Send Me the Strategy
(The fourth-floor break room. Victor is waiting for the kettle, which takes four minutes and always has. Helen is eating yogurt standing up.)
Helen: I gave notice this morning.
Victor: You what?
Helen: Six weeks. Then I'm going independent.
Victor: Independent as in freelance? Doing what?
Helen: The same thing I do here. Just for more than one company.
Victor: Right. Okay. And you've thought about the tax.
Helen: I've thought about the tax.
Victor: Because nobody takes it out for you anymore. You put it in a separate account and you don't touch it. People forget, and then in January—
Helen: Victor. I've got a separate account.
Victor: Good. Good. And the quiet months? August is dead. December is dead.
Helen: I know.
Victor: And there's no sick pay. No holiday pay. If you break your ankle, that's an individual problem now, not a management problem.
Helen: I know what the risk is. I did the numbers for a year.
Victor: A year?
Helen: I've been doing the numbers for a year. That's how long it takes, if you do it properly.
Victor: And your rent? Sorry. That's none of my business.
Helen: It's fine. Six months of rent is sitting in that account. That was the rule I gave myself. If I couldn't do six months, I wasn't going.
Victor: Six months.
Helen: I'm not brave, Victor. I'm just slow.
Victor: Okay. So what's the strategy?
Helen: Two long clients, four small ones. The small ones pay late, but they pay. And I don't take anything I can't finish alone.
Victor: That's actually not bad.
Helen: Thanks.
Victor: Who's the first client?
Helen: This company.
Victor: Sorry?
Helen: They asked me on Tuesday. Same work, three days a week, and I set the rate.
Victor: They're paying you more to do less of the same job.
Helen: They're paying me more to do less of the same job, yes.
(Victor takes the kettle off and puts it back down without pouring anything.)
Victor: Helen.
Helen: Mm?
Victor: Send me the strategy.