Hi Kim, lifelong WV resident and 20+ year freelancer here, and I was today years old when I learned Tim Pool was in WV.
As much as I unequivocally and wholeheartedly support the rights of independent contractors (obviously) I'm not quite sure I understand what the rage is about here. A WV business license is $25 a year, and you don't have to be "a corporation" as Tim claims in the video. Sole proprietor is an option, as is single-member LLC (which is what I am). I started my business with the help of the WV Small Business Development Center (and served on their business advisory board for years) and neither my intent, nor my structure ever raised any alarms.
None of this seems outrageous to me. Am I missing something here? It feels like either Tim misunderstands the requirements or is being intentionally harassed.
It sounds to me like he is dealing with some kind of regulatory action coming at him from the state. As you point out, we don't know the details of that, which is why I wrote about it the way that I did. He has a really big audience, and a lot of people heard him talking about the IC issue and sent me the link, so I wanted to address his episode for that reason.
The thing I know for sure is what I did my best to focus on in this piece: His rage is real, just like the rage everyone else feels when they realize the government is monkeying in any way at all with the freedom to earn a living.
Hopefully, the information I provided about things people can call lawmakers about right now will give his listeners and others an effective way to channel that broader anger into action.
Hi!! It does seem like there must be some underlying issue we don't know about. Like you, I'm glad he's bringing this issue to such a large audience. I just hate to see him throwing WV under the bus with potentially misleading information. We have enough problems—we don't need any more! :) Especially since, in my experience, the environment here is quite good for independent contractors. Business licenses are cheap, cost of living is low, etc.
Hi Kim, lifelong WV resident and 20+ year freelancer here, and I was today years old when I learned Tim Pool was in WV.
As much as I unequivocally and wholeheartedly support the rights of independent contractors (obviously) I'm not quite sure I understand what the rage is about here. A WV business license is $25 a year, and you don't have to be "a corporation" as Tim claims in the video. Sole proprietor is an option, as is single-member LLC (which is what I am). I started my business with the help of the WV Small Business Development Center (and served on their business advisory board for years) and neither my intent, nor my structure ever raised any alarms.
I've not read the entire statute that he references yet, but I found this synopsis on a law firm's website: https://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/west-virginia-enacts-legislation-clarify-worker-classification
None of this seems outrageous to me. Am I missing something here? It feels like either Tim misunderstands the requirements or is being intentionally harassed.
Hi Kara! Good to talk with you again :)
It sounds to me like he is dealing with some kind of regulatory action coming at him from the state. As you point out, we don't know the details of that, which is why I wrote about it the way that I did. He has a really big audience, and a lot of people heard him talking about the IC issue and sent me the link, so I wanted to address his episode for that reason.
The thing I know for sure is what I did my best to focus on in this piece: His rage is real, just like the rage everyone else feels when they realize the government is monkeying in any way at all with the freedom to earn a living.
Hopefully, the information I provided about things people can call lawmakers about right now will give his listeners and others an effective way to channel that broader anger into action.
Hi!! It does seem like there must be some underlying issue we don't know about. Like you, I'm glad he's bringing this issue to such a large audience. I just hate to see him throwing WV under the bus with potentially misleading information. We have enough problems—we don't need any more! :) Especially since, in my experience, the environment here is quite good for independent contractors. Business licenses are cheap, cost of living is low, etc.
I agree completely, it's good that more people know about the policy issue, but let's all try to be accurate when we talk about it :)