If You Decide To Terminate Employment With An Organization, You Will Need To Write A: Fill & Download for Free

Yes, I have freelanced while holding a full-time development job. It is possible, but everything needs to be right. Any time you do something like this, it is important to act with integrity ... both to your employer and the person you are working with. If you don't, it will likely all cave in on you. Here are a few things I think are important if you decide to do something like this:You have to love what you do. If you don't love writing software, you will not be able to handle the fact that you are spending ALL of your time working. If you love what you do, then you aren't working, you are doing what you love.You need to have a job where you have time do freelancing. In my case, my boss wanted me to put in 40 hours/wk and no more. I have been at organizations where they believe the own you 24x7. If you are already working 60 hrs/wk or more, you don't really have time to do any freelancing.Your current employer needs to be aware of what you are doing. In my case, I asked my boss (who also happened to own the business) and he said, "Yes, I think everyone should own their own business". This kind of attitude is rare in the business world, but if you care about your employees, this is the right attitude to have. Sure, you could freelance without talking to your employer, but only do this if you don't care if you will be fired. In many companies, having a "second job" of any kind is grounds for termination. The world is smaller than you think.You need to be doing something that is not in competition with or interfering with the market of your main job. The customers need to be different, the focus needs to be different and you need to make sure that you are not courting customers that are already customers or potential customers of your main job. This points back to the integrity point. This may be a bit vulgar, but dogs have a rule: "Don't poop at the same place where you eat." It's a good rule for your work life as well.If the situation is right and you follow the advice above, you can do well freelancing and potentially turn it into a full-time business for yourself. If the situation isn't right and/or you don't follow these rules ... you will be putting both your full-time job and your freelancing career in jeopardy.

I did. My one and only regret in my 35 years of working experience.I left my last managerial job in 2009. I was sick to my gut, having been exploited by my boss and been made to terminate almost half my staff just because my boss felt he needed to downsize to minimum workforce so that everyone could do twice as much for the same miserable salary.Refusing to work anymore for him, I secretly made inquiries externally and was introduced to a young lady (she was a Regional Manager) of a supposedly large profit-making chain of tuition centers in my country. We met on a weekend and after what seemed to be a very casual and off-the-cuff interview, I was immediately offered a full time teaching position with her centre.She explained that she needed a full-time teacher to manage a large number of students (she told me 100 to that effect) and they were going to sit for a UK-based external exam at the end of their course. She wanted a dedicated teacher to coach, teach and also motivate them to do well for their final exams. In professing so, she boastfully said that her centre had the resources to support them and all I had to do was to request for them, organized them and use them to whatever way I felt would bring the greatest benefit to her students.It sounded too good to be true (I should have thought of that earlier!) and I jumped at the offer. The salary was nothing to shout about. It was half of what I was earning and the working hours were much longer than my current hours. I did not mind - I was desperate enough to leave my boss and do my “own thing”. I had enough savings to live off and I had little/no debts at all to pay each month.I signed the appointment letter and exactly three months later (I had to give notice to my boss), I walked into my new organization at 9.30 am, on the dot.I did not have a desk. Rather, no prior arrangements were made to provide me with a working desk. A staff member (the program coordinator) hastily cleaned out a partition and the huge pile of paper on it before declaring it as my ‘temporary desk’.I was told that I would have a desktop computer to do my lessons and slides. I brought along my laptop, and till the day I left, I was made to work with my own laptop to prepare my teaching materials, conduct classes and communicate with everyone in the office.I was told I had colleagues to work with in my section/department. I discovered that other than myself, the company employed two foreign teachers (Filipinos) to teach English, one full-time and one part-time teacher to teach phonetics and the TOEFL-based English syllabus, one full-time teacher to teach Japanese-English classes and one part-time manager to take the evening classes of the course I was teaching (I was asked to do only day-time work). I only managed to see the part-time staff after 6.30 pm (by which my day was done) which meant I had to stay back often just to converse with him about the course.I was promised a library of books that I could refer to. (My course had 8 subjects) but to my dismay, it was not a library of books but rather EIGHT books, all provided for, compliments of a book salesman who wanted to secure a deal for the purchase of 800 sets of books for the students. He never achieved his dream, for once the company got hold of those eight books, he was told the books ‘were too expensive’ and they were going to buy workbooks instead.I was told my students were secondary school leavers, well-disciplined and eager to study. To my dismay, I discovered on my first class that they were NOT fluent English speakers, school drop-outs, part-time working students and not really eager to study at all. They enrolled because the course promised them job prospects in another country where the currency would be 2 and a half times more when they brought it back to my country.Resources? When I decided to see the manager to bring it up, she smiled and insisted that ‘we do have the resources, its just that we do not know what resources I might need.”. I had to write proposals, suggestions, resource procurement rationales every other week (I wrote not less than 30 proposals for the 1-year duration I held the job). Most of the time, she would reply to me by asking me to “wait”, “Improvise” and “find other alternatives instead of insisting on purchasing the resource”.She blatantly ‘advertised’ me within her organization and associates till other department teachers came forward to request to borrow my notes, ask me for help with their work and even asked me to do their thesis studies! (one even offered to pay me for a thesis!)After 3 months, I SOOOOO regretted joining the organization that I wrote a resignation letter beforehand. But the manager knew my intention and she talked me out of it, confirming my job and giving me a 10% pay raise. She promised me things would be better.I sweated out the last 9 months, doing whatever I could to make my life more pleasant each day. I took up hobbies like gardening, painting and even window-shopping to forget my work and make myself tired so that I could just fall asleep without dreaming. Three months into the end of the year, I handed in my resignation letter. My manager knew nothing could stop me, so she reluctantly agreed. But she made me organize the year-end graduation ceremony for her students and make some money out of it.I gave the organization and its manager(s) the proudest and most honorable event they had in their own history. From 128 students, the number of attendees rose past 500 and thousands of pictures were taken.I left without a single picture of myself taken (with anyone) as a memorabilia of my accomplishment. I became a freelancer after that and went on for the next 10 years until I retired recently.

You’ve been terminated with all the usual separation benefits including access to COBRA for 18 months at your cost, unused vacation, and notice period if any. You can then decide to accept the offer to work under contractor status. If you decline, you are entitled to unemployment insurance.Your employer is risking labor law violations if the job is nearly identical and you have little control over your work. There are strict labor laws that govern contractor vs statutory employee.When you negotiate a rate as a contractor, be sure to factor in the cost of additional payroll taxes, cost of Obamacare or equivalent, unpaid national holidays, allowance for unpaid vacation time, and possible unbillable bench time. The burden can easily be 50% premium over your old base pay. You also have the right to work for other employers and be paid for much more than 40 hours per week if you want to hustle for the work. Get your work responsibilities in writing. Be clear how often you will bill and payment terms. Are you prepared to wait 30–45 days to be paid like most vendors? Try to negotiate a notice period if they decide to end or cut back the work. You might be asked to submit occasional proposals to keep your work, and you’ll find yourself bidding against ex-colleagues.Tip: Quickly build a relationship with purchasing/procurement…an organization you probably had no need for in the past. They’ll never be your friend but good relations will pay dividends. They will likely administer your new contract and will influence being paid promptly.Tip II: If you have to occasionally write a proposal to keep your work, get some help. It is a new skill you must master.Good luck making it work!! Your world has changed.