Who Here Is Self-Employed?

[knight errant00]

Do you like it? What do you do? What's your biggest challenge in it, and what do you like most about it?

I've been planning on taking the plunge into that world myself, but it's hard stepping off that curb . . .

Thoughts?

[jimsmegos]

Hard road for sure, but the rewards are great if your doing what you love...

I'm the News Director and Special Programs Producer for a small TV outfit here in Harrison. For me the choice came through necessity. There were simply no jobs around here and moving wasn't an option.

I spoke with the owner of this station back in August of last year. He had actually been my competition. Anyway we hit it off but he really couldn't afford what I was asking but I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by.

Long story short I took the plunge and have been growing ever since. Through this permanent "freelance" position I've developed a video production service as well as the TV projects I'm working on. He couldn't pay me much but he didn't mind making it worth my while by giving me freedom on the air. So from there I've been working my butt off developing new shows and promotions to generate revenue for myself while building the stations news product and image.

Is it lean? YES Is it tough? YES Is it worth it? Absolutely!

The main thing to take into consideration is make sure you have a true support staff at home (emotionally more so than financially is what I mean) before you begin. If your married, steady relationship, kids, etc... be sure that everyone involved understands the possible hardships that may lie ahead. And it's more than money. Time is the biggest thing that I lack these days as I continue to build and grow.

If you think you can pull it off Monday thru Friday from 9 to 5 stop now. It really doesn't work that way, never has never will. But also keep in mind that you do have to rest and those folks in your life that are supportive of your endeavor also require real time too.

So in the end I say go for it if you dare. In a worst case scenario you can always go back to work for someone else (if the job market ever turns around). Either way never forget that we are Americans and this is how we used to do it anyway (working for oneself that is). Suck it up and grab for the American Dream Gold.

*And to note- I know that same mentality applies to other nationalities. I wouldn't dare be too "All America" pompous inside this wonderful international community that we all call the Mego Museum. I make the reference solely for the sake of literary example. Every single one of us are driven human beings who like to play with dolls

[Brazoo]

I'm a graphic designer and illustrator - I've been working freelance since I got laid off about 3 years ago. I had been doing little odd jobs on the side during evenings and weekends - and when I got laid off I just took more of those jobs - and here I am.

I've always liked working independently, and really dislike certain aspects of corporate culture - so in some ways I'm a good fit for this kind of thing.

The hardest parts for me:

1) Money: I've been doing better every year since I got laid off - but I'm still making less than I would be at a job. I set goals for myself based on the previous years sales - if I don't make my goals I know I have to either make radical changes or find a job again. So far so good - it's a struggle - but hopefully it's a struggle that will pay off in the end - - - and if not...

2) Home Office: On one hand I LOVE working at home. It's comfortable and I don't have to commute (or even get dressed) ... On the other hand, if I get really busy and start working long hours - my home becomes a bit of a prison.

It's hard to turn the work switch off too - just before bed I'll want to check my emails one last time - it drives my girlfriend crazy!

3) Juggling Different Hats: Getting the work and doing the work seems to be the important thing to me - it's not intuitive for me to you know, send bills on time. I'm making a lot of great strides in this though. One thing I've been concentrating on recently too is putting on my salesman hat. I'm pretty good at sales - and have lots of retail experience - but I've only really started applying that to my business recently. Which is dumb, I know.

What kind of work are you in, by the way?

[livnxxxl]

Reading this thread topic makes me think of a friend of mine. He once said IF I should fail at what I want to do the very worst thing that could happen is that I would end up working for some one else anyway.

As far as I myself is concerned I am personally not employed. I am unemployed in a sense. ??? I guess you could say that I was fortunate enough to "retire" real early.

This is still an interesting topic though to see who is and who is not self employed. I always like to read what others do for a living and have done. This gives me a better background of what some of the folks here are capable of doing experience wise. You just never know when there may be a part time opportunity arise for a need for your service($).

[SUP-Ronin]

I am 50% self employed, and the rest is part time. If I have lots of work it's great, and when I don't (like right now) it's pretty much anxiety and trepidation. The tough part for me is marketing, cause I'm not good at that.

BTW, I'm a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialist and I am good at that.

[johnmiic]

I would really like to know, if any of you know, what are legitimate stay at home jobs and where do you look for them. I'm not saying self employed necessarily.

[jimsmegos]

I would really like to know, if any of you know, what are legitimate stay at home jobs and where do you look for them. I'm not saying self employed necessarily.

While I've never been able to track down any of those jobs myself, what I would recommend is to sit down and write out your skills and abilities. From there you could target companies who do those sorts of things and offer your services on a "freelance" or "work for hire" basis.

I've always been very suspicious of the "work from home" type of gigs. The faceless aspect of a company makes me nervous when it comes to getting paid.

