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I absolutely agree. Setting up an LLC runs more like $800 – $1,000 and thats without the CPA – just legal fees – speaking from a place of having done it less than a month ago.
Sole proprietor you just have to register with the state and file state taxes, the federal taxes can be paid once a year on your regular tax form or you can set up quarterly…[Read more]

If you work as a contractor or consultant, be prepared to receive 1099’s in the mail come January. The 1099 is the kind of like a W2 in which the contractee files with the gubmint that they paid you, the contractor, that year. You then use the 1099 to report your income, like a W2. The tax software will tell you where to put this info, usually in…[Read more]

I also add the entire Thanksgiving Address by theHaudenosaunee, and the Words that Come Before All Else.

Oh okay, that seems to make more sense for the amount of work I am bringing in right now.  I will need to look into the various ways I will be taxed.  Thank you very much for the help, it definitely takes some stress off of wading through this stuff alone.

Eric, the key phrase in your post is “If we can show ourselves to be experts at ….”. That is what we all need to do. The problem is that so many want the profession to do that for them as if it will then apply to all within the profession. They want someone to promote the profession so that they do not have to promote themselves. It is a very…[Read more]

A Sole Proprietor business is the easiest and cheapest to set up, for reporting taxes, and for dismantling. Unless you have a lot of assetts, I don’t know why you would want to complicate it. … if you use your own name, all you have to do is report your income unless you are collecting sales or service tax (we don’t have service tax in my…[Read more]

It is a Title Act now, but it looks to me like it will essentially remain a Title Act, although APLD and contractors seemed to be freaked out by it as if it does more. I can’t see that it limits anyone from doing anything or broadens what LAs can already do. It seems like both proposals are more about using politically correct gender neutral…[Read more]

Are they going from a title act to a practice act? Hard to understand what is changing?
 

They should be able to hire you as part time/temp and use you only when they need you. Thats what I do and usually I’m needed quite a bit. Yes, if you’re paying your own taxes and expenses you should have a rate probably well over $50/hour. That firm will bill you out as a regular employee at $65-85/hour most likely if not more.
 
BTW, if you…[Read more]

I believe that you’re taking a lot of extra time using your current methods. depending on which program you’re exporting (or if you aren’t including any interactive elements, printing) to .pdf to, you should have the option to adjust compression and exclude layers. If you intend your portfolio to be printed, then keep it at 150ppi and at the…[Read more]

“God made whales to be in the ocean, and God made camels to be in the desert, and He made man to be in the garden.  And everything we do should reflect that garden.”  Robert Marvin, FASLA
 
“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”
“It is the time you have devoted to the rose that makes the rose so important.”
Antoine de Sai…[Read more]

Thanks for the welcome Nick,
 
I have tried to talk a couple firms into hiring me as a part time employee which would be ideal, however they just aren’t bringing in enough work.  So I become their overflow work safety net.  Which is fine, just not very consistent.  According to your numbers I should also probably raise my fee a little, ha.  
 …[Read more]

I just finished reading this entire thread and, wow, talk about a ‘hot button’! It seems to me there are a couple of issues weaving through this. The first being Architects muscling in on our turf. And, second, who is the better designer. I agree with Dennis that we must all become better ambassadors of our profession. While practicing in…[Read more]

Daniel,
Mine was pretty simple – (I don’t have some of the fancy graphics that some of the other members have) – but I still think it reads OK.
I sketched out my layout first, to get the general concept. I picked the projects and images I wanted to use. I then edited the photos (JPG). I tried to keep the images as small as I could, but still be cl…[Read more]

I would do it. I set up an LLC last year and an LLC protects your personal finances. It keeps your personal income separate from your business. I did it for piece of mind. Plus it allows you to write things off during tax time. You can generate business expenses: travel, seminars, computer suppplies, travel, a portion of your dwelling that is…[Read more]

Welcome to the club Andy.
 
There are at least a few of us who are piecing several jobs/projects together.
 
With regard to your question I think it’s important to take into consideration how you get paid. If you’re hourly and filled out a W-4 with the employer, you’re an employee of the company and will have tax withheld. Their liability should c…[Read more]

Maybe a dumb question, but I am curious about it for a while, so how do you Guys usually compress your folios? Which method turned out to be the best? E.g. I usually make a png out of a single pdf and then create a pdf out of them! But sometime I can lose some quality.. Thank you for sharing! 

I willingly confess to so great a partiality for trees as tempts me to respect a man in exact proportion to his respect for them. ~James Russell Lowell