Expansion

[Vito]

Hi there...newbie here...

Has anyone on this board successfully gone from being a contractor, operating through their own limited company, to employing others (either permie's or sub-contracting)? If so, how long were you contracting on your own before you expanded and how did you go from operating on your own to recuiting others?

P.S. Having spent many months reading this I am well prepared for the barrage of abuse that I should expect as a newbie...so bring it on :-)

[where did my id go?]

yes.

being a contractor is totally different to running a software house.

sales, marketing, pricing, support.

[dotnetter]

I see contracting as a way to gain both business and technical experience while allowing you to build a little capital in your company which will could help you to take the next step from being a one man band to a full time business.

My problem is I'm too reliant on my contracting money at the moment to get me out of some personal debt, give it a few years when thats all sorted and I should be in a good position to concentrate on the business side of things full time. I'm slowly getting the business in and building up my contacts plus getting my ideas of how to make the big money in a few years time it's just the matter of taking that important final step.

I'm 25 at the moment and I have some direct clients that I do work for, the problem is I have a little much work and really need to hire someone, but I'm not financially sufficient enough at the moment to commit to taking someone on so I'm not ready to take the step for another 2-3 years.

I also see contracting as a way to make alot of contacts and this means everything in the business world, basically building up a good name for yourself with clients, getting case studies, references, follow up work etc etc.

Anyway thats just my take on it, theres some big rewards out there if you wanna go for it, but theres also a bigger risk to take into account.

Personally id take the risk every time but not everyones cut out for the stress and hard work of running a business.