[MIB41]

Work at home jobs are becoming more and more common in companies. I'm a Business Analyst and my office is at home. There is no cost justification to facilitate my position in a building they have to lease when they can hook me up online at home. The perks are nice though. They pay my monthly cable and phone bill, plus I only fill my car up on gas about once a month (sometimes not even that). Here's the down side - You MUST get out after working all day. Working at home means you lose the exercise you typically get just from commuting in. I'm a member of a local gym and I'm there at least four times a week. So you do have to be more mindful of your fitness. The kind of jobs I think alot of you are referring to probably are bogus though (like the ones you see nailed to telephone polls - "Work from home - make thousands!"). Yeah, I wouldn't trust that crap. Work at home jobs (or as we like to call them "WAH's") are typically given to people who have been with a company for a while. I've been with my company for 15 years, so they have a measure of what I can do and the expectations are high.

[knight errant00]

What kind of work are you in, by the way?

I'm a business and tech writer. I've done a lot of contract tech writing over the years that's bled a little into BA -style work occasionally, and when I've landed FT positions, I've usually had a title like "Communications Manager" and handled everything from newsletters and brochures to policies and procedures.

I started thinking hard about doing this after I was let go for the 4th time in 9 years. I've been working part-time since September, and spent a lot of that hustling up more PT work. My business model is to be a part-time communications manager for several companies -- small- to middle-sized businesses that need someone to do what I do but don't have the amount of work or funds to bring someone on full-time (paying me for 10-15 hours a month to maintain a set list of materials, plus occasional project work).

I ended up taking another onsite contract gig at the beginning of June (needed the income), but since then I've had a few of my other leads heat up, and I'm debating leaving the contract with the big company to pursue the independant stuff I've been drumming up (only so many PT jobs I can take on with a regular 9-5 blocking out the day). Working up the nerve and convincing the wife have been the hard part -- she keep talking about stability, I keep reminding her I've had 6 jobs in the last 11 year and that I was layed off from four of them.

Thanks for the 9-5 warning. I've been taking on side projects and work for the last couple years (it's what saved me when the last contract was cancelled 9-12 months early, and got me thinking about "diversifying my employment investment"), so I'm somewhat used to the "extended hours." I'm also just finding myself chafing a bit now at the expectations of being basically "staff augmentation" vs. being a consultant with my own clients --busy, but in control, not having a boss checking up on how long you were at lunch or why you had to leave early for a kid's afterschool whatever (which, since I'm hourly and not billing them for the time, I never understand the hangup about).

I've been networking with a lot of self-employed people over the last 8 months or so and even won free seesions with a career coach at a networking event I attended, and it's slowly been convincing me I can do this.

It's definitely helpful to hear others!

[knight errant00]

've always been very suspicious of the "work from home" type of gigs. The faceless aspect of a company makes me nervous when it comes to getting paid.

BE suspicious . . . most of those places are scams, and the ones that aren't (when you work it all out) pay less than minimum wage.

[toys2cool]

when I was younger i lived off of selling toys on ebay for a long time! I became a personal trainer for a well known company for a while and then I had my baby last year, i tried going back to being an independent trainer working what ever hours I wanted and choosing w/e clients I wanted for a while but my wife begged me to stay home with the baby until he's bit older,so i'm doing the stay at home dad for now and making money off of ebay when ever I can

[livnxxxl]

when I was younger i lived off of selling toys on ebay for a long time! I became a personal trainer for a well known company for a while and then I had my baby last year, i tried going back to being an independent trainer working what ever hours I wanted and choosing w/e clients I wanted for a while but my wife begged me to stay home with the baby until he's bit older,so i'm doing the stay at home dad for now and making money off of ebay when ever I can

Nothing at all wrong with that at all. eBay has helped a lot of folks make a little extra dough reno. This gives you more quality time to be with your family while making some change on the side for your bills, hobbies or what have you.

The really nice thing of all this is that you can still go back to being an independent trainer if you should so decide to do so at a later date.

[toys2cool]

Nothing at all wrong with that at all. eBay has helped a lot of folks make a little extra dough reno. This gives you more quality time to be with your family while making some change on the side for your bills, hobbies or what have you.

The really nice thing of all this is that you can still go back to being an independent trainer if you should so decide to do so at a later date.

definitely I trained a lot of people with money, CEO's, celebrities wives and people like that , they still call em and ask me advice and when i'll be coming back , some use to pay me $100 an hour

[Zemo]

"I love to work at nothing all day"

[livnxxxl]

definitely I trained a lot of people with money, CEO's, celebrities wives and people like that , they still call em and ask me advice and when i'll be coming back , some use to pay me $100 an hour

That is totally cool. I hope that they tipped you well in addition to paying you good. It sounds like you know your stuff and you would be worth every red penny spent. I know some folks with money tend to be stingy with it.

It is one thing to not have it and have to be on a budget. That is totally understandable. It is another though to brag about it and not put your money where your mouth is. IMO

My gf used to be an exotic dancer and she told me about some of the clients that had money, but never spent much of it. She much like yourself had encountered CEO's, big wigs, stars as clients as well. She told me some tipped real good and some were just plain tight arses. Then of course there were the want to be's. That is another story though.

I myself am a big tipper when I get great service. That is why all of the girls used to love to see me come in the club with a couple of grand in my hand.

I am kind of glad my clubbin days are over. Now I can take that money and spend it on Mego's.