Author: kimkavin

I've been a full-time, freelance journalist since 2003. My main area of expertise is the global yacht charter industry. I also write regularly about my personal passion of dog rescue.
Online ESL Teacher

Lisa Rosenhouse

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I am a New Jersey state-licensed teacher who, after having my three children, wanted to find a work/home life balance, maintain autonomy and provide for my family finically.

I found all of that by working online, teaching English as a second language to students in China. I love this work. I get to use both of my degrees (undergrad in anthropology, and a master’s in childhood education). I set my own hours and schedules. The income lets me provide for my family and helped us to purchase our own house.

Without my income, my family would have to look into social welfare programs and possibly even sell our house.

Online ESL Teacher

Katie Yaniak

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Hours before I’d truly like to wake up, and while my family is still comfortably (and quietly!) sleeping, my feet hit the floor with a few minutes until class time. As an online teacher of English as a second language, I have students in a completely different time zone. That means that I am able to get most of my day’s work finished before my family begins to stir. I work for three hours each morning, six days a week.

I then spend the rest of the day homeschooling my four children and running our household. Being an independent contractor enables me to be home with my children without sacrificing financial stability. It lets me take them to their extracurricular activities and see their performances. It means I don’t have to call out of work when a child is sick and needs me to stay home.

Why I want to remain an independent contractor: There is no job more perfectly suited to what my family needs than what I have at this very moment. There are no benefits that a full-time job would offer me that would outweigh the benefits I already have.

Protecting truly misclassified workers is commendable. Taking away the freedoms of the majority of others who are not misclassified is not the way to do it. This is not a simple, square peg in a square hole issue.

Editor, Writer

Diane M. Byrne

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I’m the owner of RedHedInk LLC, which provides freelance writing and editing services. Magazines and websites hire me to write and edit based on my more than 20 years of experience, and I commission freelance articles and other freelance content for another company, Superyacht Storytellers LLC, which I co-own.

Why I want to remain an independent contractor: It affords me the freedom (including financial freedom) that I did not have in the corporate world. I left my job as a full-time magazine staff editor in August 2008. Less than one month later, that same magazine eliminated one-third of the editorial staff, including the editor who had taken my place, in a cost-cutting move. That would have been me if I had stayed, and given that the recession was just starting to take hold, decimating newsrooms and magazine offices, it would have been challenging at best to find a full-time replacement job. As a freelancer, I have a rotating roster of clients who actually make me feel more financially secure than I would back in the full-time workforce.

Furthermore, as an independent business owner and co-owner, I rely on independent contractors to provide writing, photography, website design, troubleshooting and graphic design services, among others. My businesses do not require rosters of full-time employees, nor can they afford to bring on full-time employees.

Lawmakers who want to reclassify me need to realize: You are not only about to destroy the careers and personal lives of those of us who choose to be independent contractors, but you also are acting in complete ignorance of common sense. The federal government, via the IRS, has had a longstanding checklist to use in evaluating who’s an employee and who’s an independent contractor. New Jersey should be using it too.

Online ESL Teacher

Amanda Fredericks

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I love my job teaching English as a second language online with VIPKid. It has allowed me to connect with children across the world, build strong relationships with people of other cultures, and give me a sense of pride and confidence about my teaching abilities. I would be devastated to lose this job.

Believe me, I know that it’s not for everybody. I wake up at 4 a.m. and teach from 4:30 a.m. until 8 am. I work Monday through Saturday, and I often work Friday or Saturday nights from 7:30 p.m. until 10 p.m. For me, it’s a great situation. It pays well and allows me to homeschool my children.

My family needs my income to make ends meet. I am grateful for my income. I am happy to be an independent contractor. I do not need health benefits, insurance or overtime. My family is covered through my husband’s insurance.

What I want lawmakers to know: Leave those of us who choose to be independent contractors alone. I am a taxpaying and hard-working citizen.

Creative director, Direct response copy writer

Donna Doyle

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I have been freelancing for 20 years. I’m a direct response copy writer and creative director, which means that I work on email campaigns, landing pages, blog posts, direct mail sales letters and website copy. My clients are companies in the natural health and vitamin industry.

My favorite part of being an independent contractor is the versatility. My career not only pays me quite well, but it also allowed me to work at home and be around to raise my daughter. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Please respect my many years of hard work: I have spent 20 years building up my client base. I do not want to see my hard-earned income and career suffer because lawmakers don’t understand how independent contractors work. That’s what is currently happening in California.

I’m a success story. Please don’t turn my life into a tragedy.

