Why I Declined a Full-time Salaried Position
And how I turned that into a freelance client instead.
“We’ve got a fun company culture and great benefits,” is the death curse for companies. It’s also a pretty good sign that there is drama somewhere in the company, and disgruntled employees who think leadership doesn’t know what they’re doing. I’m convinced no gym perk or free breakfast can make up for draining company culture.
Yet I found myself on the carousel of taking high-paying, salaried jobs and then getting laid off. Each time I was let go, I thought “maybe I should just start freelancing?” but before I could even get a website up and start networking and bidding on projects, I’d receive another offer for a loaded salary with “amazing benefits” and I’d accept.
In the middle of 2019, after getting laid off yet again, I decided to take the step and form an LLC and consult. I started working on projects throughout the rest of the year. When I filed my taxes, I had both my business and my salaried job to reconcile. I resolved for 2020 that I was going to bet on myself and only do work through my LLC.
In February, I started discussions with a tech founder. He had growth plans and sounded like the company culture was stable. He thought I could fill two different marketing positions in a hybrid role. He made me an offer, and I turned it down. It meant that I would only be able to work for him in-house and that anything to my LLC would have to be on the side.
Side gigs are great for some people. Some side gigs turn into full-time endeavors. But after years of the carousel of salaries, I had to bet on myself — an all-in bet. Even if it meant turning down what many would have easily taken and viewed as a good job.
I told the founder I could do the scope of work, but only under my LLC while on retainer. After some negotiations, I sent him a contract to sign and came on as a consultant.
About a month after I started, COVID-19 took over, and soon the founder cut salaries by 20% to avoid layoffs. But then he laid people off. Shortly after that, people willingly quit and entire departments saw complete turnover.
Company morale and culture were completely changed and it reminded me that this is why I turned down a full-time job. There will always be some outside force that affects your job and you get no say or warning.
Benefits, salaries, and perks are great until they stop in a second. Working for yourself, you can find the clients and projects that work best for you. You can add clauses that allow for so many days’ notice before ending a contract and develop timelines for deliverables. You can work to build the life you want and deserve. Not build someone else's until they decide they no longer need you.
Trying to transition a mindset from a full-time position to a freelance role is not an easy concept for all employers and not even the best fit for all organizations.
Here are some tips I would recommend based on my experience:
1. Be honest
When you’re applying for a job, there is always a line in the job description that loosely says it is not all-encompassing of all duties or something about ad-hoc activities. When you’re trying to scope out a project from a full-time role, make sure you bring your best skills and actual recommendations you think you can help that particular company get on track.
2. Draw boundaries
Doing larger projects that are ongoing and have a wider scope can blur the lines of employee and consultant. You do need to have meetings and calls to understand the business, and maybe even some social time. But have a clear definition of who is the decision-maker, what you do and do not want to be included in the scope, and hard lines of what isn’t tolerable. If not, you’ll find you’re just another body that comes added into the mix of the ad-hoc tasks.
3. Bet on yourself
At the end of the day, being in charge of your future is reassuring. Even during difficult times of finding clients or getting rejections, bet on yourself. When a contract ends with a client, you’ll have case studies or testimonials to use for acquiring new clients. Five clients in a year is impressive. But five jobs with the same skills and accomplishments in a year is seen as a red flag by HR.
This is my own personal experience and bias; however, the Harvard Gazette wrote an article that highlights a Harvard Business Review/ Boston Consulting Group’s study about the on-demand workforce.
Some key findings include:
- 60% of companies expected they would increasingly prefer to “rent,” “borrow,” or “share” talent with other companies
- A full 40% of users reported that accessing highly skilled workers through new digital talent platforms helped improve speed to market, boost productivity, and increase innovation.
Future recommendations to assist in blending workforces include:
- Remake the culture of the organization, changing the definition of success to focus on attaining outcomes over generating new ideas or managing headcount.
- Redefine work into discrete components that can be tackled by internal or external contributors.
When aligned appropriately, both the freelancer and client can find value creation and job satisfaction. Thinking beyond the normal job description and hiring plan and focusing on skills and growth can be mutually beneficial.
