Freelance work whilst contracting

[billybiro]

We had a post from a guy recently that did. Bloody idiot did it in client time and got himself sacked but he couldn't understand why.

Yes, he was an idiot. Not for doing it, mind you. For getting caught, which lead to his "sacking".

Of course, if you have a bit more brains about you, you could do this and not get caught, leading to a delicious "double-dipping" of income.

Yowzers!

(Not that I'm advocating this type of thing of course).

[TheGreenBastard]

Yes its an hourly rate gig, I always find it difficult to say no to people, I hate turning down work off decent companies and decent people who I have a good rapport with through the interview process.

I am going to agree to 8 hours a week and try and bolt two hours on when I get home and back to the hotel each evening Monday-Thursday and see how it goes.

I worked long hours for years as a permie with little or no reward so I may as well do it now and earn some decent income for it.

Will see how it goes, keen not to burn myself out as like all of us I don't take lots of holidays

That's basically he source of my issues; just got to learn to say no!

[JohnM]

I do this, under a similar situation, work away from home Mon-Thurs so have several hours each evening to dedicate to freelance work. I also juggle "Plan B" in this time.

If you can gauge requirements and juggle workloads it's great. Always charge hourly rate vs. project based pricing.

I can't stress being able to gauge workload enough. I've fallen foul in the past, taking too much on and embarrassing myself.

Yes its an hourly rate gig, I always find it difficult to say no to people, I hate turning down work off decent companies and decent people who I have a good rapport with through the interview process.

I am going to agree to 8 hours a week and try and bolt two hours on when I get home and back to the hotel each evening Monday-Thursday and see how it goes.

I worked long hours for years as a permie with little or no reward so I may as well do it now and earn some decent income for it.

Will see how it goes, keen not to burn myself out as like all of us I don't take lots of holidays

[JohnM]

We had a post from a guy recently that did. Bloody idiot did it in client time and got himself sacked but he couldn't understand why.

"he couldn't understand why"

ha ha ha that is hilarious

[edison]

I sometimes do small pieces of ad hoc freelance work via a contact who runs a PR and Marketing company. Many of his clients are tech or software firms and I get asked to help out when they have client deadlines approaching. It's a mixture of using my IT experience as well as business experience on things like software implementation case studies, presentations, pitches etc. Can be quite interesting because many of his clients' end clients are in sectors that I've never worked in myself like Financial Services.

Bit like a zero hours contract but I do invoice by the hour

I only usually take small amounts on, especially if I'm on a contract, usually I do it on the train or in the evening.

[SueEllen]

I don't know if there is an IT equivalent of the Darwin Award but I want to instigate one after hearing that! Priceless!

To be fair the business wasn't in IT but he got caught.

[edison]

We had a post from a guy recently that did. Bloody idiot did it in client time and got himself sacked but he couldn't understand why.

I don't know if there is an IT equivalent of the Darwin Award but I want to instigate one after hearing that! Priceless!

[northernladyuk]

We had a post from a guy recently that did. Bloody idiot did it in client time and got caught and got himself sacked but he couldn't understand why.

FTFY

I did once take on a nominally one day per week contract which I did on my train journey to and from gig. Nice to earn an extra 500 quid / week, but long-term it wouldn't have been sustainable to be getting the laptop fired up at 7:30 a.m. and straight into productive work.

Don't have that kind of commute anymore. I'm just talking to a potential client about taking on some similar work, but I'll probably look to take some days off in the week and sub 30% of it out.

[jmo21]

I do bits and pieces of work for old clients.

Usually fixed price, and I fit them into my spare time in evenings and weekends.

I never work away from home though (so far!) and it would be ideal to have that evening free time to do some of it.

In other words, go for it!!

[doconline]

Do any of you do any small freelance gigs while in a full time contract ? I have a couple of offers and as I work away from home through the week and don't really do to much in the evening I am considering them.

Keen to see if anyone else does this and find out if it becomes to much a burden on your time ?

Yes, I do this occasionally. As a front end developer I have picked up small bits of work through my network and also on the job boards. As long as you are clear on the amount of time needed to do the work it's fine, just don't take too much. Also, if you haven't worked with the client before, make sure you are clear about communication. If you are unable to take calls / answer emails during the day because of your other client, try and make the other clients aware as gently as possible. Say you will answer emails within x number of hours etc, and will return phone messages at your earliest convenience. They will think their project is the most important thing in the world, where as for you it is extra work. I'm not trying to say anything about your professionalism, it's just about managing expectations at the end of the day.

But most of us are running a business at the end of the day (Ltd vs umbrella for example) so go for it if you have the time and inclination.

[northernladuk]

We had a post from a guy recently that did. Bloody idiot did it in client time and got himself sacked but he couldn't understand why.

[TheGreenBastard]

I do this, under a similar situation, work away from home Mon-Thurs so have several hours each evening to dedicate to freelance work. I also juggle "Plan B" in this time.

If you can gauge requirements and juggle workloads it's great. Always charge hourly rate vs. project based pricing.

I can't stress being able to gauge workload enough. I've fallen foul in the past, taking too much on and embarrassing myself.

[JohnM]

Do any of you do any small freelance gigs while in a full time contract ? I have a couple of offers and as I work away from home through the week and don't really do to much in the evening I am considering them.

Keen to see if anyone else does this and find out if it becomes to much a burden on your time ?