Self-Employment

Posted by KC Morgan

Many self employment mistakes are no different than other working mistakes. But for the self employed professional, the job comes with a whole new set of problems, concerns and room for error. How often do you make common self employment mistakes?

Common Self Employment Mistakes

There’s a great sense of freedom in self employment, but independence comes with a lot of pressures and responsibilities, too. What common self employment mistakes should you try to avoid ?

Far planning. Company A owes you a hundred and fifty bucks. Person X is supposed to pay you another seventy for the work you did last week. That’s more than two hundred dollars you’ll have to pay the phone bill…so it should be perfectly okay for you to order pizza tonight and go shopping for that new computer printer tomorrow. Don’t make the self employment mistake of far planning with your money. Many, many employers do come through with payments - but there are some who do not. Don’t spend your money until it’s actually in your bank account.

Too much independence. You don’t need a boss; you’re capable of doing it all on your own. You find your jobs, you supervise your work - you can do it all. But don’t let that work at home freedom lead to a common self employment mistake. You still need money in the bank, your own retirement plan for the future and insurance to protect yourself and your working assets.

Schedule juggling. You’ve got an assignment due tomorrow…so that means you might as well play today. But don’t leave deadlines to the last minute - you never know when a new client or job will present itself and need immediate attention. When it comes to work, try to be early - just in case.

Posted by KC Morgan

If you’re self employed, you’re going to have to think about insuring yourself. It isn’t enough that you already employ yourself - you have to see to all the necessary details, too. But providing your own health care is no easy feat.

The Cost of Self Employment

Self employment means finding (and completing) work, filing your own taxes (which can be a miserable undertaking) and taking care of yourself as far as breaks and vacations are concerned. But it also means paying. You pay for your taxes, you pay for your own supplies and equipment…and you pay for your own health care.

Insuring Yourself

Even when you’re self employed, chances are you were employed for someone else at some point in your life. You’re familiar, then, with employer-based health care. You pay a small weekly stipend and get gifted with full health care - including dental, vision, 401k, who even knows what else. Why should it be any different now that you’re employing yourself?

Because you only have one employee - you. When businesses purchase health care packages, they buy a large number of policies. You, however, will be purchasing one policy. And now, the cost of self employment is going to get much bigger.

Individual health care policies are different from employer-based policies in two ways: first, they offer much less care at much higher deductibles; second, they are much more expensive.

Cutting Down Costs

Shop around for health care when it’s time to think about insuring yourself. Get quotes, compare rates and realistically look at options to lower the cost without sacrificing care. Choose a plan you can afford easily…then choose a plan even cheaper than that. Insuring yourself is not a burden, but a joy, a sign of freedom and independence. It is, however, an expensive bill.

Posted by KC Morgan

Got a lot of ideas about self employment? Imagine a world with no employer to criticze or ask you to work late, where you can conduct business in your home office. Now imagine seven-day work weeks, holidays where you scramble to meet deadlines and criticism that seems to come from the world at large. That’s what it’s really like to work at home. But that doesn’t mean self employment ideas are completely removed from self employment reality, either.

Self Employment Ideas vs. Reality

It’s true that when self employed, you are your own boss. But it’s also a widely-held truth that you are your own worst critic, too. Successful self employment means getting paid. You will have to wow clients and customers, gain work from employers and answer to somebody at some point. You will probably have the option of working how and where you please…but you may not always work on the projects or assignments you love best. The reality of self employment is that you’ll have to make money, and that may mean doing work that isn’t particularly ideal.

What it’s Really Like to Work at Home

In other words, you may be calling the shots…but you won’t really be calling the shots. Your clients and employers will set deadlines, and have ideas about what they want - ideas which might not match yours. There may be weeks when it’s necessary to work seven days, holidays when you can’t spend every minute with friends and family and days when it seems like self employment was a bad idea. But if you have an idea that you’d like to find your own work, be your own boss and possibly earn income from your very own home, the reality of self employment may just be ideal.

