[CI News: The CI website is progressing along. A new forum encourages independents to announce their availability. The job forums are steadily churning out job listings and hopefully responses to the posters. We invite agents to check it out and try it for a while. Your erstwhile editor has been busy himself looking for the next contract. As a result things have slowed down somewhat on the CI site updates. But I will endeavor to keep adding the kind of resources we all need to survive as independents. - cl]

The Independent Way - Personal Factors of Success

It's not so simple you know. You find that out quickly. Perhaps you plan your escape while within your cube or during your commute to work. Maybe the required 60-hour workweeks, or the too-short vacations are starting to wear you down. You've visited the independent discussion lists, read the tips on the independent-oriented websites, subscribed to the independent magazines, and now you're starting to think you might just go for it - go out on your own.

There are many independent approaches and lifestyle factors that aid success. Independents begin to appreciate the value of these factors as they gain experience. Where you fall within them is very important to becoming/being/staying an independent. We present some of the more important ones below.

Income Expectations

1. High expectations - the Emperor. You have dreams of becoming independently wealthy or at least desire to earn well over $100,000 per year. After all, that's what the press says is happening. Look at all those dot com millionaires.

2. Moderate expectations - the Content. You're ok with earning the same, or even less than you did in your full time job. To you the freedom is worth it. You may have a family you have to support that makes it necessary to keep your income at a certain level.

3. Low expectations - the Laid Back. You are single and have managed to get your overhead down to around a $1000 month. The most important thing for you is that you have as much personal free time as possible.

Mobility

1. Extremely mobile - the Wanderer. You will work anywhere, live out of extended stay hotels for long periods, even rent an apartment for longer contracts. You may not even have a primary residence - just a string of different temporary locations.

2. Highly mobile - the Traveler. You travel often, staying for a week at a time near your work site. But unlike the extreme traveler, you maintain a primary residence and like to be there as often as you can.

3. Somewhat mobile - the Commuter. The commute doesn't bother you. Hell, you've been doing nothing but that it seems at your last full-time job. You may commute a couple hours or more each day. But to you it's worth it.

4. Not mobile - the eLancer. You rarely have to drive your car to a client’s site. Most of your work you do in your office or home. You generally have a high-speed internet connection. The type of work you do allows this.

Skills

1. Highly skilled - the Guru. Your skills are highly specialized, are in demand, and only a handful of people have your ability.

2. Moderately skilled - the Confident. Your skills are such that you can confidently undertake a client project and won't screw it up. You have enough depth and resources to survive in your chosen field.

3. Somewhat/not skilled - the Student. You are starting to understand the tools and technology you work with but would probably get in trouble sometimes if you didn't have someone to bail you out.

Entrepreneurship

1. Highly entrepreneurial - the Discoverer. You have a knack of figuring out what is needed in the world and leading the effort to put it together. You might even have your own company and employees.

2. Moderately entrepreneurial - the Builder. You are highly creative and driven but work best with other entrepreneurs on a common goal.

3. Low entrepreneurialism - the Maintainer. Perhaps you are really good at keeping a system already in place running smoothly and that works well for you.

Sociability

1. Highly social - the Socializer. You really enjoy meeting people and talking business with them. You probably have public speaking skills. You have lots of friends, and making a business sale comes easy to you.

2. Moderately social - the Friendly. You're comfortable in social situations involving lots of people. You work well with others.

3. Not social - the Hermit. You're ok relating to people over the internet or in chat rooms, but in large groups of people in the flesh you tend to hang back. You'd be mortified to speak to a group of people.

These are just a few of some important factor groups. As a rule, the more toward the top of each group you are, the better your chances for success as an independent. However, there may be lifestyle situations that make these factors less important or even moot. For instance, perhaps your husband/wife/partner works. Or maybe you inherited a million dollars. You can be a Laid Back, eLancing, Student, Maintainer, with Hermit tendencies and still make it as an independent in the right circumstances. But you’ll probably have to get very lucky.

In any case, once you decide to go independent you'll quickly find where you fall among the various factors - and you'll also learn if you've been kidding yourself as to your sense of self. To improve as a successful independent it's always time to start working on the factors you can change and figuring out ways to compensate for those you can't change.

P.S. A recent wonderfully rich exchange about becoming a contractor can be found at:

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/01/18/2242246&mode=thread

Regards,

Clint Lewis
CI Editor
719 442 0926
http://www.coloradoindependents.com
clint@32u.com