Treadmills

Had a Sunday night catch-up with an Australian friend (currently) working for a big UK bank. We were discussing the political hue and cry over bankers' bonuses. She is facing a drop in anticipated income of about 40% (the 'mandatory' 10%* was gone and she reckons in other years she would have seen a discretionary portion of another 30%). Doesn't matter who you are a 40% decrease in expected earnings is pretty tough.

For a couple of years before taking her current position my friend had contracted to the same bank. As a contractor she had bonuses incorporated into her basic fee structure and was now ruing her decision to 'go in-house'.

Last night she was not-so idly contemplating a career change. An accomplished photographer she is thinking about a return to contracting but purely as a means to fund a more 'creative' lifestyle. An attractive proposition but by definition sea changes always are.

My question was this: -

How many contracts would you have to have under your belt before you felt you could decline one in favour of an unpaid photography project?

Obviously you have to take the first one to re-establish yourself as a contractor. And then the second one to 'prove' to the client that you're serious about this sort of work. That takes you through to Christmas and you'll most likely take time off then anyway, which may or may not mean opting out of a contract but without necessarily picking up a camera.

Hopefully my friend will have the discipline to get the balance right but there's every chance she'll be do no more than swap one treadmill for another.

* The logical inconsistency of a 'mandatory' bonus would be funny if it wasn't so indicative of a system shown to be so horribly flawed