Band leader, Musician

Bradley Madsen

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As a musician and band leader, sometimes I have no gigs, but will be contracting musicians for upcoming work. Other times, I have multiple gigs at various sites in the tristate area (my record is four gigs in one day, leaving before 7 a.m. and returning at 2 a.m.).

Why I like being an independent contractor: I can make a living playing. There are very, very few organizations that have the amount of work necessary to employ a musician full-time. The vast majority of highly successful music companies have enough work to employ musicians part-time. If I were employed by one office exclusively, I’d be working part-time, and not enough to qualify for any sort of health and retirement benefits.

What I want lawmakers to know: You need to talk to lots of people in lots of industries that consist of mostly independent contractors to understand why they want to be independent contractors.

I’ve built my entire life and career around being an independent contractor. Don’t devastate my livelihood.

Writer

Laurie Tarkan

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I’m a longtime freelance journalist who has written regularly for The New York Times, many women’s and consumer magazines, and tons of websites. I became a freelance writer because most magazine articles were outsourced to freelancers rather than being written in-house by employees. When my kids were born, writing as a freelancer became a perfect way to balance work and family while reducing child-care costs.

One of my children has suffered from chronic migraines, and it has been extremely helpful for me to be available at home during the day. She had to miss many, many days of school, and it would have been hard to manage that situation had I been working in New York City at a full-time job.

Having been out of the traditional workplace for many years, it would be incredibly difficult for me to get an on-staff job. I know because I’ve tried. Employers are afraid to take a risk on hiring a freelancer, despite my depth of experience. And I wouldn’t want a staff job anyway: The ones that are available pay only about two-thirds of my current income as an independent contractor.

I am a divorced mother of two children, with one in college and the other soon to be in college, and there is no way that I could support our financial needs without my work.

What I want lawmakers trying to misclassify me to know: You are hurting older women, single women, and those caring for children. You are failing to recognize that these types of laws hurt small business owners who spent a lifetime building a reputation and a business, and who are choosing to bank on themselves to succeed.

What you are doing to freelance journalists is akin to closing a well-known, successful restaurant and telling the owner to go get a job somewhere else.

Writer

Lisa Fields

kimkavin

I’m a freelance writer who focuses on health, nutrition, fitness and psychology content. I’ve done this work for more than 13 years. I write articles for traditional journalistic publications, as well as related content for companies. I start my day a little before 9 a.m., after my son gets on the school bus, and I work until 3 p.m., when my daughter gets home from school. I then spend some time with my kids (driving them to activities, helping them with homework) and work a few more hours in the evening, after they go to bed.

Why I want to remain an independent contractor: I’m a single mom, and the freelance lifestyle allows me to be present for my children. I can write at noon or midnight, and nobody cares as long as I meet my deadlines (which I always do).

My career choice has recently been lumped in with the gig economy, the buzzy term that’s been used to describe anyone who does work as an independent contractor. But my career predates all of the current buzz about side hustles and gig workers. It’s a model that works for me and allows me to single-handedly support my household.

What I want lawmakers to know: I’ve worked hard to establish myself during the past decade-plus, and I am well regarded in my field. It would be tragic if I were forced to abandon my business model.

Executive, leadership and life coach

Julie Ketover

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I chose the entrepreneurial path after many years of working in the legal industry, as a lawyer and business professional. After having my second child, I grew weary of my full-time corporate job and began to think about ways in which I could do work I loved, make money and balance the demands of parenting and maintaining a household.

Gradually, I shed the remaining vestiges of legal work. Today, I am an executive, leadership and life coach. In the past six months, I have worked on my own business-building efforts in my private practice and have taken on independent contractor work with multiple employers.

I relish the flexibility of this professional path I’ve chosen. It enables me to make my own schedule, take care of my children and be there for them as they grow up. It also allows me not to be solely responsible for client generation.

What lawmakers need to know: I choose to work as an independent contractor. Many of us choose the freelance path for personal reasons. We want to be independent contractors. Many of us are working moms.

Online ESL Teacher

Kelly McCrea

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Several years ago, my husband lost a job he had held for 12 years. To help provide for our family, I began teaching 4- to 16-year-olds how to speak English through an online platform called VIPKid. I make my own hours, which means I can work in the very early mornings, leaving the rest of the day to focus, with my husband, on our other home-based business of online resale. I’m earning decent money, and I have the freedom to be a mom to my large family.

My online teaching income kept food on our table and gave me the opportunity to grow into a career field that I’m passionate about.

What I want lawmakers to know: I am not exploited. Please don’t make it even harder on us to live and work here.