Posted by KC Morgan

Shouldn’t you be compensated for being self employed? Being self employed often means doing work for free, on the promise or just the hope it might lead to a more substantially-paying gig. And sometimes, self employment means that employers suddenly vanish, refuse to hold up their end of the bargain or just completely ignore your rights. That’s when it’s time to start making them pay.

Be Compensated!

There are times when work is offered a sample, materials given under the stipulation the professional won’t be paid for providing them. But once you engage in a contract with any client or employer, be that contract written in legally-binding language or simply implied through an agreement of terms, both parties are required to hold up each end of the deal. As the self employed professional, you provide the agreed-upon materials. As the one who requested such work, they provide the agreed-upon payment. After all, you did do the work - shouldn’t you be compensated for it?

Making Them Pay

It can be very frustrating to be forced to ask for compensation that you’re rightfully due. Sometimes, employers may realistically make an error or forget what’s owed. Once the payment deadline passes, write a simple and professional e-mail making sure the assignment was received, being sure to state you’re asking because the payment has yet to arrive. This should open a dialogue about compensation. When employers seem to refuse to pay, offering excuses or reasons to put it off, try reminding them they have a contractual obligation. Sometimes, employers may refuse to acknowledge you, or refuse to pay. There are a few legal recourses for self employed professionals who are wronged in this way, but this process can be costly and time-consuming. Sometimes, you may be forced to simply take a loss.

Posted by KC Morgan

The job ad sounds great. You offer materials or services every day, or once a week, or once a month, for an agreed-upon sum. Perhaps it’s a per-word rate. Perhaps they’re going to pay you for every phone call you make, every person you sign, every click you get online for the materials you put on the Internet. But do the math first - before you agree to do anything else.

Getting Work at Home Gigs

The Internet provides a lot of unique opportunities for work at home professionals, people who want to become self employed. The dream is easier to reach than ever thanks to the expansive spread of online media, and more professionals are answering the siren song of ad revenue, pay per click, and high Web site traffic. But who’s really making the money from online successes?



Do the Math First

It’s important to read the fine print before agreeing to accept any job. Positions offering ad revenue or other pay-per-click or pay-per-call monies may provide very little actual income. Be sure to do the math first. Figure out the (approximate) amount of time it will take to complete each assignment, then figure up the amount of money received for each. Does it add up? Getting work at home gigs feels great, but getting paid what you deserve feels much better.

Posted by KC Morgan

Earning with ad revenue is not a new trend of the Internet. In fact, many professionals have been earning with ad revenue for years before there ever was a World Wide Web. However, the presence of the Internet has made this method of self employment more widely available. It’s siren song has tempted many into producing materials, waiting for weeks before receiving a cut of the money. The end result is often disappointing. Is earning with ad revenue a joke, or viable work at home opportunity?

Earning with Ad Revenue

Blogging, article-writing, page designing - there are many different ways to earn income with ad revenue. But is the end really worth the means? Establishing a highly popular blog is the stuff of Internet legend - everyone wants it, everyone says they know how to get it, and yet only a few people have ever done it. An unpopular blog is a lot of work with very little reward. So why is ad revenue so widely offered in work at home opportunities? Is this the key to self employment?

Self Employed Success

One thing is certain: the Internet is rich with ads. There are tons of different programs and ways to earn money using the Internet, and almost all of them revolve around marketing and advertising. There is money to be made, and in some cases almost anyone can learn how to earn some of it for themselves. However, establishing a strong Web presence (thus getting the high traffic which drives revenue) can be a very long and complicated affair. Don’t expect to get a gig and start making huge money from revenue right away, because in almost all cases it will take quite a bit more work than that.

Posted by KC Morgan

Ask almost any would-be freelancer, and they’ll say the same: they want to work from home by writing, earning an income and doing what they love. That all sounds fabulous, but the reality of being a freelance writer is often cold, lonely, and filled with the harshest of criticisms. Is freelance writing really the road you want to walk to self employment? Are you tough enough to take on the Internet?

