Is Self-Employment Right for You?

These days, if you’re sick of the nine-to-five routine, and answering to a boss every day, then you can always consider taking a different route. You don’t necessarily need to go through the stress of launching your own company to have more freedom. Instead, you can consider going self-employed, and becoming a sole trader in the niche that you specialize in. 

A self-employed lifestyle can give you endless opportunities to pursue the things in life that matter to you most. However, it’s worth noting that there are challenges to this kind of employment too. For instance, you’ll never be 100% sure whether you’re going to get enough money to pay your bills each month. Additionally, you may need to find extra cash to get your venture off the ground. 

So, is self-employment right for you?

The Pros and Cons of being Self-Employed

A lot of people dream of being their own boss. There’s something exciting about the idea of being able to choose your own hours, as well as your own clients, and the projects that you work on. Self-employment has numerous perks, including:

• You don’t have to answer to a boss – you call the shots in your career.
• You can create the perfect job doing what you love most.
• You can work the hours that you choose, fitting thins around your personal life.
• You can work from home, so you don’t have to commute to work.
• You don’t need to ask for time off when you need it, you can just take a break.
• You can turn down work that isn’t right for you.

Additionally, as a self-employed person, you can increase your earning capacity because there’s no-one taking a cut of what you earn – except for the taxman. 

However, there are downsides to being self-employed too. For instance, no-one but you is going to be thinking about your retirement or helping you to plan for the future. Additionally, you need to deal with all your taxes yourself. At the same time, while you can reject any client you don’t want to work with, the more you reject, the less money you make. You’ll need to be constantly searching for new earning opportunities. 

Can You Afford to be Self-Employed?

The easiest way to decide whether self-employment is right for you is to figure out whether it’s a lifestyle that you can afford. Not only do you spend longer hours at work when you’re self-employed, looking for chances to earn, but you’ll also have days when you might not be able to find any money at all. This could mean that there are certain months when you struggle to pay your bills. 

Because of this, it’s often a good idea to make sure that you go into your self-employed lifestyle with a safety net of emergency savings underneath you that you can fall into – just in case. Additionally, it’s also worth noting that no matter how simple your self-employed business it, there’s a good chance that you’re going to need to invest something into it to get it off the ground.

Even if you’re writing blogs from the comfort of your own home, you’ll need to find the money to convert your spare room into an office so that you have somewhere that you can work. You’ll also need money for a fast computer that you can rely on, and an internet connection that’s strong enough to support your work life every day. Sometimes, you might even need to consider taking out a loan so you can afford the initial expenses of your new working style. 

Exploring the World of Self-Employment

Being self-employed might mean that you have more freedom in what you do and when you do it. However, there are down sides too. You’ll be working more hours than you did when you had a boss, and you’ll find that you deal with a lot more stress, as you always need to think about how you can earn more money and keep cash rolling in. 

Additionally, even if you find the money to get your new work-life off the ground, there’s nothing to guarantee that you’ll make a profit every month. It’s a world apart from having the guaranteed security of a monthly income. However, if you can get this work routine down, then you could potentially earn more, accomplish incredible things, and get the job of your dreams as a self-employed individual. Just don’t expect the road to success to be simple.