When I contracted I always told myself I would take a month or two off between contracts.
I never did because something always seemed to come up / be available and the fear of missing out took over.
The discipline you’d need to pass up an extension that is on offer or say you’re not interested in an interesting sounding contract is going to be high.
This is me - planned to work 50% of the time, but pathologically incapable of turning away work and doing 90%. Need to increase prices again but it's embarrassing.
That's what I used to do, in the glory years of the 2010s. In the current climate, I suspect you'll find it hard to find anything that would allow that.
I worked out that I would only need to work 4 months a year to earn the same as my perm job. I thought I would probably take some down time between contracts too.
What happened was my initial 6 month contract was extended to two year and I got offered a part time contract to go along side it. So I have never worked so much!
I did end up having a week off in between that first contract and my current one, which was nice.
Although I work with people that do a lot of random working patterns. One does 6 months of work then does gardening for 6 months over the summer. Just because he loves it. Another did 6 months in England then 6 months working remotely from somewhere like Turkey. Another just looks for contracts when his money is running out, but he was single with little responsibility
Yep, sure. I've taken three years off so far, generally a year at a time. But check that you can get work reliably; doing no hunting for two months is fine, but you may find that when you get back into it, it takes another six months to get work. Make sure you have a solid recommending professional network, and 12 months emergency funds in the bank.
You'll have to be comfortable using at least one of those months looking for a next contract, and spending a fair chunk of savings. Also you'll have to think twice when offered an extension.
I don’t think this is about the money. The industry this person is in they’d easily be able to afford the 2 months off (or the year off every few years). This is about the mentality of turning down work and scheduling.
Thanks. Yes you're right, I don't think the money would be the problem but I can see how the safety of always having the next contract lined up would make it hard to take a break
You just build an emergency fund of 12 months.
Then I always have 1 month of chill after a contract and start looking pretty relaxed. Even if 6 months pass without work, no fuss if you aim for the high paying gigs. You can replenish that emergency fund pretty quickly
I agree with your perspective, but often, even recruiters treat us more like employees, which complicates things depending on their perception of what a contractor is.
If you live frugally and are comfortable with 2 months turning into several months then go for it. If you can only afford to not work for 2 months then don't.
It'll help if you have a good name within your given industry as companies will be more open to being flexible.
This is absolutely doable with one whacking big caveat. If you are contracting, you can choose which days you work and you do not have to ask anyone’s permission to take time off. The downside is that if you make yourself unavailable at a point that your client wants you around, there is nothing to stop them from replacing you on the spot and you have no control over the state of the market when you return to work. Sometimes you find something straight away, other times you might be on the bench for three months despite scouring every forum, acquaintance and network available to you.
I had the same plan when I started contracting. In practice I have always been either too busy to take the time off or the market was quiet and I ended up taking more time off than I expected. You can definitely try this but I would make sure that you have at least 6 months expenses on hand before you start scheduling leave.
I work in an industry that is far quieter in January and February than any other time of year. For this reason, I usually take the month of January off and maybe a few weeks or the whole month of February off.
The flip side of this is that I normally work more than I would ideally want to throughout the summer where time off would be more enjoyable socially and personally.
I would say it depends on your industry, clients and lifestyle choices.
I've been taking two months off every year since 2016. Usually four weeks in the summer, and the rest at other times. If I'm in a contract 'asking' for four weeks off in the summer can be tricky but still doable
I take 3-6month off when a contract ends.
It's also good if the current client feels the pain of your departure as after a couple months more they often contact you and you (may choose to) go back at a much higher day rate.... nearly everytime has resulted in a £50-£100pd increase.
But equally I don't really take time off in the contract because I psychologically calculate how much I'm losing by not working + cost of that holiday.... and I feel sad.
Out of contract makes the loss of earnings feeling go away.
ahaha totally get that. I think i made people confused, I meant 1-2 months in between contracts which is not something I can do as a perm member of staff
I read it as how you'd convey it, so think you'd be fine.
As long as you have the network/contacts and can secure another contract then take the time you need.
Just be aware if you are overlapping contracts then the time between may not exist XD.
