freelance management

7/27/2019 Freelance Management

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8/12/13 Fr eelance Manag ement Consul ting Posi tions - Fr eelance Consul ting Wor k for Independent Contr actor s - Astute D il ig ence - Chicag o, Il linois

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August 12, 113

We've attempted toanswer many questionsyou might have aboutour affiliate program.

Mission | Value | Method | Clients | People | Press | Resources | Careers

Interested in freelance management consulting work for independent contractors?

Working as an affiliated consultant for Astute Diligence can be a great way to applythe skills and expertise that you've acquired over the years to interesting duediligence and management consultin g projects. Here, we've attempted to answ ermany questions you might have about our affiliate program.

Will I be an employee o f Astute Diligence?

Why should I want to be an affilia ted professional for Astute Diligence?

Will I be paid on an hourly or flat fee basis?How much should I charge you?

Can Astute Diligence guarantee me a certain amount of work per year?

Must I work exclusively for Astute Diligence?

Will you pay for my expenses?

Will you provide me with a computer?

Will you oversee and control my work?

Do I need to work at Astute Diligence' offices?

Are there certain hours that I need to work?

Will I receive health insurance, sick leave, pension benefits and paid vacation?

Will you just pay me or do I need to submit an invoice?

Will I receive any training?

Will you promote me on your Web Site?

Will you withhold taxes for me?

Pick a Page!
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Should I incorporate or otherwise form my own legal structure?

Can I subcontract my work to others?

Can I voluntarily become an employee of Astute Diligence?

Is it ever the case that I will qualify for employee status automatically?

Are these your final answers?

Will I be an employee of Astute Diligence? back to top

No. Should we mutually decide that you are to serve as an affiliated professional of Astute Diligence, you will be retained as an independent contractor or vendor, andnot as an employee of Astute Diligence or its customers. As an independentcontractor, you will enter into an Independent Contractor Master Agreement (the

Agreement) tha t will de fine ou r relatio nsh ip and the t erms an d cond itions unde rwhich we will do business in detail. If you have formed a company through suchmeans as incorporation, you will simply be a vendor of ours and we will define ourrelationship and the terms a nd conditions under w hich we will do business through aMaster Services Agreement (also the Agreement).

Why should I want to be an affiliated professional for Astute Diligence? back totop

Affiliating with Astute Diligence gives you incremental exposure in the marketplace toour pow erful netwo rk of contacts. More importantly, it is incremental business for youbecause we will periodically engage you to conduct services for us and willcompensate you accordingly.

Will I be paid on an hourly or flat fee basis? back to top

Either. In some cases, you will be paid an hourly rate that we mutually agree to. Inother instances, we will mutually agree to a flat fee arrangement. This will be definedin the Wo rk Definition of our Agreement.

How much should I charge you? back to top

As an independent contractor or vendor, you determine your own rates. If you arenew to being an independent contractor, you should be aw are that independentcontractors incur various costs that might not otherwise be incurred if they wereemployees. You should price your offerings with these costs in mind to be sure thatyou are no t surprised by the m later. At the sa me time, if you price your offerings toohigh, we may decide that you are too expensive for us.

Can Astute Diligence guarantee me a certain amount of work per year? back totop
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No. We utilize independent contractors and other vendors only on an a s-neededbasis. We cannot predict the specific nature of the work we will be doing for ourclients. Moreover, typically we only engage independent contractors or other vendorswhen special skills are required that we do not have access to internally from our full-time professiona ls. Accordingly, it is likely that we will call upon you for your s ervicesonly on a spo radic basis and we therefore cannot make such guarantees.

Must I work exclusively for Astute Diligence? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor, you may offer your services to anyprospective client you wish to. We e ncourage you to do so because we are not ableto gua rantee initial or continued us e of your se rvices. You may also w ork for multipleclients s imultaneous ly if you like. Our concern w ill be tha t there is no degrad ation inthe quality of your work for us because your resources are over-committed.

Will you pay for my expenses? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor to us, you are in effect an entrepreneurwho is responsible for his or her ow n business, its expenses, and its ability togenerate profits or losses. The only expenses that we will reimburse you for, subjectto the terms o f our Agreement, are those that are d irectly asso ciated w ith the wo rkyou do on our behalf or on behalf of our customers.

