Thanks! I believe it had mostly to do with the fact she really want her deck done asap, as she has a granddaughter, toddler, that needs more space to run around closer to nature in a safe space. So that was my leverage. That's pretty much the same leverage I'm using to negotiate new terms, without much emotional investment in the outcome. She gave me a day on my own after I got paid before texting something about when am I coming back, or does she have to find somebody else? This is the first thing I addressed in the renegotiation. Are you able to replace me? She admitted she had not found anybody and would prefer to keep me.
Back in business. I settled for 10% more wage, and 10% bonuses if something gets done within some estimate. Actually, the second part is too vague, and not worth tracking, and i told her so. It's not a measure of efficiency or assiduous work. Things get done by putting in hours, period, and i've only talked about 30 hours a week in season, which she seems OK with. She said she wished i would have just said, 'I want to be paid now'...whenever i wanted to be paid. I don't know about you, but this feels awkward, like begging for something that is owed. 'I want to be paid' sound better than 'I need to be paid', which i told her would never be a true statement, because i have savings. Still, picking random days to say, 'I want to be paid' is confrontational if it's not explicitly spelled out in some agreement, which it wasn't. Who doesn't want to be paid every day. Why not? The sooner it can get to your bitcoin (savings) account. Later, i'll find another way to get that other, extra 10%, for making hay while the sun shines. The method i'm thinking of is to get her to start a bitcoin account, deposit a weeks pay ahead of time, mark the time and price, give me all the upside, and let them take all the downside risk. The sooner they move funds to my side of the ledger, the sooner they can be rid of downside risk. This is worth what i wanted the other way. I'm also counting my blessings, and valuing the amenities and conveniences i have while working in this situation. I don't have to drive anywhere, Wi-Fi, flexible hours, work indoors on bad weather days, and home-cooked meals. It all adds up. and those were priced into our negotiation. So there's no hidden charges with these. Oh, and i've set up a calendar on the wall with dates, colored green for pay dates...every five days. There's an envelope to put the check into. And she'll be checking off the hours i write there every day. With assurances she has funding to do everything she has talked about, i now feel better about the situation. That terrible feeling is at normal levels now. It was very touch and go up until today.
Not sure what you mean. The downside depends on how much in wages i risk, be it a day, a week, or two months. Contractors typically risk a little more than employees do, with approximately the same legal system to fall back on. At this point, it's crystal clear, i'm not risking more than a week, and am starting with five days, marked on a calendar. In theory, i have lien law on my side, for what its worth. It only insures property cant be sold till debts are cleared up. Have not heard of employees leveraging this option too much. Having been a contractor, bidding on jobs, i don't feel any more "controlled" as i did then. You still have clients, and you still have to make them happy, usually by getting things done in a reasonable amount of time. Like a contractor, i don't have a lot of job security, other than making people happy. Theoretically, there is a lot of work ahead for this client, if happy, and able to pay. I risked that relationship, having gone on strike, for reasons she may think could have been solved another way, such as, 'i want to be paid now'. I have never, actually, heard of an employee who has to pick random days to say, 'i want to be paid now'. Basically, that's what an "invoice" is. I think the need to invoice puts me in the realm of contractors. But even as a contractor, most invoices are documented on paper and sent through proper channels. I assumed EMAIL was a good channel to send a PDF document that she could print out. Turns out that's a big black hole for this client. TEXT to phone, plus actual VOICE would have been better. Finally, i had to tell her, up front, when, and how and how often i intend to invoice. I risked the longevity of this job to do it.