Winston and outsourcers like her often enjoy another benefit: the distinction of being somebody's "important" customer. Even small companies can become treasured accounts to a soloist. And Winston, for example, need not worry about being shunted around an organization or waiting for customer service to call back when she has a question or request. Within her stable of soloists, she's always dealing only with the boss.
Winston does, however, pay a premium for the savvy she purchases by contract. "The downside is definitely in the price. We couldn't afford to hire these soloists full-time even if we had the need." And while she doesn't extend benefits or a permanent welcome on her payroll, Winston acknowledges that she does subsidize the soloists' benefits and marketing costs through fees. "That's their cost of doing business. They're entitled to that." -- A.M.
THE FEAR OF FALLING
You're 58 years old, an expert in your field, a respected author, and a longtime employee of one of this century's premier companies, where job security was once considered as abundant and as certain as oxygen. You have spent your entire professional life at that company. You're a technical pro, with skills in programming, system architecture, and design. Your name is Bill Collier, and after 33 years at IBM, the unthinkable has just happened: you're history.
Welcome to the new economy.
Since that morning last March when Collier learned the bell would soon toll for him, he has run the gamut of emotions -- depression, anger, fear -- that buffet anyone enduring the loss of a job. His tenure at IBM had been served, until his last years, under the reliable shelter of the company's no-layoff practice. His expectations of how long he'd stay were unwavering: "I thought forever." Now, at 58, Collier says, "My view of myself as economically secure is shattered. And the world is a scarier place."
Going solo is "the riskiest thing I've ever done," according to this reluctant entrepreneur. "I feel I have no choice. People don't get hired into permanent jobs at my age. If I hope to have a job, I have to create one."
The business Collier launched from his basement, in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., just one month after leaving IBM, is Multiprocessor Diagnostics, a software concern that markets a test program for multiprocessors.
The first release of his product, Archtest, was rolled out last summer, but come fall, he had yet to make his first sale. He says if the orders don't start flowing soon, the financial pressure will hit full force. He'll have to try hourly consulting, or he may head overseas. "I hear about jobs in foreign lands and wonder if I don't have a responsibility to go there." He expects to exhaust his buyout in six months.
Some days he'd take his old job back in a nanosecond -- for the predictable paycheck, to see his old friends more often, to ensure that he doesn't face an impoverished old age, and so he can leave an inheritance to his kids. But the kids are telling him, Go for it. And the freedom, even if he didn't choose it, is giving him a crack at a dream he had almost forgotten.
"I'm finally being forced to do what I always wanted to do," he says. -- A.M.
ADVICE FOR THE SOLOIST
A sign of the times may be found in the cottage industry that's grown up around those who would counsel, support, and inform both novices and veterans in the solo market. Here's a sample of the information and services they offer:
Books: Working Solo, by Terri Lonier, Portico Press, 800-222-SOLO, 1994, $14.95.
Making It on Your Own, by Paul and Sarah Edwards, Jeremy P. Tarcher, 800-788-6262, 1991, $10.95. Also the title of an on-line newsletter published by the authors, available on CompuServe.
On-Line Information: Working from Home, a forum offered on CompuServe Information Service, an electronic network of several thousand home-based soloists. Features a library of newsletters and articles on an array of business and marketing issues. The cost is $8.95 a month, plus hourly fees.
Newsletters: "Working Solo," Portico Press, PO Box 190, New Paltz, NY 12561-0190; 914-255-7165. Published quarterly, beginning in January 1994. A trial subscription comes with the book Working Solo.
"National Home-Business Report," PO Box 2137, Naperville, IL 60567; 708-717-0488. The cost is $24 a year for four issues. A sample issue costs $7.
Organizations: Independent Workers Association, 448 Ignacio Blvd., Suite 214, Novato, CA 94949; 415-898-1580. A group of San Francisco Bay Area independents, open to nationwide membership at $65 a year.
National Association for the Self-Employed, 2121 Precinct Line Rd., Hurst, TX 76054; 817-589-2475. Operates a toll-free hot line, 800-232-NASE, and publishes a bimonthly newsletter titled "Self Employed America." The annual membership fee is $72.
National Association of Home-based Business, PO Box 30220, Baltimore, MD 21270; 410-363-3698. Provides workshops and offers a support service line. Publishes a quarterly newspaper, Home-based Business, available to members for $12.95 a year, to nonmembers for $14.95. Annual membership starts at $65.
