Oscar Trelles

Unemployed (Going Corporate)

Reading some other members of the community share their misfortunes regarding business, I thought I would share my story too. Well, it’s not like I was an actual employee anyway. For the last year I’ve been working for this company, and although I was the lead Flash developer, I still billed them as a freelancer, as they contracted me on a per-project basis, which was great as I had the freedom I needed to pursue my own interests, on the side.

But the loads of work we were having during the last few months made me work almost like a full-time employee, in terms of time spent with them at their offices. Things were goes so great and I was so busy, I stopped looking elsewhere for jobs, as I was being provided with all the work I needed. Then, last week I received a call from one of the partners, he told me that the company is being closed, because of some differences between the partners regarding the management of the company. Lesson learned: never stop looking elsewhere.

My closest friends and the guys that got my card at MXDU know that I was planning going corporate in the near future, as a matter of fact, I incorporated my company last year and started billing through it since January of this year. It was nowhere in my plans to start operating on my own this soon, but that’s what I decided to do under the current circumstances.

So, while I’m still doing business with one of the partners of the company I was working for, I’m taking advantage of the low work level and already started re-conditioning my home-office (read: my office space is taking over my living room), preparing material for the company’s website and architecting a business plan. Seems like my education in business management will pay off after all

Going on your own is so exciting as it is scary, and paying yourself from your own money is not funny at all. Most probably the next few weeks will be as quiet as the past two around here, but I’ll make sure to share with you whatever I find valuable.