Will you provide me with a computer? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor, you are responsible for all of the toolsand materials you ne ed in order to provide your se rvices to us and your othercustomers.

Will you oversee and control my work? back to top

No. You are responsible for your own work, including methods used and sequencingof work steps. However, we will on occasion provided detailed high-level guidelines orspecifications indicating what it is that you need to do for us. We also reserve theright to accept or reject your work, to provide feedback on your work, and to edityour work prior to our presenting it to an Astute Diligence customer.

Do I need to work at Astute Diligence' offices? back to top

No. You do not need to w ork at our offices, nor do you need to work at the offices of our customers. As an independent contractor or vendor, you may choose where youwish to perform your services. However, part of your work with us may require thatyou occasiona lly visit our facilities or thos e of ou r customers for periodic meetings .

Are there certain hours that I need to work? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor, you set your own hours. Our concern is
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simply that any deliverables you prepare for us are delivered to us in a timely mannerand that your schedule does not negatively impact our service levels to ourcustomers.

Will I receive health insurance, sick leave, and paid vacation? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor, benefits are your responsibility and youshould structure your work so as to afford the benefits you need. Anyone classifiedby the company as an independent contractor is excluded from benefits planparticipation. Based on local, state, or federal laws, certain independent contractors

may need to be re-classified by us as employees, in which case such benefits will bemade available to them on a go-forward ba sis. In addition, we recognize that healthinsurance is an important issue for independent contractors and we are investigatingvarious referral mechanisms that will allow you to find good coverage, as well as thecontingent poss ibility that w e may be able to offer benefits to independentcontractors directly in the future.

Will you just pay me or do I need to submit an invoice? back to top

You need to submit an invoice to us in accordance with the terms of our Agreement.

Will I receive any training? back to top

No. As an independent contractor, you are responsible for your own ongoing trainingefforts. Presumably, we are contracting you because you a lready know what we needyou to know and are a n expert in that field.

Will you promote me on your Web Site? back to top

Yes. In addition to many other factors, our ability to attract business may be helpedby our client's learning that we have formed a contractual relationship with you.Accordingly, part of our Agreement gives us permission to po st your information onour Web Site under an affiliated professional des ignation for as long as theAgreement is in effect.

Will you withhold taxes for me? back to top

No. As an independent contractor or vendor, taxes and any necessary withholdingare your responsibility. Penalties can apply if you do not withhold on a timely basis.You should also be a ware that as an independent contractor, you will bearrespo nsibility for incremental obligations such as Me dicare and Social Security that areotherwise split between employer and employee. This will typically result in anincremental 7.5% tax on your total revenues and you should price your offeringsaccordingly. Consult with a tax professional for full details.

Should I incorporate or otherwise form my own legal structure? back to top

This is of course your own decision and you should seek the advise of your own
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counsel on this issue. For a variety of reasons, we prefer to work with affiliates thathave formed a leg al structure of so me kind. More importantly, there are a number of bene fits to your doing s o, not the lea st of w hich is limited liability.

Can I subcontract my work to others? back to top

Yes. As an independent contractor, you may employ or otherw ise engage others toass ist you in conducting your work. Our concern is simply that any d eliverables youprepare for us are of the highest quality level possible.

Can I voluntarily become an employee of Astute Diligence? back to topYes. We advertise our full-time employee positions on our Web Site in the CareerOppo rtunities section. You sho uld feel free to apply for full-time e mployment. Inaddition, should you work with us a s independent contractor now and choose, atsome da te in the future, to convert to full-time employment, we w ill consider you foran employee position along with all other applicants.

Is it ever the case that I will qualify for employee status automatically? back totop

Yes, various regulations and laws may require that we convert you over to employeestatus if you should fail to meet the requirements of being an independent contractor.It is our intention to b e in full compliance with these laws and, accordingly, we mayconvert you to employee sta tus after discussing it w ith you. As these laws change orare clarified, our po licies may change o ver time to fully comply with thes e law s.

Are these your final answers? back to top

No, Regis. We reserve the right to change the answ ers to these q uestions at anytime based on new policies or new information.

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