It's a dog eat dog world and business is business, but I just want to let off steam at the top of the windswept mountain overlooking Mumsnetland.
I provide a service that means I can only really work on Friday and Saturday. I do this because it fits in well with my small children.
I do home based admin for it during the week, and then the client-facing job itself at the weekend.
For each job, the going rate is about £350. So if I'm fully booked I can earn £700 per month. I'm never fully booked though, as there are quite a few competing for the work.
I would say I achieve 40 bookings per year.
However I have been doing it for six years and have never had less than a five star review, unlike many others. One person can deliver the service to one client at a time, it's not a set up and leave kind of job.
What I've found recently however is some competitors take on double, triple, quadruple bookings, and then farm out the work to others, subcontracting people like me whilst keeping a cut.
My gripe is that whilst it's legal, I don't think it's ethical. Work is drying up because of this and I am forced to accept the lower paid option and become a casual sub contractor, unable to use my own name and secure future work for me
Of course, I could refuse to take the work. But I need the work. A job I quoted on gets undercut by another guy and then he pays me a reduced rate to do the work. All the prep etc is done by me as well.
If everyone refused to do this kind of thing, perhaps it would stop. But if just me, the work will go to someone else, and I earn nothing.
I told myself it's better to work for some money than no money. It isn't really an option for me to go into another line of work.
And all the while the customers laugh and say "you must be raking it in!"