Lifestyle

Budgeting: Company Role Vs. Freelance 

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Suffer the freedom of choice.

I have some second round interviews coming up at tutoring companies – Inspirica and Pinnacle – to manage their tutors or their clients. Both are fantastic,  established, stable tutoring companies based in NYC – one in the Upper East Side and one in Brooklyn. I am inspired by both the owners and employees – hard working, organized individuals that have organized a well oiled machine of smart and caring individuals that provide tutoring to families across the area.

However…

Downsides to a Full-time Role at a Tutoring Company 

Non-Compete Agreement may be required. 

Would I have to give up 4-year long relationships with my tutoring students?

If this were to prohibit me from tutoring, I may be unable to make this commitment unless I want a job bad enough to give up my tutoring students.

Baby geniuses. This is what all my students look like. However, in all seriousness, some of my students start with me at 3.5 years of age.

2 Weeks Vacation. Hearing this is like “listening to nails being scratched against a chalkboard!” As someone who has come to appreciate 2 months off a year, slimming down my time away from my work to two weeks a year seems fairly dehumanifying. I wonder who I can work for that would allow me this travel time. I would not mind working on the road, but most tutoring companies are more traditional in structure and require in-office hours.

Pros to a Full-time Role at a Tutoring Company 

Camaraderie. I’ve come to appreciate my greater ability to flourish among like minded peers. I can learn from others in my field, especially those innovating technologically.

Role Models. Being my own role model is not a helpful thing.

Co Workers.

I don’t know what this means, but I am intrigued.

It is fun to have folks to shoot the breeze with. I love my husband dearly, but having others to chat playfully with would be so refreshing!

Let’s be analytical.

What Could Returning to Freelance Look Like?

If I pick up with tutoring, I’ll need my afternoons free. 

M-F Admissions Consulting, Tutoring, Editing and Childcare

  • Already booked $350-700 weekly from recurring clients

Petsitting 

  • Average $150/week

Total I income I can count on weekly: 

  • $450

Additional Income

  • Likely – Smart Sitters – could easily pick up some weekly childcare shifts
  • Likely – Could pick up more tutoring clients – either on my own or through an agency
  • Unlikely – Could pick up dog walks

I don’t need a lot to bloom.

I’ve learned from living meagrely these last 2.5 months, first in a van, and then in the homes of my friends, family, and petsits that $450/week is more than enough!
So it’s a matter of deciding which dream to pursue. More to come in this as I make some decisions in the next week.