Be a Freelance Writer

You know you’re a good writer, so good that you’re sure other people would pay you to just write. So, you answer some ads for jobs online. You send out resumes, you build a portfolio. You start to get some real-life writing gigs, you may even start to get some money. You get some regular readers, and suddenly the self employed dream starts to come true.

Are You Tough Enough?

If everything has an up, it also has a down. Writers who create materials for the Internet population at large are actually taking a risk every time they present a new piece. For every complimentary comment any freelance writer might receive, there are probably at least ten harshly critical comments to go with it. Every day turns into an adventure when readers start to sound off, and sometimes their comments may impugn not just the writing but the writers themselves.

You’re sitting at home, a place that should be secure, and yet these readers (and their comments) still find a way inside your e-mail, your office…your head. The more popular the writing becomes, the more likely it is these comments will arrive. As if the endless rejections writers face weren’t bad enough - now the general public is rejecting the writing, too. Are you tough enough to take it?

Posted by KC Morgan

Self employed professionals face the same concerns, the same problems and the same fears as those who work in employer-based settings, and yet the needs of those who work for themselves aren’t even so much as an afterthought when it comes to the current political and election climate. While all parties address issues of health care, none of the proposed plans do anything to help those who must support themselves without the aid of an employer. In fact, self employed professionals are rarely addressed during speeches and debates. Do politicians care about you?

Do Politicians Care About the Self Employed?

Self employment statistics show us that in 2003, there were 18.6 million self employed business out there, and those numbers have been on the rise. With nearly 20 million people, self employed professionals are truly a large demographic…and an important one. Why, then, are self employed professionals left out in the cold when it comes to political promises?



Self Employed Professionals are Rarely Addressed

The self employed may not be mentioned or addressed by politicians, but their votes are every bit as viable and important. The best way for the self employed to make their needs known is to present them, talk about them, and prove that they do in fact have voices (despite the politics).

Posted by KC Morgan

Some learn that self employment means discipline, and they count themselves out immediately. Many people find it hard to stick to a schedule, to control their own over-spending or bad habits, to simply do what they ought to do. But does a lack of self-discipline in life automatically equal a lack of self-discipline in self employment? Could you be self employed?

Test Your Own Self-Discipline

If you think that being self employed means being your own worst enemy and best friend, keeping yourself rigidly contained and on task, then you’re right. You do have to be disciplined in order to work for yourself, but you may be a better taskmaster than you might think. Want to know if you could be self employed?

Pick a week. Write out a schedule for the week - things you much do each and every single day. Be sure to choose at least three tasks for each day (all of seven days in a single week).



Could You Be Self Employed?

When the week starts, keep this list of chores close at hand. At the end of the week, when you look over your list to see how many of the tasks have been completed, you’ll have your answer. If you got all items done, without stressing yourself out unduly, then you probably have what it takes to keep yourself on-task for self employment. If not, then you may want to iron out some discipline issues before you rely on yourself alone for income.

Posted by KC Morgan

Who’s really your boss when you work at home, but depend upon others to write the checks? Sure, you created a Web site and a stunning portfolio, and you’ve managed to build up a reputation in your own field of expertise. But you still have to sell yourself, promote yourself, and pound the online pavement (so to speak) to find great jobs. Great jobs come with great (or, not-so-great) employers. So, are you the boss…or are they?

The Self Employment Authority Crisis

Even professionals who work for clients, persons who contact them about services such as consulting, might face the self employment authority crisis. You tell yourself you’re in charge, but you still have to do what they ask. Freelance writers may get told to rewrite, designers may be told to come up with an entirely new concept, performers may get booed off the stage and told they won’t receive any money. There’s always someone else to please, isn’t there? You find the work…but someone else has to be willing to pay you for what you do.

Here’s the luxury of being self employed: you get to decide which jobs to take and which jobs not to take, which clients to work for and which to tell no thanks to. If an employer asks you to do something you don’t want to do, you don’t have to do it. Sure, you won’t get paid - but that’s one of the downfalls of self employment (to everything, there is an up and a down). They may be the ones who are paying, but you’re the boss over what you do (and don’t do) with your self employment.