Pay Increases

[Rob Hall]

I was self-employed with a startup company as a client, and they were paying me monthly, net 30.  That one check came from the CFO's personal bank account rather than the company account should have been a sign...the next month they folded w/ no warning, came back from Europe to find their locks changed and office suite cleared out.  They owned me for a month's work @$100/hr.    I ultimately got a nice Herman Miller office chair, a laptop and a couple Unix servers, but after that I was much more selective about who I did gigs with...

[Repstock]

It seems as though we've stumbled onto a topic worthy of it's own thread..."The difficulties of being self-employed". It doesn't matter if you get a regular paycheck that's not enough, or don't know if/when you'll get paid and it's still not enough. One kind of not enough is not "tougher" than the other. People paid regularly at less than they need do not have it easier. We're all having a tough time. The difficulties of being self-employed are true and they stand on their own. No comparison with 40 hour a week employment is necessary to establish your point(s). Although I doubt this was the intent, It feels like everyone who is not self-employed is having their situation trivialized. We're all in this together.  

[mikemodeler]

I lost my job last week, after nearly 8 years at the company. I won't (and can't legally) go into the details but can say that no matter how hard you work, either for yourself or a company, sometimes things are beyond your control. 

To Tom's original point, I hadn't had a raise in base pay since 2011. I was lucky that I was a sales rep that also had a bonus program and due to some hard work and luck, I was able to offset the lack of raises with some nice bonuses. That didn't change the psychological effect of not getting a raise had on me, but it did motivate me to be the best I could be and I did earn several annual awards for my sales excellence. Looking back, I am grateful that I worked hard and earned that money as I have had countless phone calls from peers expressing disbelief that a top sales achiever like myself could be expendable and how they feared for their own job.

I learned at a young age that life isn't fair and complaining about it doesn't change a thing. My father toyed with the idea of starting his own business a couple of times and in the end I think he was glad he didn't because he was able to retire early (due to a nice pension) and enjoy retirement for over 20 years before his health began to fail. He had several friends who were self-employed and worked 5-10 more years than he did and they didn't have the same retirement income or time to enjoy it.

Everyone has a different situation and therefore a different path to follow. Some are better suited to working for themselves while others prefer the security of a steady paycheck and known benefit. I have considered doing "my own thing" and my wife is encouraging it, but given our position in life (a kid ready to go to college) and being about 15 years away from retiring ourselves (HOPEFULLY!), I am not wanting to risk it all at this late stage in life. Call me chicken, but I am confident I will be employed in the next 30 days and in the comfort of a large company with a nice benefit package!

[cobraman]

I hope you land a great job Mike.

[crazyjim]

I retired from Lucent Technologies and was getting decent pension. The company sold out to Alcatel (France) and the pension checks kept coming in.  Recently Alcatel/Lucent offered to give you a one time buyout or keep the monthly pension checks.   Alcatel/Lucent is now being looked at by Nokia - another foreign company.  I took the buyout fearing that a non-US company doesn't have to play by US laws.  So I'll be getting a guaranteed monthly stipend for the investment company, and along with the monthly Social Security check and monthly VA disability check, I'm doing OK.

[mikemodeler]

I hope you land a great job Mike.

Thanks Ray, I think I will be okay, have a couple of great leads and friends in the right places so I have my fingers crossed!

[charlie8575]

I lost my job last week, after nearly 8 years at the company. I won't (and can't legally) go into the details but can say that no matter how hard you work, either for yourself or a company, sometimes things are beyond your control. 

 

Sorry to hear, Mike. I've been skating since 2008, so I hear you loud and clear.

I decided to go self-employed because at this point....I have nothing else to lose! Nobody will hire me to teach anymore (I guess I make too much sense and actually care about achievement too much,) and too many employers I've seen seem to not be interested in anyone that does teach, or I can only get commission or really low-end jobs that, in all honesty, I can't afford to take, because I'll still not be able to pay my bills.

In addition to this venture, I was finally able to land something for the tax season with Block, so I'm hoping between it all, I'll actually make enough money this year to make it worthwhile and with my own enterprise soon coming, I might still not be rich, but I'll be happy.

