Me Inc.

It's been an interesting few weeks.

I left my shiny new job in late February, but was promptly offered a contract position with one of the agencies I'd done some work for last September.

The interesting thing about being a contractor with the governmental organization I was with is that they only deal with a certain list of approved vendors. So I've signed up with one of them.

The question during the discussions I had with these contracting firms was - do I incorporate, or do I become a sole proprietorship?

My accountant was in favour of incorporation, as was one friend of mine. Others said sole proprietorship was fine. I was ambivalent because either choice would have been ok by me. That said, the contracting firms had a strong preference dealing with incorporated people (ok), but the clincher for me was that the CRA has been causing problems.

Specifically, the contracting firms like to keep the contractors busy - after all, they get a nice cut of every contract handed out, and the government hands out tons of them. This means that if you're in the right line of work, you can be employed continuously.

In steps the CRA. If you're working continuously care of EmploymentFirmA (EFA), then they can deem that you're a de facto employee of EFA. You can imagine the paperwork and tax headaches this can cause everyone. And has - some of the agencies won't deal with you unless you're incorporated.

So, welcome to Me Inc.

As I Please III

Time flies when you're having fun. I can't believe it's been five months since I last took the time to write something here. I've been living the curse of living in interesting times.

Life has been hectic and busy and I can't seem to catch up no matter how fast I run on the treadmill of life. Honestly, I'm finding it difficult to fathom how I completed a masters degree because if I were in school right now I'd probably undergo spontaneous combustion.

Ever since convocation I've been feeling like I need something to do, and so I've signed up for the WSET "Level 3 advanced certificate in wine and spirits", which I will likely follow up with their formal diploma in wine. Fifteen weeks, over 140 wines, all starting on March 31st.

I also took Foodsafe level 1 last weekend.

Life has me in a bit of a reactive mode at the moment. I'm working on getting my time under my control so that I can work towards my goals rather than have what I'm doing dictated to me. Wish me luck!