Despite me not generally being a fan of agencies, they do have there advantages. So long as they're reputable, one big advantage which not many people take into

Despite me not generally being a fan of agencies, they do have there advantages. So long as they're reputable, one big advantage which not many people take into account is that a good one is giving you free invoice factoring and debt collection. This means you would normally get paid on-time even if the client hasn't paid the invoice yet. This is a pretty major thing for those starting out, particularly if you are touting for small clients, who may run into cash flow issues, or very large clients who mostly take forever to pay invoices. Chasing clients for money is, particularly when starting out, something that you feel hesitant to do in case you adversely affect your relationship with the client, as you don't think you have much leverage and are risking a good contract. It's a confidence thing though, these days I'd have no problem putting my foot down and walking away from a non-paying customer's contract. Of course, all you're really doing is moving the risk of non-payment on to the agency but, so far having worked with about 8 agencies, I've not had any trouble being paid on-time in 12 years. Working directly I've run into non-payment issues several times with non-payment periods upto almost a year (though I'd long moved on to another contract). But then I've got a friend who's been ripped-off by a recruitment agency, having folded with a couple of months pay due. So you do still need to chase them too and ensure you maintain an adequate pot of savings for breaks between contracts and covering non-payment issues. Having been in the position of working directly for clients and being owed large amounts of money for long periods of time, I'd recommend finding a reputable (sic) recruitment agent until you are up and running for a good few months or even a couple of years. That all said, you do have to put up with the barrage of appalling sales pitches for unsuitable positions and a lack of technical knowledge while dealing with most of them.