Life as a consultant or the continuing story of Fred. Is it possible to create a new job with his old company?
Fred was on disability after suffering a heart attack. His disability was running out in six months so he had to decide how he would make some money. His boss was eager to have him back but Fred knew he couldn’t handle the 5:00 a.m. commute to the downtown office and working for nine hours each day. So, he went in to the downtown office one day to talk to his boss about working from home.
“ If I set up a Skype conferencing connection for any meetings and we shared the documents and emails through the company intranet system, I think I could actually have more productive hours per day!” , said Fred.“But how would we get ahold of you for any questions during the day?”, asked his Boss.
“ I could have my email messages forwarded to my smartphone at all times so that if I wasn’t in the office, it would be just as quick for me to respond as in the office,” said Fred.
“ But what about meetings with clients once we have the work done?”
“ You could add any meetings that come up in the intranet calendar and I could drive in for the meeting. We could review the job before the meeting and what to do with the job after the meeting that I could take home to work on. Since there is still the same tight work deadline, I would probably do extra hours at home as I am saving time by not commuting back and forth to get the work done quicker,” said Fred.
You could fire me as an employee and re-hire me as a sub-consultant. We would have a contract specifying our responsibilities which would include me remitting my own required taxes to the government and other requirements as a sub-consultant. You know my work and how I have been able to work to deadline so this should be a win-win for both you and me.”
Fred’s boss said he would think about this new development as he valued Fred’s skills. Fred went home to look into how much net income he would need to work from home as a sub-consultant
Have you thought about the idea of hiring yourself with your skills out as a consultant? What are the legal and government regulations you need to put into place to be self-employed?
Have a look at Fred’s continuing story as he starts his home business by subscribing to The Business of At Home Business newsletter.