When To Make Your Career
Move To Self Employment
by: Bill Frist - Staff Writer
Self-employment isn't for wimps. The
decision to abandon your previous job is a mind-bender at best. Even if
you are not currently employed, choosing the self-employment route is risky and
time-consuming and there is definitely the risk that while you are working on
this self-employment venture, you will pass up other opportunities.
So why are you thinking of self-employment as a
viable option anyway? What are your motives? Or is it simply another
option? Here are just a few questions you should answer for yourself
before choosing self-employment:
Is this something you really want to do or
is this the only thing left because you've not found anything else?
Being an entrepreneur should not be entered
into lightly. It should never be your default option because all others
have failed. Sure, experiment with it on the side until you land something
else or even just to get the feel. But making a full-scale movement into
the often wild and wacky world of being self-employed should never happen just
because you don't have something else to do.
Do you have what it takes to be your own
boss?
With nobody to answer to if you don't start
until 10 AM, will you have the personal discipline that it takes, day after day?
Can you tolerate long hours of working by
yourself?
Self-employed people generally work alone - A
LOT!
Does your family support you?
Being self-employed is a risky venture and one
that should be considered by all family members, especially a spouse.
Their future is on the line too you know.
Do you have a specific field in mind for
self-employment?
That sounds like a strange question, but many
people don't. They like the idea of self-employment, but they haven't got
a clue and they are simply out there searching. There's nothing wrong with
that so long as the decision isn't make hastily and/or without due consideration
of the downsides as well as the upsides.
Do you have adequate experience/education in
the field of choice?
Self-employment means that you are responsible
for your own income and that is going to be held back quite a bit if you are in
the middle of the learning curve for your chosen profession. It probably
also isn't going to help you land clients either.
Can you wear all the self-employment hats
that you must wear?
There's nothing saying you cannot hire
bookkeepers and other service professionals, but you must be able to afford to
do so. You also must realize that there are certain people you probably
will not be able to hire. You probably cannot hire salespeople until your
company actually has some clients and some sales to show.
Are you a good decision maker?
Running your own company means that you are the
boss. You gather the information, decipher it, put it together and then
YOU make the decisions. You will take all the credit, but all of the blame
as well. You will make the bucks, but you will also suffer the losses.
Are you prepared to work long hours?
Self-employment means being tough, working
hard, and working long hours - no exceptions despite what those silly
infomercials tell you. Let's face it, if there were really a plan to make
$60,000 a year in your spare time, don't you think everyone would do
it?
Being self-employed means that you may have to
delay or eliminate vacations or possibly bring a laptop with you so that you can
work while you are gone. If you don't, it means that the work is still
there when you get back.
Do you have a place to work?
Okay this sounds a bit silly, but let's be
real. Self-employment isn't going to happen at your kitchen table unless
you just happen to be single and living alone. You need a place to call
your own where you can close the door and just do business.
Do you have the necessary finances to support
yourself and your business?
That may be the biggest self-employment
question of them all. Most businesses are not going to have adequate
customers to support the business the first week, the first month, and often not
even the first year. You can figure on having to have other means of
support for 1-3 years on average.