And that is payment in and of itself.

Charlie Larkin

[Deathgoblin]

I lost my job last week, after nearly 8 years at the company. I won't (and can't legally) go into the details but can say that no matter how hard you work, either for yourself or a company, sometimes things are beyond your control. 

To Tom's original point, I hadn't had a raise in base pay since 2011. I was lucky that I was a sales rep that also had a bonus program and due to some hard work and luck, I was able to offset the lack of raises with some nice bonuses. That didn't change the psychological effect of not getting a raise had on me, but it did motivate me to be the best I could be and I did earn several annual awards for my sales excellence. Looking back, I am grateful that I worked hard and earned that money as I have had countless phone calls from peers expressing disbelief that a top sales achiever like myself could be expendable and how they feared for their own job.

I learned at a young age that life isn't fair and complaining about it doesn't change a thing. My father toyed with the idea of starting his own business a couple of times and in the end I think he was glad he didn't because he was able to retire early (due to a nice pension) and enjoy retirement for over 20 years before his health began to fail. He had several friends who were self-employed and worked 5-10 more years than he did and they didn't have the same retirement income or time to enjoy it.

Everyone has a different situation and therefore a different path to follow. Some are better suited to working for themselves while others prefer the security of a steady paycheck and known benefit. I have considered doing "my own thing" and my wife is encouraging it, but given our position in life (a kid ready to go to college) and being about 15 years away from retiring ourselves (HOPEFULLY!), I am not wanting to risk it all at this late stage in life. Call me chicken, but I am confident I will be employed in the next 30 days and in the comfort of a large company with a nice benefit package!

I'm in a similar boat.  I lost my job of 14 years this past May due to health issues.  They were kind enough to give me a decent severance.  The company I'm contracting with now is great and I love the new job, but I'm making about $1.10 less an hour than the previous job plus health insurance that is more like a discount program than true health coverage.  It had been a couple of years at the old place since I had had a raise on top of that.  

[Tom Geiger]

I am also self employed on a 1099, working through an engineering company for a large pharma company. I am also on a net 30 and pay my taxes and social security quarterly.  Companies are not hiring employees anymore, for the most part outsourcing as much as they can because it has a different tax treatment.  I was 55 and out of work for a year, when someone told me to consult.  I was working in a few weeks.   

For me the big kicker is paying the added taxes as mentioned above, and my self provided medical insurance is going up to $1500 a month in January, just for my wife and I.  

[blunc]

I vote that we force all bean counters that advise companies to choose contract workers over permanent employees to be converted to contract status also.

I wonder how long it will take them to change their tune when they have to look for a new job every twelve to eighteen months and have to get their own health insurance.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I vote that we force all bean counters that advise companies to choose contract workers over permanent employees to be converted to contract status also.

I wonder how long it will take them to change their tune when they have to look for a new job every twelve to eighteen months and have to get their own health insurance.

Yeah boy... I like it !!

"Business" has devolved into "get as much as you can for as little as possible (ignore quality, but pay a lot for marketing and the appearance of quality), hire the lowest-paid workers whether they're competent or not, and screw everyone out of as much as you possibly can".

Between the unmitigated greed and the rampant outright stupidity, business managers are pushing what's left of this country's economic power right down the toilet.

Greedy idiots run everything now.

It's time.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[mikemodeler]

Had a phone interview yesterday that went really well, could be the next job! They briefly touched on salary and I could finally get a raise!

The recruiter and I discussed my previous job and the various activities involved and he was surprised that as a sales rep the number of non-selling projects I was expected to do and he asked me point blank "When did you have time to sell?" To Bill's point above, this previous employer didn't care, I was labor to them and whether I was "selling" or not was immaterial, it was all about getting their projects done and agenda complete.

One thing I have noticed is that companies are hiring and looking for talented people and if you are qualified, you should be able to find a good job. 

I do feel for you self-employed guys and the health insurance costs, using Cobra to continue my family benefits will be $1,000 per month.

 

 

[High octane]

Wow, a $1000 - $1500 a month for health insurance is a steep price.

