If there are only five steps to becoming self employed, why doesn’t everyone do it? Here’s the thing: everyone can become self employed if they have discipline, drive, and the ability to overcome some tough working situations. Learn how to find self employment opportunities, and find success.
There may be five steps that lead to self employment, but everything hinges on one simple skill: the ability to find work. Through self-promotion, die-hard job seeking, ad placing or a combination of efforts, everyone who wants to succeed as an independent contractor has to succeed at finding paying customers. Learn how to make the process a little easier.
Step 1: The Self Employment Resume
Obviously, the first step to becoming self employed is to have a resume that highlights skills, education and experience in the professional’s chosen field. It does very little good to start any type of job hunting without having a great resume ready, so get one ready!
Often, success in self employment isn’t about finding opportunities but seizing them…and it’s pretty hard to self-sell without a resume that shows off skills and accomplishments. Even those with very little work at home, or independent contractor, experience can highlight other job experience they’ve gained, skills they’ve acquired and education they’ve completed. Remember that a resume should always stay professional, read in the third person and be presented on a single typewritten sheet - no colors, images or added embellishments necessary.
Step 2: The Killer Cover Letter
Often, self employment opportunities present themselves online. This puts job hunting in a whole new medium: email. There may be no friendly phone conversation, no face to face interview. Instead, for those who are mastering the five steps to becoming self employed, there is a single opportunity to sell themselves to a potential client or employer: the cover letter. And it needs to be a real killer if it’s going to stand out from the competition.
The cover letter should offer a brief overview of relevant skills and work history. Professionals should also make it a point to express interest in the job or opportunity being applied to. Some cover letters may be going out to companies unsolicited, but still require only a little extra tweaking in the opening statements. Overall, the cover letter serves to show that the professional behind the letter has the skills, the knowledge and the desire to do the job. It’s also a good idea to point the reader toward a Web site or online page where samples of work can be viewed.
Learn the rest of the five steps to becoming self employed: check part two of the article.
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