Recently published figures indicate that record numbers of people are presently starting their own businesses and becoming self-employed. Nearly a third of a million will become self-employed this year. Without doubt, this is partly due to the current economic downturn, with many losing their jobs and thousands of workers taking pay freezes or cuts, and vacancies regularly being competed for by hundreds of candidates. But by contrast, now is an ideal time to become your own boss, as Internet business can be used as an extremely effective distribution channel for the goods or services you offer. This can even enable the self-employed to work from home removing the capital outlay of establishing a salesroom or shop.
There are numerous openings for self-employment, employing your present skills or perhaps developing additional skills for the increasing number of online jobs which are emerging in Internet business. Not all self-employment ideas require a huge investment. In one instance a man had the idea of rescuing discarded supermarket trolleys from tips and riverbanks and re-selling them to the original stores. The amount of capital he needed was practically nil. Furthermore for those who work from home, overheads such as transportation costs may actually be lower than if they commuted to work.
People may need to attach a ‘caveat emptor’ to certain so-called self-employed opportunities which are just exploiting those desperate for work. I have seen some offers in the online jobs listings that may be just unscrupulous employers on the lookout for methods of avoiding the costs of employing someone. For instance, a debt collection company offering positions for self-employed debt collection agents. You would only be paid if you persuaded people to pay their debts, and interestingly, I could see no reference to the percentage they would pay you, signifying strongly that this was a fairly ungenerous sum. I was not sufficiently curious to make further enquiries.
Neither are you necessarily working for yourself just because you work from home. My previous employer in Charing Cross had employees who lived in other parts of the country. These people only visited London for the odd meeting, and yet they still had a status as employees and were received a monthly salary. To count as self-employed, you need to have the right to decide your working hours and what work you do. For instance, in an Internet business opportunity such as search engine optimization you will be paid on results, not on a rate per hour.
Self-employment is not for everyone. Certain types of people need to be encouraged and supervised by managers in a predictable managed workplace, while dreaming of that big lottery jackpot. If you work from home or in your own office then you are free from anyone’s command, and you must be a self-starter. Self-employment is no fast track to becoming rich. But lots of employees feel frustration that they come against a glass ceiling where they work. The top people are the company chairman’s mates or family. You can never join them. Work for yourself in online jobs or another line of business, and you could potentially achieve success and reach your personal goals.
Self-employed people have to do their own financial reporting and tax payments, and it is beneficial to get help from a reliable accountant. A surprising number of things can be claimed as expenses and offset against tax payable. In addition it is important to get insurance against illness, because you have no employer to give you sick pay.
All things considered, however, the rewards of working for yourself greatly outweigh the drawbacks. Most people who have taken the plunge say they never want to return to being an employee. It is worth your time to consider seriously.
