Beat the Unemployment Trap - You Too Can Be Self-Employed
How do you become self-employed? It's not magic, it's an attitude.
Self-employed people are not necessarily smarter or have better skills than you do but they have a desire for independence and self confidence they can survive on their own.
Working for a large organization, with support staff and colleagues often can allow someone to do more than one individual do on their own.
But if you don't have a large organization to support you, it is still possible you can work on your own.
Typically 15% of your time will be spent on administrative tasks.
Depending on your job even those tasks can be farmed out.
Self employment does not mean doing everything yourself.
Everyone has some sort of job skill; obviously there are some things that are functions of large organizations.
But many things can be done on a small scale by an individual.
Computer skills, the construction trades, accountants, lawyers, editors, sales reps and many others can and do operate independently.
You do not need to be working for someone else.
Provided you can find your own customers, you don't need a boss.
If you are unemployed and thinking about being self-employed the very first thing you should do is inventory your job skills.
Start with your resume; it might be obvious what you can do as a self-employed individual.
If your current job description cannot be converted to self employment take a look at your hobbies and interests.
People have turned upholstery, picture framing, small engine repair, photography and many other hobbies into full-time jobs.
Many things you are able to do may not be listed on your resume.
You may have done them in college or high school, or maybe you have a desire to do something new.
I have a client who, as a sideline to his main business started winterizing houses that banks have reprocessed and foreclosed.
It fills in the slow time of the year for him.
The idea is to be flexible, take a look at what needs to be done that someone will pay for and figure out what skills you have that might apply or what skills you might be to acquire.
It is not impossible to learn something new.
What does it take to actually start your own business? The very simple answer is it takes a customer.
What put somebody in business and keeps them there are customers.
You will have to do some marketing.
The easiest way to market is to make a phone call to someone you already know who you are fairly certain need your services, offer to do specific jobs on a contract basis.
The internet has opened a huge opportunity for selling whatever it is you have.
You can reach potential customers at a very reasonable cost.
Many newly self-employed start worrying about forms of business organization, or all of the administrative details when they first start.
These are important but they can be worked out.
The general plan for going into business is to get the customer first, and then figure out the details.
If you are working strictly on your own, you may not attain the same income level you would as with a steady job working for someone else, then again depending how busy and organized you, and how good an idea you have you might reach undreamed heights of success.
As self-employed you must make more money than you would as an employee.
Work backwards from the income you hope to achieve, figure out what your costs are and what the percentage of time that you are going to be busy.
Every business has some downtime.
If you bill by the hour it is unlikely you will be able to bill 40 hours a week, 30 would probably be good.
Determine your hourly rate; see how you compare with the competition.
Many self-employed assume that they can under bid the competition.
That is a bad assumption for two reasons.
First someone has already done the math and figured out what it costs to operate in your particular line of work, while their billing rate may seem high, examining the costs and determining exactly how many hours they can actually bill may lead to a different conclusion.
This exercise is often a real eye opener for the new entrepreneur.
Second many start-up operations have the idea of "buying the business".
Be the lowest cost and attract customers.
Experience shows that those customers do not hang around when you raise prices regardless of how good a job you're doing.
They are strictly looking for low cost and will leave if you raise rates.
Self employment is not for everyone.
It takes discipline, hard work and dedication to succeed.
There is a huge amount of fear in taking the leap.
If you get nothing else from this short article remember this one golden nugget.
Over the thirty years I have been in public accounting I have made an observation: it is rare for the successful self employed to ever go back to being an employee.
Sometimes in this world the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence.
Self-employed people are not necessarily smarter or have better skills than you do but they have a desire for independence and self confidence they can survive on their own.
Working for a large organization, with support staff and colleagues often can allow someone to do more than one individual do on their own.
But if you don't have a large organization to support you, it is still possible you can work on your own.
Typically 15% of your time will be spent on administrative tasks.
Depending on your job even those tasks can be farmed out.
Self employment does not mean doing everything yourself.
Everyone has some sort of job skill; obviously there are some things that are functions of large organizations.
But many things can be done on a small scale by an individual.
Computer skills, the construction trades, accountants, lawyers, editors, sales reps and many others can and do operate independently.
You do not need to be working for someone else.
Provided you can find your own customers, you don't need a boss.
If you are unemployed and thinking about being self-employed the very first thing you should do is inventory your job skills.
Start with your resume; it might be obvious what you can do as a self-employed individual.
If your current job description cannot be converted to self employment take a look at your hobbies and interests.
People have turned upholstery, picture framing, small engine repair, photography and many other hobbies into full-time jobs.
Many things you are able to do may not be listed on your resume.
You may have done them in college or high school, or maybe you have a desire to do something new.
I have a client who, as a sideline to his main business started winterizing houses that banks have reprocessed and foreclosed.
It fills in the slow time of the year for him.
The idea is to be flexible, take a look at what needs to be done that someone will pay for and figure out what skills you have that might apply or what skills you might be to acquire.
It is not impossible to learn something new.
What does it take to actually start your own business? The very simple answer is it takes a customer.
What put somebody in business and keeps them there are customers.
You will have to do some marketing.
The easiest way to market is to make a phone call to someone you already know who you are fairly certain need your services, offer to do specific jobs on a contract basis.
The internet has opened a huge opportunity for selling whatever it is you have.
You can reach potential customers at a very reasonable cost.
Many newly self-employed start worrying about forms of business organization, or all of the administrative details when they first start.
These are important but they can be worked out.
The general plan for going into business is to get the customer first, and then figure out the details.
If you are working strictly on your own, you may not attain the same income level you would as with a steady job working for someone else, then again depending how busy and organized you, and how good an idea you have you might reach undreamed heights of success.
As self-employed you must make more money than you would as an employee.
Work backwards from the income you hope to achieve, figure out what your costs are and what the percentage of time that you are going to be busy.
Every business has some downtime.
If you bill by the hour it is unlikely you will be able to bill 40 hours a week, 30 would probably be good.
Determine your hourly rate; see how you compare with the competition.
Many self-employed assume that they can under bid the competition.
That is a bad assumption for two reasons.
First someone has already done the math and figured out what it costs to operate in your particular line of work, while their billing rate may seem high, examining the costs and determining exactly how many hours they can actually bill may lead to a different conclusion.
This exercise is often a real eye opener for the new entrepreneur.
Second many start-up operations have the idea of "buying the business".
Be the lowest cost and attract customers.
Experience shows that those customers do not hang around when you raise prices regardless of how good a job you're doing.
They are strictly looking for low cost and will leave if you raise rates.
Self employment is not for everyone.
It takes discipline, hard work and dedication to succeed.
There is a huge amount of fear in taking the leap.
If you get nothing else from this short article remember this one golden nugget.
Over the thirty years I have been in public accounting I have made an observation: it is rare for the successful self employed to ever go back to being an employee.
Sometimes in this world the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence.
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