Self-employed workers’ lobby the Federation of Small Businesses has revealed that very high numbers of workers in recent times are ceasing to be employees and beginning to work for themselves. About 300,000 are likely to become self-employed this year. Clearly, this is to a great extent a result of the current economic crisis, with many becoming unemployed and many others taking pay freezes or cuts, and job opportunities frequently being pursued by a hundred or more applicants. And yet, by contrast, this is an ideal time to work for yourself, as Internet business can be employed as an inexpensive distribution medium for whatever you produce or offer. This can even allow you to work from home avoiding the overheads of establishing a salesroom or shop.
There exist numerous ideas for working for yourself, bringing to bear your existing skills or perhaps teaching yourself new ones for instance in the increasing number of online jobs which are emerging in Internet business. Not all business start-ups involve a massive capital input. In one instance a man had the idea of retrieving discarded shopping trolleys from numerous places and selling them back to the original supermarkets. The amount of capital he needed was almost nil. Furthermore for traders who work from home, expenses such as transport costs can in fact be lower than when they commuted to a workplace.
People may need to be suspicious of certain allegedly self-employed jobs which are basically exploitative. There have been a lot of offers on the online jobs boards that are basically companies seeking means of avoiding the overheads involved in taking somebody on the payroll. In one example I saw, a debt collectors company was looking for self-employed debt collection agents. You only got paid if you succeeded in getting debtors to pay their debts, but worryingly, they made no reference to the percentage you would get in commission, indicating strongly that this was a pretty ungenerous sum. I was not sufficiently intrigued to make further enquiries.
Neither are you necessarily working for yourself simply because you work from home. My last employer in Charing Cross had employees who resided in Scotland and the north of England. These people only visited head office for one or two meetings, but they still worked for the company and were on the company payroll. To be self-employed, you have to have the right to determine what hours you work and decide on your own workload. For instance, in an Internet business opportunity such as search engine optimization you will get paid on completed work, not at an hourly rate.
Being self-employed is not suitable for everyone. Certain types of people prefer to be directed and supervised by others in a 9-to-5 structured workplace, while they dream of that big lottery win. When you work from home or in an office where you’re the boss then you are free from anyone’s orders, and you have to be a self-starter. There is no short cut to your first million. But how many employed workers realise that they arrive at a glass ceiling in their company. The top people are the Managing Director’s mates or family. You can never be one of them. Be your own boss in online jobs or any other line of work, and you could with hard work become extremely successful and reach your personal goals.
Those who are self-employed have to sort out their own book-keeping and tax liabilities, and it is important to find a reliable bean counter. Many items can be claimed as expenses and reduce your tax bill. It is also vital to be insured in case of illness, as you have no one there to give you sick pay.
Overall, however, the benefits of self-employment far outweigh the minus points. Most people who have gone ahead with becoming self-employed say they don’t ever want to go back to being an employee. It is worth anybody’s while to consider seriously.
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