucked because it put a lot of pressure on me to find a new job. During COVID. And I work in the hotel industry. Sounds like your spouse's job is more secure so that's good but just keep in mind that its putting all that pressure on him. Which can lead to resentment (ask me how I know).

You are also not getting other benefits like 401K match. We do contribute to an IRA but my 401k is far higher due to company match even though he works in a higher-paying industry.

I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy your current gig. Just make sure that your husband is 100% on board.



Op here. That sounds like it would have been an incredibly stressful situation and I am sorry you went through that.

In my case, I feel zero concern or guilt about the pressure on DH, but that is because of the context of the job he has (professor in data science/AI, where he works literally 20 hours a week/ 6 months of the year but gets paid full time) and also how our marriage has unfolded (multiple years when he was in grad school and I was the sole breadwinner, and also I wouldn't even have been in a position of needing to quit my prior job if DH had been pulling his weight at home).

The retirement does concern me though. We are late 30s. I know it's an issue.


Posted earlier about husband loving working independently. Regarding retirement, you can have a solo 401k where you can contribute both employee and employer shares, so it can actually be quite advantageous if you have the money to contribute.
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 12:06     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:What agency did you work with before?


Op here. I would prefer not to say, sorry!
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 11:57     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
What agency did you work with before?
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 11:53     Subject: Re:Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:My husband has been a contractor for 15 years and has been successful without doing a lot of BD at all. Its all been word of mouth and luckily his clients keep coming back. But he doesn't have health benefits so that all falls on me. And when I lost my job due to COVID cuts, that really sucked because it put a lot of pressure on me to find a new job. During COVID. And I work in the hotel industry. Sounds like your spouse's job is more secure so that's good but just keep in mind that its putting all that pressure on him. Which can lead to resentment (ask me how I know).

You are also not getting other benefits like 401K match. We do contribute to an IRA but my 401k is far higher due to company match even though he works in a higher-paying industry.

I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy your current gig. Just make sure that your husband is 100% on board.



Op here. That sounds like it would have been an incredibly stressful situation and I am sorry you went through that.

In my case, I feel zero concern or guilt about the pressure on DH, but that is because of the context of the job he has (professor in data science/AI, where he works literally 20 hours a week/ 6 months of the year but gets paid full time) and also how our marriage has unfolded (multiple years when he was in grad school and I was the sole breadwinner, and also I wouldn't even have been in a position of needing to quit my prior job if DH had been pulling his weight at home).

The retirement does concern me though. We are late 30s. I know it's an issue.
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 11:49     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Do you Emma $15k before taxes? Do you have health insurance through your spouses?


Op here. Yes spouse has benefits. $15k was before taxes.


Yeah this is pivotal. You are reliant on your spouse.


Op here. Um, yeah I'm reliant on my spouse and he is reliant on me. Isn't that what marriage is?
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 11:45     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:I think if more professional positions were offered at .5 - .75 FTE, we would capture a lot more talent and a lot of people would be a lot happier.


OP here. Seriously!!!! I wish this was an option. It seems incredibly rare in law and I have almost never seen it done. It seems more common in medicine and if I could start over, I would maybe have gone that route.
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 11:44     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The only thing I would worry about is stability. I have a lot of friends who did contract work after their children were born and after a few years, the work dried up. There was only so much they could do for their existing clients and their POCs moved away, switched industries, no longer had leads, etc.

I was in a different situation in that I was already working full-time, but I work part-time now and really enjoy it. I work 20 hours a week and don't take meetings before 10:00am or after 3:00pm.


Op here. Maybe I’m being overly optimistic but I’ve put zero effort into business development. The work just keeps materializing. Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky but I feel like there is work out there and I’m landing it.


I thought with contracting, BD is the biggest part of the job?


OP here. So far all I have done for BD is email people I used to work with and offer to help them and they sent me work. I also have gotten jobs through Axiom/LawTrades/HireanEsquire/etc. and that has been great too. I have only been at this for about 6 months and it feels like if I gave it more time and actually did try to do some BD, then I could grow it into something more secure.
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 11:09     Subject: Re:Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
My husband has been a contractor for 15 years and has been successful without doing a lot of BD at all. Its all been word of mouth and luckily his clients keep coming back. But he doesn't have health benefits so that all falls on me. And when I lost my job due to COVID cuts, that really sucked because it put a lot of pressure on me to find a new job. During COVID. And I work in the hotel industry. Sounds like your spouse's job is more secure so that's good but just keep in mind that its putting all that pressure on him. Which can lead to resentment (ask me how I know).

You are also not getting other benefits like 401K match. We do contribute to an IRA but my 401k is far higher due to company match even though he works in a higher-paying industry.

I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy your current gig. Just make sure that your husband is 100% on board.

Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 10:44     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
I think if more professional positions were offered at .5 - .75 FTE, we would capture a lot more talent and a lot of people would be a lot happier.
Anonymous
Post 08/20/2024 10:34     Subject: Left job due to RTO and now working part time as a contractor
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Do you Emma $15k before taxes? Do you have health insurance through your spouses?


Op here. Yes spouse has benefits. $15k was before taxes.


Yeah this is pivotal. You are reliant on your spouse.