You are an independent. Here’s how and why it benefits you.
Why should I join?
If you are like the rest of us, you only get to hear about a very small percentage of the dozens of opportunities available. Using this group, you’ll tap into the leads from full-time employees, other indies, and employers posting directly that you wouldn’t hear about otherwise. Once this is rolling, we’ll have a focal point for everyone to share leads that are suitable for independents to take. You’ll hear of many more opportunities than you could possibly reach on your own.
If you are billing, you aren’t doing business development. And the likelihood is you are a specialist and you totally suck at business development anyway.
Perhaps you’ll be able to take on bigger jobs by leveraging the combined talents of your fellow independents?
PDXICons will also post your profile capsule, and link to your website to give you more local visibility.
Does it cost?
Not to join, but there is a finders referral fee if you win a job from a referral, but it’s tiny compared to having a staffing or contract agency place you. Basically, the incentive for other indies and full-time employees to bring opportunities our way is that they will get a referral bonus. Think of it this way, if you know 100 people, and most are in full time jobs, they hear about many more contract opportunities than you do on a daily basis. But they aren’t motivated to share those, and they have nowhere to post them to anyway! PDXICons satisfies both those needs. And if we get enough critical mass, employers will post to PDXICons directly and those will have reduced the referral fee.
What if I’m not interested in a referral fee?
As an independent, if you aren’t interested in receiving a referral fee, and you just want to post a lead within the group directly too, that’s fine. Just post it up in the “jobs” section of the PDXICons group on linkedin. It will help us all build the community of consultants. The main bulk of the potential leads will probably come “in the front door” from employers and our friends and network who are in full time positions. If you do want a referral fee, email the lead to admin @ pdxicons . com and we’ll take care of posting and tracking it for you, and ultimately helping get the referral bonus to you.
How much is the referral fee?
If you are successful in winning the contract or consulting engagement that a referrer brought in, you are on the hook for 5% of your first month’s fees or fix price, but not to exceed $1,000. Contrast that to paying on average 30% to 40% of your monthly fees to a staffing agency, for the entire duration of the contract, and you can see that both you and the employer have a lot of margin to benefit. Of that 5%, 3.5% goes to the referrer, and 1.5% goes to PDXIcons to cover administration and operation.
Doesn’t this hurt the staffing agencies?
No. Staffing agencies that offer real value to employers in screening services, value placements, and search services will not be affected at all. And agencies doing full time placements aren’t affected either. Agencies that offer the contractor health benefits, etc, will still be in business. Consider that staffing agencies also take care of the billing and cashflow issues for you too. If those things are important to you, then do please continue to give your preferred agent 35% of your chargeable income. If you are truly independent, you know that leaning on a staffing agency costs you significantly. You need to weigh the risks, cashflow, and rewards. PDXICons can help remove the issues to do with finding business. It can’t help with the tail end of you doing work, and invoicing and collections.
What about Recruiters or Staffing Agency postings?
We’ll post some of those, but only as a courtesy, and only if the current pool of opportunities is low. The contractor/consultant is already paying a large percentage to an agent. And an agent offers value usually for that fee. PDXICons wont pay referral bonuses to referrers on those. You probably already get a referral bonus from the agent if they place someone who you refer to them. Right now, while the site is trying to get up and going, and get a critical mass, we’ll probably accept referrals for recruiter postings.
Couldn’t I game the system?
You could, as it’s an honor based system. If you win business based on a referral at PDXICons, we’d expect you to declare so, and we’d start the invoice process. We track all the referral opportunities going through. But we can’t track who wins opportunities. But if the group finds out that you’ve not declared a win, you’ll be ejected from the group and unable to participate in future news about opportunities.
If I am a member as an independent, can I still post referrals?
Absolutely. See above on doing it yourself within the group if you are not interested in a referral, or if you do want a referral bonus, email your lead to admin @ pdxicons . com and we’ll take care of it all.
How do I join?
Go to LinkedIn.com and join the PDXICons group. Once you’ve been approved to join as an independent contractor or consultant, you’ll be able to see all the postings for current opportunities.
Why LinkedIn?
Because its an easy place to post opportunities, and keep it private. We will only accept members who are able to contract or consult as an independent. And we can have other discussions that are relevant to independents, such as tax advice, professional liability insurance, and a host of other fun things that we need to care of.
How do I send in referral opportunities?
Simply email the details to admin @ pdxicons . com. You should include all contact, location, and opportunity description info that you can . If we think its not enough to post, we’ll get in touch with you and request more info. Do NOT send in opportunities that are open through staffing agencies! We won’t post them. Do not send in full time employment opportunities, we won’t post them.
How would I get paid for a referral?
If you have a paypal or an amazon account, settlement is trivial. Else we’ll do it by the time honored tradition of a check in the mail. Once the successful consultant has won a bid, we’ll let you know. and we’ll invoice the consultant for the agreed amounts. As soon as that is settled, we’ll forward you the referral bonus. It is an honor system, but it is in everyone’s interests to help make it work.
How do I pay once I’ve won a job?
We’ll verify with you the details of the referral and issue you an invoice for the appropriate amount. If you have a paypal or amazon account, we’ll let you know where to send the referral fee. Else we’ll expect a check in the mail. We’ll take care of forwarding to the referrer.
What if I don’t have my own company?
First, you must be able to invoice independently, or have the employer take you on as a 1099. PDXICons is not set up to invoice on your behalf, nor take on your Professional Liability/Errors & Omissions insurance at this time. If you are at all unsure about this, you probably should stick with using staffing agencies or stay in full time employment. If you’d really like to go freelance, and want to join to network and discuss things, drop us a line to that effect when you go to linkedin to join the group.