Q & A Table of Contents
How Can I do a job without taking a job?
From: Frank, Washington, DC
Question: I perform small IT Systems contracts. I have a small home
business where I install, configure, and implement network systems. I
solicit companies for business opportunies and on many occasions, I am offered an employment position, not a business opportunity. I turn down the offer and I burn a bridge. I would like to turn this situation around and be able to NEGOTIATE!!
Response: Thanks for your question. There are a variety of approaches you might use to sweeten the communication between yourself and those clients wanting to hire you full time.
The first thing you have to do is look to why it is that you want to keep your independent status. Is it a matter of time flexibility, being your own boss, being able to make more money, not having to adhere to a dress code, not having to commute, being able to increase your professional expertise through exposure to a variety of problems?
What do your clients have to gain from a) 'owning' you and b) being able to use you on an occasional basis? In this case, it is very important for you to ask questions and listen very hard to the answers. Their words may say one thing, but the meaning may be something else. So listen carefully.
Your clients may be concerned about protecting proprietary information, they may want to have you available at a moment's notice, they may have so much of your kind of work that needs to be done that they feel they really need someone full time. And there may be many other reasons they find important. Each client will have different reasons, different interests, and different priorities.
When you've got a good handle on this, then it begins to make sense to look at the trade-offs: how much money would be sufficient to compensate you for your loss of freedom, for having to commute, for having to report to a boss. What other 'goodies' could your clients offer you that would overcome your current set of priorities?
Once you have a clear understanding of what you want and why you want it -- as well as your clients' interests -- you are likely to be in a better position to have a mutually beneficial discussion about what makes mutual sense.
One other possibility that I may be hearing from you in your question
relates to how you turn down full-time employment offers. There are as many ways to say yes as there are to say no. If you say no in an
unfriendly way, that does indeed burn a bridge. What you want to do is
build a 'golden bridge' which makes it easy and even attractive for folks to cross and reach agreement.
So ask yourself questions about priorities and ask your clients about
theirs. The more you listen to them, the more likely you are to come up with responses that yield mutual agreement.
Good luck, and good negotiating,
Steve
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