Welcome back! If you haven’t read the first article, “1MAC’s first 3 of 7 Questions to Ask Yourself…“, feel free to view it in app from your educational section free of charge. If you haven’t signed up yet, go sign up here for free anesthesia business content, and the ability to connect, collaborate, negotiate and contract like never before!
Let’s jump right into the final 4 things you’ll need to ask yourself prior to going full-time freelance 1099!
4. Are you flexible?
Working in multiple different environments and not getting to settle in one place is the life of a true locum provider who is not a full-time 1099 with a facility or group. You must be a strong and flexible anesthesia provider to step into different facilities and do it like a boss! This can be intimidating at first, but I found that it really became fun, and I started to become a stronger provider. Many providers enjoy this consistent change of scenery and not getting involved in the facility politics. I have stayed at one facility for over a year doing 1099 work and have placed other providers in one place for years. I’ve seen the other end of the spectrum as well and have watched providers jump to as many as five different facilities in a week.
So, are you willing to be flexible? Can you work in multiple different environments? Can you get along well with others? You will have to be able to do the following:
- Meet and get along with new people constantly, i.e., play personality judo
- Navigate new facilities fast and efficiently. (This gets easier)
- Take whatever new places and new people throw at you with a smile. (Remember you’re the well paid hired gun)
5. Are you willing to WORK for the big bucks?
Like we’ve said, it’s not all rainbows and butterflies as some may think. Most of the time as a 1099 locums or 1099 PRN provider the facilities are going to use you to the max and want you to work most of your shift. Some, not all facilities, will also put you in the rooms that most of their full-time employees don’t want to run. These are some of the first things I noticed when I took my first locums’ gigs. I was no longer in the peck/waterfall pool. Most days I worked my full shifts. A lot of the times I ended up in places like GI. Remember that you are a well paid hired gun, and a lot of places will treat you as such. This may sound bad, but is it? You lose some of the stress you really didn’t need in the first place. You no longer worry about when someone is coming to get you out, and if they don’t the dollars are racking up. You know you are there for your shift, you will make great money, and most of the time don’t have the inconsistency of schedule and call shifts to worry about. You will also have more cash in your pocket to boot. I’d say thats a pretty good exchange!
If you want to make the BIG BUCKS… its no fuss, no muss, no coconuts, and you can take that to the bank!
6. Are you comfortable dealing with the unknown?
You may be first on the chopping block when they hire that less expensive W-2. With higher risks come higher rewards and that’s why you “should” be getting paid so much more. Because you must deal with the unknown you also need to get paid a heck of a lot more. So if you ever get chopped you’re in a good position to bide time until the next contract and maybe just take a little vacation. However, this is more of a reality of “locums work” where you can make really BIG money, than necessarily “1099 work”. I know plenty of people who set up a few different 1099 PRN gigs and are constantly filling needs. Random days off , vacation, turnover, maternity leave and more tends to just keeping coming up. Just be aware that those PRN/1099 gigs may not be where the big money is at unless you go through and agency. You will most likely be able to negotiate the best deal by taking locum contracts and guaranteeing the hospital full-time work for a specified amount of time. That’s the cool thing about going freelance… you get to decide.
7. Are you good at staying organized?
Managing your own professional information, insurances, and benefits can be a lot if you don’t possess some type of organizational skills. But I promise you don’t have to be some organizational guru. If you made it through anesthesia school, we’re pretty sure you got this! Here’s the list we talked about earlier in this article series:
- Your own credentialing
- Your own insurances
- Corporate setup
- Understanding contracts
- Finding work
- Budgeting finances
- Navigating taxes
- Setting up your retirement
It looks like a lot at first glance, but knowing where to start, how to start, and the order of steps to take can really help! You are going to need to stay organized to keep up with multiple professional documents, insurances, and benefits. But, there are proven techniques and recipes for success and many have gone before you. Look at this as a front loaded work load. Once you have it and you team in place to manage it, it can be set on autopilot. So are you the kind of person who can stay organized? 1MAC was developed to empower you by guiding you through the journey and being a tool for successfully navigating this landscape. These questions were just to get you thinking. We’ve been there, we’ve done this, and we’ve got the the answers you’re looking for. You can find educational content in-app organized in the correct order to set you up for success!
Final thoughts…
That’s just a glimpse at what you’ll deal with and who you’ll need to be to make it as a full-time freelance 1099 anesthesia provider. What do you think? It’s not all rainbows and butterflies, and we would be lying if we said it was. If you are the kind of person that doesn’t like change, enjoys going to the same place with the same people day in and day out, enjoys early outs, and really just wants a home… this may not be your cup of tea, and that’s ok. But, there are some really great things about it, such as stocking away huge piles of money, paying less in taxes, determining your own schedule, and being your own boss. You will sacrifice some comfort, fluff, and security, but done correctly the rewards can be tremendous and retirement can be that much closer!
Thanks for viewing this content. We hope it gave you a little insight into the things you’ll have to deal with and the type of person you’ll have to be to go full-time 1099. If you haven’t yet, make sure you download the app, sign up for a free 1MAC account and head over to the next bit of content, “The Big 3 to Prepare Prior to Going Full-time 1099 Anesthesia Provider”, to find out what you can do first to get started safely. This is 1MAC… 1 App, built for 1 profession, with 1 goal… to educate, empower, and enable anesthesia providers to connect, collaborate, negotiate, and contract like never before!
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