[consulting] RE : Getting Freelance Work

[fgm]

I don't know about your country, but here not having insurance means not being able to compete in RFPs, for instance (and yes, as an independant consultant, you /can/ succeed there, but it's another question), and a good number of companies just won't buy services for a non-insured supplier. And even if it were not, you really want to be covered, just in case.

And, as Matt said, insurance coverage is not expensive: it is normally proportional to the amount billed in the previous year, with a minimum rate, and should probably not be more than around 1/1.5k EUR for a freelancer. 

What might be a bit more difficult is obtaining a first contract if you have already been working without one, because such contracts normally grandfather preexisting risks, and insurance companies are wary of this if the previous work was never insured in the first place.

________________________________________
De : consulting-bounces at drupal.org [consulting-bounces at drupal.org] de la part de Kevin Davison [kevin at quevin.com]
Date d'envoi : mardi 1 juin 2010 19:27
À : A list for Drupal consultants and Drupal service/hosting providers
Objet : Re: [consulting] Getting Freelance Work

Matt, I'm interested in your recommendation for an insurance agent.

Last year I had some trouble with Cisco because I didn't have insurance (for $1M), and ended up having to go through an agency of theirs to cover me.

Thanks!

On Jun 1, 2010, at 10:22 AM, Matt Chapman wrote:

> On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 7:20 AM, Sam Polenta <sam.polenta at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I did recently have a
>> "done deal" with a University but then the "powers that be" over there
>> demanded that I produce some kind of professional insurance. As a
>> freelancer! I told them I don't have and it doesn't make financial
>> sense to get it. My contact said he would *try* talk to his bosses and
>> see if he could work it out.
>>
>> Is that not weird?
>
>
> I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice.
>
> If you don't have technical errors & omission insurance, you're just
> asking for it. Eventually, you or someone you hired is going to make a
> mistake, and some blow hard is gonna cite that for the reason for the
> 2 day launch delay that somehow cost their company a $100,000 deal,
> and you're gonna have a lawsuit on your hands.
>
> You can probably get a half million dollars in coverage for less than
> a thousand bucks a year. Seems worth it to me. And I have yet to be
> threatened with a lawsuit, or make any mistakes that would lead to
> one, but client's like to know you have these things in place. IMO,
> that's reasonable.
>
> Let me know if you want a referral to my insurance agent.
>
> All the Best,
>
> Matt Chapman
> Ninjitsu Web Development
>
> --
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