Contract Worker - Freelancing Experiences

3 Ways to Deal Quickly With Bureaucracies

by Rico on May 5th, 2008

Anyone—whether they work at home or at the office—has to deal with bureaucracies. Dealing with bureaucracies is one area where contract workers are trumped by their corporate counterparts, because the HR department usually takes care of filing the necessary paperwork and furnishing the requirements on your behalf. Freelancers are usually on their own here.

Despite the genuinely best efforts of bureaucrats and government, filing a tax return, or renewing personal documentation (like the driver’s license, tax certificate, etc.) used to take an entire day for me. Eventually, I learned to navigate my way through the red tape, get everything quickly, and get back to doing some actual work as soon as possible.

Dealing with bureaucracies is so much faster when you know what to do and how to do it. Here’s what I’ve learned over the last two years:

Check the bureaucracy’s website. Some bureaucracies enjoy the services of employees who get it: the internet is an easy way to make information available. So they do their best to publicize where to go, what to bring, and what to do on a website. Many government websites may be hard to navigate, but bear with it. Spending a few minutes locating important information will save you the wasted trip, when you find out that you’re missing a requirement after you’ve spent a whole hour going to the bureaucracy.

Ask friends, family, and even strangers. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help. People understand how hard it is to deal with bureaucracies, and are almost always willing to point you in the right direction. If you know someone who’s already done the process, ask them to walk you through it. There’s also nothing wrong with leaving a question on a local forum.

Call in. Many bureaucracies also have telephone numbers, and the people handling the hotlines are surprisingly willing to answer any and all questions about what you have to do. Again, spending a few minutes gathering information will save you a lot of wasted time and frustration.

Hire someone to do it for you. If you’re simply too busy to deal with a bureaucracy, why not hire someone to do it for you? Most bureaucracies are willing to accept letters of authorization. And as your paid agent does the dirty work, you can concentrate on making a living. If that’s not the case, whoever you hire will have the experience and knowledge to prepare what you need, making the everything as easy for you as possible.

Dealing with bureaucracies can be a very trying and frustrating process. But as long as you take the time to gather the information you need to know, everything will go surprisingly faster.

Photo by newscom.com

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POSTED IN: Living as a Freelancer