Consulting in a 3-Ring Circus
“Confusion is good — certainty is almost always a sure sign of human error in progress.” — Sybil Bayles
Anyone who has no family or friends, and who has no interests or ambitions outside of work can skip this section. Many contractors, especially in the software development industry, spend many, many more than forty hours per week at work. Stands to reason, since they want to make money and their clients are glad to get the work done. Everyone has had some experience of the week that will never end — dragging endlessly toward a Friday that drags into Monday morning.
Some people will be saying that it serves the nameless, sleepless contractor right. He/she should get a life. Chances are he/she already has one, but can't quite recall where they left it. This kind of amnesia is most often caused by a confusion of loyalties. You have a responsibility to your client to get the work done. You have a responsibility to yourself to take enough time off to retain your sanity. You have a responsibility to your partner/spouse/children to work a little time as possible, make as much money as possible, and to take no time for your selfish self.
Did I leave anybody out? Sure, I did. Mothers, aunts, sisters, friends, cousins, charities, beautiful weather, church, community, and the dog, to name but a few.
So, what's than answer? There isn't one. There never is and there probably isn't any answer, or if there is it's probably so personal and peculiar to a particular person as to be not of any use to anyone else. We all have a balancing act to negotiate in our professional lives. Being a contractor just throws some parts of that act into high relief. An employee, you might operate on the theory that putting in extra hours (with no pay) is required, that is if you want to remain an employee. As a contractor, we come again to that fearsome specter of billable hours: this isn't any theory — this is a fact. More hours equals more money — often a lot more money.
Some people manage their balancing act by making a time budget. Simply stated, the budget allots so many hours per week, or per month to your clients, your family, yourself, and anyone/anything else you want to put into the equation. If you have to take time away from group B to make good on a commitment to Group A, then you owe Group B. If you keep track of these allotmentss, then you have some hope of balancing the books eventually in a more or less equitable fashion. At least, when your partner/spouse complains you can answer with facts instead of woeful apologies. If you just let things take care of themselves, then you know they won't: it will be just one more regrettable necessity. Just remember that all that extra money you're making will just about pay for the divorce attorney.
There is another aspect of this act as well. Studies have shown that among the self-employed, those who put in substantially fewer than 40 hours per week in their start-up business have a higher frequency of business failure. This just stand to reason. Most people who have successful start-up businesses tend to put more like 55 – 60 hours per week into their business. So what else is new? you ask. The interesting thing is what direction the statistics go when you start looking at people who put in more than 60 hours per week. At 70 hours, the instance of failure is about even with the less-than-40 crowd.
What is true for a sole proprietorship is just as true for an independent contractor or an individual contracting through an agency. Most agencies know this and start asking hard questions when the hours crowd up above 50 per week. This is not because they're afraid to bill the client. This is because they know that very few people do their best work during the second half of a 60 hour week.
From an ethical standpoint, what do you tell your client to balance the commitments you have made to them against other demands on your life? The first thing you tell you client is a realistic and continually updated picture of when your commitments to work assignments will be completed. If it is going to take 50% longer, then say so as close to up front as you can manage.