The HRchive CONTENTS

Love 'n Hate Index   >> Issue 1 - SREs     >> Issue 3 - Clientside Res     >> Issue 4 - MD / Agency Boss     >> Issue 5 - MR Software Sales     >> Issue 6 - Omnibus Researchers     >> Issue 7 - TV Researcher     >> Issue 8 - MR Recruiters     >> Issue 9 - Office Party Planner     >> Issue 10 - MR Marketing Mgrs     >> Issue 11 - Associate Directors     >> Issue 12 - Field Mgrs     >> Issue 13 - JRE & Grad Trainee     >> Issue 14 - Head of Research     >> Issue 15 - Viewing Facility Mgrs     >> Issue 16 - Pharma Res Client     >> Issue 17 - Tel Interviewers     >> Issue 18 - Aussie Researchers     >> Issue 19 - Personnel Mgrs

The life of an indie is for me, and the thought of ever going back to working for someone else is a difficult one.

I have only brief experience of work for a large company, and more of working for a small to medium sized agency, but from what I have seen, the benefits of being my own boss are as follows:

lifestyle
I can work from home when I wish, although I do have an office; and although I tend to end up working very long hours on occasion, I at least have no-one to blame but myself, and if I get it right I can plan this and play plenty of tennis !

type of work
I can choose what I do, provided I do not get too choosy and do myself out of a good living. I get to see all parts of a project, rather than losing touch with the bits I would have to delegate. But I can still delegate when I want, to subcontractors such as fieldwork agencies.

satisfaction
The opportunity to develop client relationships, unlike the poor SRE in last month’s ‘I hate my job’ and most of all just being my own boss. If I make a mistake, it’s down to me. It is a bit different having a client ask you to amend a report or rewriting your questionnaire (doesn’t happen often, but it can) and having your boss do it. When it’s a client, it somehow seems like a grown-up relationship, not a ticking off at school. Hard to define why, but other independents will back me up I’m sure.

freedom
from all the clutter and systems that mark big companies, at least, and flexibility to develop my own methods and change direction when I wish.

I miss some things about working for other people - peer pressure can be a hassle but having peers is sometimes good, and sociable. On the whole, these are easy sacrifices given the long list of benefits above. The flow of work is not guaranteed but I think I am lucky in that I waited until I had good experience of client development and sales before I started out on my own, and maybe this has made the difference. So I don’t know what it would take to tempt me back to work at a big agency.

I guess I would consider a very large offer ...

I hate my job...
another indie, about to cease being one ...

I guess independence is for some people and not for others. It seemed a good idea and there have been some benefits, but I am looking forward to getting back into the buzz of a large agency again, when my new job starts in a month.

Flow of work was the main headache. Maybe I should have given it more than 18 months, but in that time I had three lean periods and two that were far too busy, and that was enough. The future is very uncertain when you have no salary and have yet to build up a regular client base.

You look at the daily rates of independents and you think ‘Big Money!’ The average indie (according to the ICG’s latest annual survey) is charging ?400 to ?500 a day and is unlikely to include expenses in that, so a simple calculation gives you a salary of ?80k+ - but simple is misleading. I have ended up working more days than I quoted for, and not charging for them because I want to hang on to the client. Some of the expenses involved are difficult to forecast and when you make a mistake it hits you right in the pocket. I have not cleared half the above amount, and I shall get more as a Director.

The plum clients seem to go to more established agencies. I am sure there are exceptions to this, and perhaps people who leave to be independent with a vast portfolio of contacts built up over decades manage to win/retain some very good names, but I found it difficult to compete and I have to put a lot of it down to prejudice against smaller providers. I was certain on several occasions that I could out-perform my larger competitors and beat their price, but to no avail.

If it is true that no-one ever got sacked for choosing IBM, I suppose I also have to acknowledge that by going back into the agency side fairly quickly I have fed the prejudice to some extent. Buyers worry that a small company will not be there in a year... well, fair enough, this one won’t.

Therefore I worked as a sub-contractor for research agencies on too many occasions, and for first-time users of research on a couple of others, which was less rewarding than I had hoped!

I shan’t rehearse the old points about the lack of social life. Independents can have a good social life outside work or even within it, and in any case mine is about to nosedive because of...

... the baby. ‘Aha’ you say, there’s the real reason. Admittedly it is a big factor in seeking something more secure, but I think there has been a lot more to it than that. Going solo is now another thing I have tried, and bits of it have been good - but I do not think in all it is an exaggeration to say that at times I have hated being an independent, and that I am looking forward wholeheartedly to returning to the rat-race.