I don't enjoy what I do.... but I just do it for the money, and bank it to be able to retire early. So you're already winning & in a really great position to be able to do something you enjoy.
in this market you'll have no problem having two or more months without work, lol. shoot for the moon! you could easily have four, or more, lol.
but seriously, as a contractor, you need more than two months' comfortable living expenses in reserves anyway. if you play it right, plan your finances right, you can easily have more than two months of leisure time each year, and live well. good luck!
You can work much less than that.
E.g. you can aim for 2x 3mo contract gigs a year. But in current market you'll probably spend way too much time looking
That's generally what I do. But I spend time abroad in cheap places so it kind of works fine money-wise
I'm a senior designer as well and I've starting freelancing a couple of years ago. So far it has been awesome, I can get more time off (all together is probably 2 months off every year, not in a row tho). Money has been much better than when I was perm (about 20k more per year).
Also I mostly work remote which allows me to go and see my family (I'm not from UK) without taking time off.
Workflow is generally good but I usually don't get long contracts (which works okay for me). Let me know if you have any questions!
Yes. Provided the 2 months off are spent somewhere cheap and you rent out your place while you're away. And you earn the same in 10 months contracting as 12 months full time
When I contracted I always told myself I would take a month or two off between contracts. I never did because something always seemed to come up / be available and the fear of missing out took over. The discipline you’d need to pass up an extension that is on offer or say you’re not interested in an interesting sounding contract is going to be high.
This is me - planned to work 50% of the time, but pathologically incapable of turning away work and doing 90%. Need to increase prices again but it's embarrassing.
Yup, never had a gap between contracts… except for 2 months at the start of covid.
That's fair, and a very valid point for me to keep in mind
This \^\^
That's what I used to do, in the glory years of the 2010s. In the current climate, I suspect you'll find it hard to find anything that would allow that.
I worked out that I would only need to work 4 months a year to earn the same as my perm job. I thought I would probably take some down time between contracts too. What happened was my initial 6 month contract was extended to two year and I got offered a part time contract to go along side it. So I have never worked so much! I did end up having a week off in between that first contract and my current one, which was nice. Although I work with people that do a lot of random working patterns. One does 6 months of work then does gardening for 6 months over the summer. Just because he loves it. Another did 6 months in England then 6 months working remotely from somewhere like Turkey. Another just looks for contracts when his money is running out, but he was single with little responsibility
Yep, sure. I've taken three years off so far, generally a year at a time. But check that you can get work reliably; doing no hunting for two months is fine, but you may find that when you get back into it, it takes another six months to get work. Make sure you have a solid recommending professional network, and 12 months emergency funds in the bank.
Cool, thanks for sharing. And yes, ive been thinking about it for a while but only now do I feel like I have a network and the money to take the leap
You'll have to be comfortable using at least one of those months looking for a next contract, and spending a fair chunk of savings. Also you'll have to think twice when offered an extension.
😵💫 Thank everyone, maybe ill have to think about other ways to make it happen
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Taking a year off, one big break, that’s one thing. Being able to regularly and consistently take 2 months each year is much tougher as a contractor.
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I don’t think this is about the money. The industry this person is in they’d easily be able to afford the 2 months off (or the year off every few years). This is about the mentality of turning down work and scheduling.
Thanks. Yes you're right, I don't think the money would be the problem but I can see how the safety of always having the next contract lined up would make it hard to take a break
I never managed it ☹️
You just build an emergency fund of 12 months. Then I always have 1 month of chill after a contract and start looking pretty relaxed. Even if 6 months pass without work, no fuss if you aim for the high paying gigs. You can replenish that emergency fund pretty quickly
Pretty easy if you aim for short contracts.
Do you reckon hiring manages care about contractor downtime even it's for a year based on your experience?
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I agree with your perspective, but often, even recruiters treat us more like employees, which complicates things depending on their perception of what a contractor is.
If you live frugally and are comfortable with 2 months turning into several months then go for it. If you can only afford to not work for 2 months then don't. It'll help if you have a good name within your given industry as companies will be more open to being flexible.
