Saturday, April 07, 2007

How to tell if you are a freelancer/contrator...

The apparently simple form question "yearly income:" gives you anxiety - it has space for a number. You'd prefer a dissertation, a spreadsheet, an equation, a prediction... anything but a number. Finally you guesstimate a totally random number.

The question "what do you do?" doesn't get a simple statement of profession - it gets you started on your sales speech routine, reminds you of the need for cllents, makes you size up the potential client, and pull out your business card.

There are times - hopefully not too many - that you are not quite sure whether you're incredibly overworked and successful or a proud unemployed foolish sucker.

Your yearly tax returns bounce randomly anywhere between 100,000 a year - and 0,00 a year.

You're not sure if some people think you're a genius or a great bullshit artist. You fidget with the bottom line of the invoice on that. One thing is clear - they pay it.

You often answer your cellphone and say in a very-concerned voice "that's really important", "I'll do that right now", and "I'm working on it at this very moment." You hang up and go back to eating, watching TV, and sleeping. Or you'll freak out completely and hold everything - later.

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