Reply to: How much was your warchest?

[gables]

No warchest here when I first went contracting in 1993.

Started talking with agents whilst still permie and had loads of interest but due to not having a start date it seemed to stall things. So I handed in my notice giving me 5 weeks, and the agents went silent, panicked slightly but kept at it and picked up a contract in Brussels in week 5, contracted without bench time until 2002.

Market is different now I grant you, but at the time my skills were very much in demand so felt confident.

[bigthumper]

In my 30's, so yes, ultimate defeat sounds about right!
Glad I went through the pain though, its all come good eventually...so far

[MattZani]

Had to bail out of my flat and go back to parents

How old were you then?

I don't know but, personally speaking, going back to living with my parents would be the ultimate defeat

[bigthumper]

Setup Ltd company almost exactly 2 years ago.
Had about 3k in bank, but permie job was a drag so left anyway.

Took 2 months to get first Contract gig.
Had to bail out of my flat and go back to parents until I could build a war-chest as I was completely broke.

Since then I have bought a 300k house, and have not been out of a contact for longer than 2 months since!
(by choice)

Best move I ever made, although I was single then and probably wouldn't take the same risks now with a family.

[SussexSeagull]

About two months. It then took me about two months to find my first contract.

[jamesbrown]

If you upped your game, you'd be able to charge > £2.50.

No, this really is my maximum game

[northernladyuk]

So roughly 2.9999999 years with a weekly visit to nlady.

If you upped your game, you'd be able to charge > £2.50.

[jamesbrown]

It's important to maintain standards.

So roughly 2.9999999 years with a weekly visit to nlady.

[Old Greg]

So 1 week?

It's important to maintain standards.

[WTFH]

About 3 years if I stay off the hookers and coke

So 1 week?

[vadhert]

About 3 years if I stay off the hookers and coke

[edison]

About 9 months including cash and other savings like shares/ISAs.

I was fortunate that I still had the bulk of a larger redundancy payment from two years earlier.

Although my warchest was quite big to start, it was a risk in the sense I quit a six figure package permie role before even starting to look for a contract role. I just hated some parts of my job and had to get away.

Took about 6-7 weeks to land my first interview and I started about 3 weeks later.

[ctm]

£0 but my girlfriend had around 2 months of my outgoings covered (if I didn’t go out or buy anything).
Got my first contract during my notice period of the perm role and they were happy to wait. Just been extended again, currently have cover for about 4 months, but by the end of the new extension and probably the end of this contract I should have 7-8 months cover.

[TonyF]

No body, no crime, no redundancy

I used to date a girl who's father killed her mum / step-mum (can't remember which) and hid the body in pieces around Spain. He still got done for it, got released on a technicality and then said "yep, I did it".

No body, but he still did time for it.

[psychocandy]

Not all of it; when it gets too tough he/she claims it's offensive then cries off to the mods leading to 'infractions'...

:-)