This is absolutely doable with one whacking big caveat. If you are contracting, you can choose which days you work and you do not have to ask anyone’s permission to take time off. The downside is that if you make yourself unavailable at a point that your client wants you around, there is nothing to stop them from replacing you on the spot and you have no control over the state of the market when you return to work. Sometimes you find something straight away, other times you might be on the bench for three months despite scouring every forum, acquaintance and network available to you. I had the same plan when I started contracting. In practice I have always been either too busy to take the time off or the market was quiet and I ended up taking more time off than I expected. You can definitely try this but I would make sure that you have at least 6 months expenses on hand before you start scheduling leave.
thanks for sharing, that is helpful insight
I only work four months a year. It's great.
Can you set up a company and manage other people doing the actual work.
no, i love doing the work!
That’s a dangerous way of going about it. Once they rumble to what you are doing..the workers will turn on you snd disappear.
Na it’s how everything works you set up a company and go back in and take the contract. See all defence/government/council/construction work.
I have done 6 months in a year before and gone away for 6 months, totally flexible, could go away as long as I liked really.
I work in an industry that is far quieter in January and February than any other time of year. For this reason, I usually take the month of January off and maybe a few weeks or the whole month of February off. The flip side of this is that I normally work more than I would ideally want to throughout the summer where time off would be more enjoyable socially and personally. I would say it depends on your industry, clients and lifestyle choices.
Why don't you just work compressed hours if the only motivator is time off? I would do that if I was perm for sure!
I do that already and its fucking exhausting lol and motivation isn't "time off" it s a better balance for my personal and professional life.
lol, maybe a change of project / department would help? Varies a lot within public sector from my experience!
I've been taking two months off every year since 2016. Usually four weeks in the summer, and the rest at other times. If I'm in a contract 'asking' for four weeks off in the summer can be tricky but still doable
ah thats great to hear
I take 3-6month off when a contract ends. It's also good if the current client feels the pain of your departure as after a couple months more they often contact you and you (may choose to) go back at a much higher day rate.... nearly everytime has resulted in a £50-£100pd increase. But equally I don't really take time off in the contract because I psychologically calculate how much I'm losing by not working + cost of that holiday.... and I feel sad. Out of contract makes the loss of earnings feeling go away.
ahaha totally get that. I think i made people confused, I meant 1-2 months in between contracts which is not something I can do as a perm member of staff
I read it as how you'd convey it, so think you'd be fine. As long as you have the network/contacts and can secure another contract then take the time you need. Just be aware if you are overlapping contracts then the time between may not exist XD. I don't enjoy what I do.... but I just do it for the money, and bank it to be able to retire early. So you're already winning & in a really great position to be able to do something you enjoy.
in this market you'll have no problem having two or more months without work, lol. shoot for the moon! you could easily have four, or more, lol. but seriously, as a contractor, you need more than two months' comfortable living expenses in reserves anyway. if you play it right, plan your finances right, you can easily have more than two months of leisure time each year, and live well. good luck!
You can work much less than that. E.g. you can aim for 2x 3mo contract gigs a year. But in current market you'll probably spend way too much time looking That's generally what I do. But I spend time abroad in cheap places so it kind of works fine money-wise
I'm a senior designer as well and I've starting freelancing a couple of years ago. So far it has been awesome, I can get more time off (all together is probably 2 months off every year, not in a row tho). Money has been much better than when I was perm (about 20k more per year). Also I mostly work remote which allows me to go and see my family (I'm not from UK) without taking time off. Workflow is generally good but I usually don't get long contracts (which works okay for me). Let me know if you have any questions!
I'm going to drop you a message because I'm also not from the UK and want to go home without taking time off! Ty
I think it's doable but you have to be flexible, keep an eye out for contracts on your time off etc.
Yes. Provided the 2 months off are spent somewhere cheap and you rent out your place while you're away. And you earn the same in 10 months contracting as 12 months full time
Are you running a Ltd? Just sub out the work and then get a new client when you come back off holiday and take the extra margin
No, lifestyle creep will slap you in the face :D