As I noted in my previous entry, I’m scaling back on my Heroic Technical Writing posts. That doesn’t mean work has stopped or I have nothing to say; I’m just trying to be a little more judicious about how often I share. It turns out that January was a rather active month, personally and professionally.

Work Status

I’d love to tell you that everything is sweetness and light in the world of HTW, but I try to keep things real here. In the spirit of “real,” I will share that after eight years of paying my bills primarily through a single customer contract, I was told that my contract will not be renewed beyond the end of March.

Obviously this was a big of a shock, and I have now shifted into overdrive seeking alternative sources of income. I would prefer to maintain my previous arrangements:

• Continue with self-employment
• Work from home
• Pay by monthly retainer
• Work as requested, which has usually been about half-time compared to a 40-hour-a-week job
• Bonus item: work in the space industry

Still: what will I do if that sort of employment is not available? Assuming my other, space -related customer does not have enough need for me to keep the roof over my head, I decided to make a list of alternatives, from most to least acceptable:

• Non-space work from home
• Space work in a local (Orlando-area) office
• Non-space work in a local office
• Space work in an office outside the Orlando area

I think it’s safe to say that I wouldn’t take a non-space job outside of Florida. Sometimes money is not enough. That said, I moved from the Washington, DC, area to Huntsville, Alabama 17 years ago because I was passionate about getting a space job, so who knows where I’ll end up? The goal at present is to stay here in the Sunshine State, but anything is possible.

How Else Does a Contractor Respond to Unemployment?

Personal Responses

The primary things I needed to do upon receiving this news were:

1. Don’t take it personally. In this case, my employer decided to move some training functions in-house.
2. Don’t panic! I was given a couple month’s notice to locate alternate employment, and my last paycheck will hit on my last day of work, so I’ll have through mid-April at worst to find alternate employment.
3. Take constructive action on my own behalf. Eight years ago, when I last found myself in this position, I let people know I was looking for work, and then, miraculously, work found me.

Find Quick Ways to Replace the Work I Had

The first thing I did was reach out to my existing network–former customers and employers–to see if they might have work for me, even if it’s short-term. I have one lead on temporary work so far, so that much is right with the world.

A few months in the contracting world can be a long time. Time enough to prospect or interview for more permanent work, take on regular, full-time employment, or even change careers.

This led me to consider another possible option…

Take Things to the Next Level

I’ve considered becoming a consultant, where I would advise companies on various aspects of their technical communications. This might take a while to establish, as I haven’t fully defined which companies might require advice on my type of work (proposals, strategic communication, responding to government reporting requirements). I have to ask myself:

• What sorts of problems am I particularly good at solving?
• Where do I add value?
• What sorts of things do I do easily that others struggle with?

These are the sorts of questions I’m starting to ask myself.*

Along this line of thought, I asked an engineer buddy if he’d be interested in starting a consulting business, which would make more sense because we have more skills combined than individually. That plan could go nowhere, or I might have something more interesting to report in March. Who knows?

That said, I’ll be busy on this end for the next few months.

(* And while I’m at it, I’m submitting a book version of the art-and-recreation-on-Mars paper to publishers.)

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