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Bezint eer ge begint
Few people that know me well see through me, as if I am transparent. There is this one person that calls me 'Little thinker'.
I guess my parents gave up saying this, they know it for ages.
But sometimes it is not too bad to weigh consequences before deciding.
The problem:
I am offered a job. A well paid job. (Let's say the kind of thing everybody would jump high in the sky) and me, I doubt. (but hey, that's me...)
Why?
Because I want to be independent, I want to follow my choices and do what I like. I don't want to be stuck in an office.
OK, you answer, so be independent too.
OKOKOK, I'll answer, but let's check it out.
So I went to an accountant's office and paid them to do the counting for me: (I left out scenario 0 in which I am only full time employee, c'mon, do you see me! full time in an office? I'd become depressive, not fun to be with and I'd lose all my friends ;) )
Scenario 1: I work full time in an office and I am independent on top of that for a certain amount a year: bad idea. Taxes run away with most of the extra earned money. They take so much it isn't even worth bothering to do the extra.
Scenario 2: Full time independent. To make it work, you'll need a certain amount of contracts. Being realistic, I know I can try for 75% of that amount, but the full featured thing, well, it's not realistic.
So I stick to scenario 3: Work in a part-time, earn a basic living, and risk the other part-time to do the fun stuff. With the own projects. With the things that sometimes make money and sometimes not.
(Someone is offering a dynamic part-time job? With nice colleagues and interesting projects? You are looking for a ambitious person who is not scared of working? With commercial feeling, technical knowledge in the web and photography, and a sense of humor? Check me out. ;) -Oh and I am open to a more than part-time job, as long as it is adventurous.)
What I wanted to say: before you start, take your tax papers, go to an accountant and count the possibilities. You might be surprised about the outcome.
(The nice guy made sure I saved some nice money today. And I mean really nice money)
And then decide with your heart ;) (Thanks dearest friends for reminding this to me all the time.)
Oh and to politicians reading this: what the heck is wrong with this country??? In Belgium, if you want to work, your punished for it. There are few motivating rules to do so, taxes are way too high.
When they say 'the rich are becoming richer', I guess it is quite different from 'the hardworking are getting richer'.
Posted on December 19, 2005
in Limit of my knowledge, Living in Belgium
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Comments (5)
Comments
Two things:
1. I went the safe way: worked full-time in an office at first, working hard in my spare time. Build up something, go half-time in the office job. Then, when the numbers were good enough, I ditched the office job, and went independant full-time.
It's a safe way of building things up. I took little risk - if things didn't work out, I could always fall back on the office job.
It means, however, you have to invest lots of time. You are working 150% or more all the time... (Two half-times in practice means two times 75%, especially if you're an enthousiastic perfectionist like me.)
2. I saw quantum leaps of income at each step. The switch from independant after hours to half-time independant brought lots more growth to the independant business than expected. The same thing when going full-time independant. It seems your customers can smell when you make that step.
So, looking back, I regret not going full-time independant from the start. I see now it would have worked out nicely - and I would have saved a lot of time and would be much further right now.
Posted by Bart | December 20, 2005 9:56 AMSo, in conclusion: if you don't like risk, take the slow, safe path. But if you can overcome your fear of risk - go for it. Hard work and enthousiasm bring their rewards. And you will have lots more fun ;)
Well...Nice and interesting post and comment, I just have two words: good luck...
Lehitraot sweetie...
Promeke
Posted by promethee | December 20, 2005 11:36 AM@Bart: truly interesting remark. worth reading experiences.
Posted by ine | December 20, 2005 3:44 PM@Prom: tx.
Ik zou zeggen (in het Nederlands zowaar). Doe waar je je goed bij voelt!
Puur technisch vraag ik mij af of jij iedere cent die je als zelfstandige in bijberoep zou verdienen niet kan opdoen aan afschrijvingen.
Bureau, wagen, camera, computer en er blijft geen belastbare winst meer over. Of vergis ik mij?
Posted by Pietel | December 22, 2005 10:42 AM@Pietel: das net wat de meesten denken, maar zo simpel is het zowaar niet...
Een auto kan je maar voor een deel afschrijven een bureau ook (meestal 10% van je kosten van je huis) etc.
Maar je hebt idd gelijk: dat is hoe we de kosten naar beneden halen.
Trouwens een tip van de boekhouder voor kleine zelfstandigen: koop je auto op je eigen naam en breng kilometervergoedingen in.
Posted by ine | December 22, 2005 1:41 PM