Pros and Cons of Self-employment ?

greg223

greg223

Active member
This is an offshoot of another thread by Buckrun. I know many of you guys are self-employed and maybe we could list some of the reasons why you do/don't like what you are doing and any other advice.

Here are some do's I can think of offhand:

Keep good records, much easier when doing taxes and keeps you well informed where your finances are at.

Disipline yourself to get up early and start the day, you think better then.

When you tell a client you will do something at a particular time. DO IT! Move mountains if you have to, keep on schedule, BUT don't over book. That is an easy trap to fall into and creates a huge amount of stress.

Keep at least one day a week with NO work involved. For me, that is Sunday. I refuse to discuss my work with anyone then. You need a day of rest.

You must have the support and encouragement from your immediate family, your wife most importantly (if you have one, if not, go get one!). I rely on the insight in different issues from mine.

The freedom you have is hard to explain, but I love it.

Just a few thoughts, I'll shut up and encourage you guys to add some ideas.
 
Pro:
flexible schedule, freedom in decison making, pride in seeing something through completely, satisfaction in accomplishing things the way you want to

con:
overhead, medical benefits, risk, less stability, nowhere to place the blame other than yourself, home based businesses can be taxing on the family and personal life, requires full support of family

After thirteen years in corporate America I am FREE!
 
I grew up in a self-employed family. Commercial Fishing. Which made it easier for me, because having a sporatic income was the norm, not the exception. I've punched a few clocks, but went into business for myself fairly early on, because of the lifestyle! It's wonderful! I'm not a type A, driving to make more money than last quarter, driving to make more per deal than last time, etc. I couldn't care less. But I love the lifestyle! It's so much fun! If you want to take a day off, or a long weekend, you just do it!

Discipline, like Greg mentioned, is key. It's not really a "con" but it's a necessary element. You have to save and budget, you have to set up an emergency fund for those slow months, and then replenish it FIRST when you're back in the chips. You have to focus, and set goals and work hard to achieve them. But if you can, and do, the freedom is just awesome!

I mentioned on the other thread, If you see quitting your job and going to work for yourself as a challenge, if it excites you, if you see it as an adventure, then DO IT! You won't regret it!
 
Probably the most satisfying factor as opposed working for others (and especially some big multinational corporation) is that when you're calling the shots yourself, you can make integrity, The Golden Rule, and inspiration be the driving principle, not greed and politics.

Downside is nobody much listens when you kvetch about your boss being a slave-driver...

LionHo
 
Pros: Your time is your own, work your own schedule, do as you please

Cons: Your time is your own, work your own schedule, do as you please

Seriously, the single biggest downside for me is cost of medical insurance. Most people in this country don't realize how much their medical coverage costs if the employer is paying all or part of it. Employers are less and less willing to pay the bill. It's going to be the catalyst for action in the "health crisis" we hear so much about.
 
This is a touchy subject.

But if you can work for your self and be your own boss and do what you love to do.
Then it is hard to find something bad about that.
I was told at a young age that you would never get rich working for someone ells
 
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Pros
Wake up-............5:00 am.-.......Go hunting /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Get to work-........Whenever /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
grab a bite-........12:01pm-........Go hunting /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
get back to work-...Whenever /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Work till it's
time to go hunting-.................Go hunting /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

cons
I don't think I could ever go back to working for "The Man"
 
I to love the freedom part and being able to call the shots and play out my own ideas or ventures I don't strive to be rich just comfortable my wife caries the ins. for now but I will be adding men this year so thats out the window.
The only bad part is winter my work is April 1 to Nov. 1 the winter is great but always a snug fit this was my first winter money was tight but if you have the drive and work ethic you'll mak er through. I will never go back to work for the man ever I'll die trying first!
 
Quote:
But if you can work for your self and be your own boss and do what you love to do.
Then it is hard to find something bad about that.




I think that most self employed are doing something they love, or at least like!

Even then, it would be better to do something that you don't like for yourself than do something you don't like for somebody else. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
To give you an idea what self-insurance looks like, I spent over eight thousand dollars last year (out of pocket) for my family of four's medical needs. This includes medical premiums, copays, all of our dental, and prescription meds. I used to spend far less than half of that for much better coverage.

I'm not complaining, I knew full well the cost of being on my own and wouldn't change it for the world.

Fyi,
Todd
 
Yup, Gregg223 Wife is most important asset.

Amen to what everyone above has said.

A banker/freind told me "Be bold about pricing, if you are good enough to charge twice the going rate and loose half your customers, your'e still OK.".

Also, "if everyone is not complaining about your prices, you are not charging enough."

The following is very cynical,sorry.
I've had a long day and I want to blow off some steam.
Pros and Cons of working for yourself.

Pro-1 Make your own hours as long as it's 70 Hrs./Week

Pro-2 Set your own salary if there is any money left to pay yourself at all.