[Quick GMC]

I was in the field for almost a decade. Several years ago, I started a company with a partner as a side project. The end of this month will mark 1 year since I left my dad's company, where I had a guaranteed check every month, to pursue our side project full time. Revenue has increased 65% this year, but nowhere near enough for me to make a living off of. I only sell premium quality materials, which are much harder to move due to the higher cost. Things are just now starting t catch on and snowball. My garage is my warehouse, a bedroom was turned into an office. Hopefully, in Jan 2016 I will be bale to get my first building. Our biggest competitor nationwide is less than 2 hours away and has a lot of marketing capital. We are slowly starting to convert some of their customers. In the long run, it will work, but I am never off the clock. Social media has been a huge resource, but it only works if you are available immediately. I don't always put in 8-10 consecutive hours, but I make myself available around the clock. My model building time, which was around 9-10pm an later, has now been taken up by website editing, talking with resources overseas, etc. Owning your own business is not for the faint of heart. I'm lucky my wife makes a good living during the season, but for the summer months we barely scrape by. Now I have a 2 year old and I have to try and figure out how to double our revenue this next year. 

I went from 60 hours a week on salary to 60+ hours a week for almost nothing. I think I took $10k out this entire year. 

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Quick GMC

[Tom Geiger]

Cameron you sound like a guy who knows the game and is willing to put in the time and efforts.  You will make it work!

[Ace-Garageguy]

 ...Owning your own business is not for the faint of heart...

I went from 60 hours a week on salary to 60+ hours a week for almost nothing. I think I took $10k out this entire year. 

That's the case with most small startups...a lot of risk for no guaranteed return, long hours and not much income in the beginning. Most wives and girlfriends don't like the deal either (ask me how I know).

Perseverance can pay off big, however. One of my clients started a plumbing company under similar circumstances about 30 years ago, ate canned beans and day-old bread while his kids were little; he recently sold his interest in the company for $7 million, which is why he can afford to have a car built exactly the way he wants it.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Harry P.]

Perseverance can pay off big, however. One of my clients started a plumbing company under similar circumstances about 30 years ago, ate canned beans and day-old bread while his kids were little; he recently sold his interest in the company for $7 million, which is why he can afford to have a car built exactly the way he wants it.

While that's a nice story, it's by far the exception to the rule. For every guy who hits the jackpot like your friend did, there are a hundred that are still eating canned beans and day-old bread 10-15-20 years into it.

[Ace-Garageguy]

... For every guy who hits the jackpot..., there are a hundred that are still eating canned beans and day-old bread 10-15-20 years into it.

Yup...I'm one of them.   

[charlie8575]

Yeah boy... I like it !!

"Business" has devolved into "get as much as you can for as little as possible (ignore quality, but pay a lot for marketing and the appearance of quality), hire the lowest-paid workers whether they're competent or not, and screw everyone out of as much as you possibly can".

Between the unmitigated greed and the rampant outright stupidity, business managers are pushing what's left of this country's economic power right down the toilet.

Greedy idiots run everything now.

It's time.

 

What scares me, Bill, is just how right you are.

In addition to all my other projects, I'm presently authoring a class I plan to pitch to some of the colleges around here, which combines a bit of philosophy with the work of W. Edward Deming. I'm hoping to get at least one or two business departments to give it a shot. 

And it is behavior like this that I intend to address as part of this, because I truly believe Dr. Deming would be horrified at how his gentle, intelligent, thoughtful system of making work and its products better, has been perverted into a money-grab by so many short-sighted, dim-witted, unscrupulous charlatans who have no qualifications at all to run a business, much less major corporations which, if mismanaged, could spell huge trouble for our entire economic system, from stability of work to economic growth, to other businesses that rely on these businesses and their employees, to tax revenue. 

Charlie Larkin

[Roadrunner]

Sadly, my former pay raises (when they actually occurred) never kept up with inflation. By my guesstimate, after working 14 years for the same company (my fault for staying there, and I'm not happy about it), my overall purchasing power had decreased to roughly 70% of what it had been when I started.