So now that you have taken the leap of faith to become an Independent Consultant, what should you expect? As the word “Independent” implies, you are on your own. You are now responsible for everything that happens to you and your business. You may choose to rely solely on an Agency such as RPI to find you work or you may work with several. And maybe, you only dabble with Agencies as a supplement.

As a Full-time Employee, you had the security of knowing where you are and where you are going to be. As an Independent, your schedule may only be booked a month in advance. The risk of not working (albeit slight) is still very real. Also, you will most likely now have to find a Carrier for you Health Insurance needs as you most certainly would have given that up. So what is the real benefit to this tradeoff? First and foremost, higher wages. Recent studies have shown that on an annualized basis and taking into consideration the plethora of Company Benefits one might receive as an Employee, an Independent Consultant would still end up with more. Add to that the flexibility to choose who to work for and when and it’s easy to see why many people are choosing to become Independent and bill for their services.

The following is a sample list of Pro’s and Con’s to becoming Independent: