Quitting full time job to start freelancing? (accountant, health insurance, taxes)

[Eye-duh-hoe]

I thought I would jump on here and ask others who have possibly done the same thing. Currently, I work in construction management for a general contractor who does a lot of large multi-family projects. I am also a freelance architectural drafter/designer on the side focusing mostly on single family home design. As of right now I could quit my full time job and easily double or triple my income. I have several clients who I've had to turn down because I can't keep up with the demand. One thing that worries me is that once the economy slows work could dry up, but then I realize the same could happen at my full time job. I am in the Denver metro and things here have been steady for a few years now. Is there a chance we could be hitting another housing bubble anytime soon? What is the best advice you could offer if you were in a similar situation?

Thanks!

[ocnjgirl]

It is a chance, for sure. I did this 2 years ago (I'm an O.T. who contracted myself to nursing homes as coverage for call outs, vacations, shortages, etc). There were benefits to it for sure, mostly flexibility of schedule, higher rate, and being able to deduct a lot more things...however....after a year of trying to treat my sciatica with chiropractic and P.T., I woke up one day in March unable to move, and now 4 epidurals later I am scheduled for surgery in about 3 weeks. So all told it will be about 6 months of not working! Because I was self-employed I do not get state disability. Thank God I bought a private disability policy years ago and opened a Roth IRA several years ago - money I put in can be taken out anytime without penalty). It's still difficult to cover everything (every doc appointment is a $50 deductible, every epidural was $250, etc etc.)

So if you are going to do this, have your own back...you must line up health insurance (I pay close to $600 a month for a pretty good Blue Cross policy, I made too much to qualify for a subsidy and bought it directly through Blue Cross, not the Marketplace) and also make sure you have both some sort of liquid savings for at least a few months expenses, and a disability policy.

I will say also make sure you save enough for taxes, and pay them quarterly. I hired an accountant and he would just tell me when and how much to pay, which is what I needed, lol.