Pro-3 With the extra cash you have around you can take your wife out to dinner all the time. If the publicly traded company that owes you for that big job doesn't decide to file chapter 11.

Pro-4 You meet a lot of nice people that you extend credit to that have the same problems as above and may be late paying you when your bills are past due also.

Pro-5 You meet lots of nice people who call or visit your business because they think you are printing money and have lots of cash lying around to help out their charity.

Pro-6 You meet nice government inspectors that found out you have an air compressor in your shop that needs to be inspected every year on the first most beautiful sunny day of spring.

Pro-7 With the extra cash you have laying around you can buy you can buy new expensive computer controlled machines that do the work for you while you go to lunch. And they last forever no need to buy new controls for them.

Pro-8 You and your wife will sleep so much better knowing your money will be directly deposited by the big publicly traded company that just filed chapter 11.

Pro-9 You can buy a cool new credit card terminal machine that truncates the last four numbers on the receipt for only $1500. Besides if you don't buy it "you may be violating the new credit card laws". The lady from the card processing bank to told me that so it must be true.

Pro-10 You can go on vacation while the expensive computer controlled machines do the work for you.

Pro-11 It's no big deal to sacrifice a weekend with your family to rush a job so your customer at the university can "go on Spring Break". Besides, You can go on vacation too, while the expensive computer controlled machines do the work for you.

Pro-12 If the business doesn't work out, just get a job. Employers love to hire people who have history of quitting to start a competing business.

OK, I'm done. Thanks for listening
I've been doing this for 20 years and I'm used to it now. It's not all that bad or I wouldn't be doing it.
PC
 
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I used to work in the computing dept. of a corporation that had holdings around the world. I had the chance to travel quite a bit. There were some problems in England and one morning my boss came to me and said "can you go to England tomorrow"? I replied "I can go to England today!" And so it went for several years. It was great having interesting challenges, a chance to see the world, and to receive some recognition from colleagues. While working in other countries I would take side trips on weekends after finishing the assignment. My boss always signed expense reports without question. No way would I have visited places like the Scottish Hebrides or Jungfrau Joch in Switzerland without that job. But I eventually got burned out and moved on to other things.

I would say a young man will learn a lot by working for an organization. There is the structure, the companionship and opportunities that are hard to realize on your own.

But when middle age rolls around it is good to have more time to do things that matter most. Teenagers seem to require more of Dad's attention than toddlers, at least mine do. And there is always hunting.

It can be lonely at times on your own but having a measure of freedom is worth it.

Besides, you do not want to admit it, but maybe you cannot keep up the pace anymore!!
 

Quote:
Besides, you do not want to admit it, but maybe you cannot keep up the pace anymore!!



Uh-oh, looks like you found me out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif. Don't tell anyone /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif.
 
Dont get me wrong because if it was feasable, I probably would work for myself. But, I make a comfortable living (still however under paid) in my profession and I work a 4 on 4 off, 3 on 3 off schedule that gives me an aweful lot of freedom to do what I want. I still have 9 years to go for retirement and then maybe I can do my own thing. Interesting thread. It would be better if you guys would clue us in to what type of self employment you have.
 
I was in the heating and air conditioning & Ventilation thing all my life till I retired.
I designed clean rooms, at drug plants. And operating room till somebody told me they would bye me out. now just hunt and fish.I don't know what is harder my old work or taken people hunting
Not that working ant good but it shouldn’t be you long term plan /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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One nice think about doing your own thing is when you hire someone to help you can get all the free advice on how you are doing everything wrong,you get a lot better understanding of how with holding taxes work when you are paying the whole thing. This do what you want to when you want I guess I haven't got there yet. I do what I have to just to pay all the bills,taxes,and ins. But if it was easy everyone would be doing it. Mauser
 
...I own and operate a small Tire Dealership, selling everything from lawn mower tires (15 inches tall), up to and including log-skidder tires( 6 feet tall ) and repairing any of them. I've been at it for almost 9 years.


One of the great things about being self-employed is being able to go hunting every morning, if I want to. But, with the exception of Deer Season, and spring Turkey season, I am on the job at the time shown on my sign. My motto is "Seldom late, but NEVER early." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif The two seasons mentioned are almost a "National Holiday" around here, anyhow!!


Seriously, though, I made up my mind before I started, that for it to work, I would have to be committed to it, just as if I were working for someone else. The boss expects an employee to be on the job on time, so I determined to do just that.

On the down-side, the cost of Health insurance, self-employment taxes, bookkeeping expenses, overhead, insurance, bad credit customers, and advertising are almost more than I make. (I wonder if I could qualify as a "Non-profit Organization??")


Oh well, it pays the bills and gives me enough for a new rifle, now and then. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
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