From: AutoResponder@rmpcp.com
Reply-To: DO.NOT.REPLY@NO-SUCH-DOMAIN.COM
Subject: Info about joining RMPCP


This file is slightly out of date; our web site http://rmpcp.com is more current. 

Note - if you are a recruiter or broker or client, please do not read
this; email Info at rmpcp.com for instructions - thank you.

Do not reply to this autoresponder; your message will be lost. 

The purpose of this Membership.txt is to briefly describe our program
which should be of interest to independent contractors and those thinking
of becoming independent contractors.

Note, if you're already incorporated, you can still benefit, see below.

If you're an experienced contract programmer or similar consultant who
because of 1706 has had to hop from one payroll to another - work as a W-2
employee for whichever consulting firm had the next contract - some of you
may be wondering how to set up your business and become an independent
contractor, with the resulting self-employed tax benefits and more control
and potentially more money (and more risk). Some of you may also be
considering incorporating, especially since in some markets (e.g.
mainframe programming) lots of clients won't work with independent
contractors who aren't incorporated. Often it's just a matter of
perception; if you're a one-person business you get no respect.

You may have heard of payrolling services which will make you their
employee but just take enough to cover payroll costs plus a small profit
for themselves, they may or may not provide general liability insurance or
worker's comp. and typically no benefits, but if you find the client and
just want to lose as little broker's fee as possible and don't mind being
someone else's employee again at least there's that option. You may also
have heard of W-2 umbrellas which will provide employee benefits and pass
through some tax deductions too.

But if you really want the self-employed tax benefits of independent
contractor status, you have to do something different. You can research
and put up with the hassles of getting a DBA, EIN, incorporation if
needed/wanted, etc. and extra tax forms and other paperwork, or you can
find a company that's taken care of all this for you.

Having gone through most of this myself including incorporating and then
later splitting off the marketing as a separate business, I realized that
the marketing company with a little more work could provide a suitable
framework to work as sort of a consulting co-op but as a real for-profit
company, doing for others the same thing it was already doing for my
corporation and more.

So basically here's what we've got. As an experienced contract programmer,
consultant, etc. who has been or wants to be an independent contractor,
you would join RMP Consulting Partners LLC as a member and effectively
become the Division Manager of your own profit center which would be your
own consulting practice. Your success and failure would be your own, you
wouldn't carry or be carried by the other members, hence the separate
Divisions. We would take 15% off the top of your Division's income to
reimburse the company for setting up and administering the business as I
mentioned before, and you would be responsible for the expenses of your
own Division, including whatever marketing, factoring, benefits, or other
costs you need/want to incur. This way you'd get the same self-employed
deductions but you would save the hassle of getting a DBA and some of the
tax hassles and most of the audit risk (statistically speaking). This is
based on a well known and perfectly legal form of business, along with
making liberal use of its inherent flexibility to create the separate
Divisions, but my use of it in this industry (and how I use it in
particular) is quite innovative, so I don't get much more specific than
this without a signed non-disclosure.

If 15% seems high, keep in mind that we're smaller than the W-2 umbrellas
and do things a bit differently, and almost all of our 15% fee is paid for
by a special tax benefit you can only get from us, not from any other
umbrella. This makes our fee effectively closer to about 1%. And our 15%
fee is calculated AFTER your deductible expenses, unlike traditional
umbrellas, so it can go as low as 10%, or effectively about MINUS 5%. 
See http://rmpcp.com/fees.shtml for more information. Also when we say
15% that's including any applicable payroll taxes (depending on which
fee plan is selected); other umbrellas may quote 3-5% but that does
NOT include payroll taxes. 

Now this is NOT a traditional "permanent job" situation where some big
rich consulting firm can afford to hire you as an employee, find your work
for you, pay you regularly even between projects, pay for great benefits,
etc.  (and maybe treat you well, and maybe like dirt); people interested
in our program are wanting to get away from that environment anyway.
Joining us does NOT relieve you of most of the usual responsibilities of
running your own business, e.g. finding your own clients (with or without
a broker's help), doing your work, collecting your fee, finding and paying
for your own benefits, saving up enough to tide you over between projects,
etc. - but it does save you the hassle of setting up the business and most
of the tax forms and probably all of the other paperwork. Plus it includes
limited liability that's even better than the usual corporate shield, so
you don't have to worry about what the other members are doing etc.
because we're already incorporated under TLLCA.

So why should you pay 15% off the top if you have to find your own work
anyway? Because of all the above, and also because finding your next
project (as an independent contractor) should be easier since we're
already incorporated and also you're no longer just a one-person business
but part of a larger consulting firm. Besides, we're also working on
helping with these other benefits anyway. We're offering referral
commissions e.g. 10% for projects to members who bring us actual clients. 
This will work better and better as we continue to get more people.  We 
already have a SIMPLE retirement plan and a full corporate benefit package
including group health insurance, and we're open to suggestions for other 
benefits as well. See http://rmpcp.com/benefits.shtml for more information. 

If you've already incorporated, your corporation could join. You probably
won't need all of our benefits but being a member would still provide some
benefits, including preferential treatment vs. nonmembers when it comes to
marketing issues and payment arrangements etc. plus your corporation and
its own benefits would still continue to exist. And if your corporation
was a one-person business, you won't have that problem any more. That's
really the final hurdle that the brokers throw in your path besides
requiring incorporation and insurance. We have General Liability and
Worker's Compensation insurance, and if any client is so picky as to
require Professional Liability (Errors & Omissions) insurance, we'll
consider getting this expensive coverage if they'll pay for it; clients
who won't accept that are most likely just looking for someone to sue
anyway. So although many clients won't do business with a one-person
business, even if incorporated, we are usually able to pass all their
requirements. Our Manager, a corporation that has even had the IRS itself
as a client, can even receive the payments for us so the client/broker
won't have to issue a 1099.

If you're used to being a temporary employee of a broker or consulting
firm, you know that they won't hire you until they've already got a
project lined up. Since it doesn't cost anything for you to join us, you
don't have to wait. In fact, the best time to join us is while you're
still finishing up your current contract. Then you can be ready when you
start looking for your next contract; the expenses become deductible and
we'll also help look. You'd be spending most of your time looking anyway,
so may as well let that be your official job (and then working it when you
find it). Also, as soon as you join, you can make money part time from
referral commissions. We may also be able to help you continue some of
your existing benefits, and possibly make them fully or partly deductible.

By the way, we are NOT into MLM or any scams. Our resources are directed
toward running our computer consulting business for the benefit of all of
our members; the marketing and recruiting activities are only to
facilitate that purpose and are not an end in themselves. We have over 50
members all over the USA, including some corporations.

Note, unless/until we find out otherwise, we are unable to have members
who do not have and cannot get American tax ID numbers (either Social
Security Number or EIN or ITIN).

If you like the information you've received so far and what you've seen on
our web site, and are interested in joining us, there's some proprietary
information we'd like you to have in order to make a fully informed
decision about joining RMPCP. Once we have your contact info, we'll send 
you our simple one page mutual Non Disclosure Agreement; just sign it and 
fax it to the fax number in the letterhead. Then we can send you the rest 
of the info, including the basic Initial Membership Agreement, and once 
you sign that and fax it to us, you're a member! We also have a simpler
Associate Membership which is easier to understand and doesn't require
the NDA, although the tax savings aren't as much. Associate members
can convert to full members later when they're ready. 


Robert M. Pritchett, President - RMP Consulting Partners LLC
http://rmpcp.com - Dallas, TX
"Quality means doing it right the first time!"
A member firm of the Independent Computer Consultants Association

Resistance is unnecessary - you will NOT be assimilated!