It is easy to say I'm going to leave my job and become self employed because I have a good idea. We all have commitments and bills to pay every month. So, the question is, what preparation do I need to do to get me in good shape to pursue that self-employment idea? While trying to come up with a suitable self employment idea, you might want to think about the preparation required for this big step.
1) Save, save, save
It is all a matter of discipline. People who say they have no money left a week before their paycheck is due will need to rethink their choices with money (and lifestyle). Going it alone in self employment will require a lot of drive and discipline and if you will not engage in the most basic of personal financial planning, I doubt you would ever be successful in self-employment. Self employment is not a good idea for you. As a rough guide, I think you need to save up at least 3 month's of your usual monthly expenditure before you dive into you self employment idea.
2)Simplify your life
Do you have overdrafts with 2 bank accounts and 4 credit cards with growing unpaid balances? College degrees you still haven't quite completed? Home improvements you left halfway through the project? You will probably have no time to complete these things once you start out in self employment. You will run short on time so finish things while you can and try to organise your life so it is more manageable. Consolidate bank accounts, file all your paperwork, make things easy for you when you are self employed and running the show alone.
3)Prepare your family and friends
Let your close and loved ones know that they might see less of you when you are self employed. At least for the first year. Your family needs to know that you will be working very hard and let them know why you are doing this. Try to make them understand this is something you really want for yourself and it will work out better for the family as well further down the line. It will also come as less of a shock to friends when you start cancelling on birthday parties and other social commitments.
Showing posts with label Self employment questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Self employment questions. Show all posts
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Friday, 30 October 2009
Changing Careers & Retraining for Self Employment?
Watching a documentary on Warren Buffett yesterday made me think about the length of my working life and how my self-employment idea sits within this context... I'm a Calvinist so I like the idea of being productive till the very end, doing something I enjoy. If I'm lucky enough to work until 80, that means I have almost 50 years left in my career, either employed or self-employed. (Warren Buffett is 79)
1.Do I still want to nbe working for someone else at 50, 60 or 70?
2.If I don't think my employed life is satisfying, is it too late to change careers or retrain, considering I would like to work (enjoyably) for 40 more years?
Asking myself these questions makes the idea of retraining an obvious choice to lead to self-employment if my current employment does not offer a convertible route to self-employment. It is definitely not too late for anyone under 40 to change careers and become self-employed.
The options for retraining for self-employment is quite wide. Being active in sports, I often wonder if doing something related to fitness, like becoming a self-employed fitness instructor or therapist is the right idea.
The idea of inventing something and taking it to market is even more attractive as a long term self-employment option. I'm quite certain that being an one-woman architecture practice is not quite an economically-sustainable self employment idea so changing careers and retraining is probably the best option as a self-employment idea.
1.Do I still want to nbe working for someone else at 50, 60 or 70?
2.If I don't think my employed life is satisfying, is it too late to change careers or retrain, considering I would like to work (enjoyably) for 40 more years?
Asking myself these questions makes the idea of retraining an obvious choice to lead to self-employment if my current employment does not offer a convertible route to self-employment. It is definitely not too late for anyone under 40 to change careers and become self-employed.
The options for retraining for self-employment is quite wide. Being active in sports, I often wonder if doing something related to fitness, like becoming a self-employed fitness instructor or therapist is the right idea.
The idea of inventing something and taking it to market is even more attractive as a long term self-employment option. I'm quite certain that being an one-woman architecture practice is not quite an economically-sustainable self employment idea so changing careers and retraining is probably the best option as a self-employment idea.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Self Employment in Developed Nations vs Emerging Economies
My inspiring trip to Istanbul has encouraged me to make a few important decisions about my self-employment idea - I'm going to have a serious stab at setting up my architecture practice. Apart from this, I've also come up with a few interesting theories about the idea of self-employment.
Istanbul has made me think about the differences between the proportion of self-employed vs employed in emerging economies in comparison with developed nations. Common sense dictates that a higher proportion of people in developed nations are employed because of the better employment opportunities on offer. Plus, with fairer employment laws and greater employee rights, employment is a much easier option for most people. This is the different in less-developed nations where there are fewer employment opportunities and being self-employed is in many cases the only option.
Many businesses in old Istanbul are established more than 50 years ago. For instance, the oldest Turkish delight shop in Istanbul is 232 years old (est. 1777). What's the formula for their business longevity? Apart from low operating costs and uncompromising product quality, I think it might be because there is a strong culture of self-employment there.
Being employed is a relatively new idea compared to self-employment, only becoming widespread beginning with the industrial revolution and the rise of division of labour.
People thinking of self-employment and starting up are often reminded that 80% of new businesses don't survive for more than 5 years. It conjures an image of businesses going bankrupt but I think people give up self-employment because they find after a few years that it so much easier to be employed, and not because their self-employment idea is a dead end. Therefore, do not be deterred by this statistic.
Istanbul has made me think about the differences between the proportion of self-employed vs employed in emerging economies in comparison with developed nations. Common sense dictates that a higher proportion of people in developed nations are employed because of the better employment opportunities on offer. Plus, with fairer employment laws and greater employee rights, employment is a much easier option for most people. This is the different in less-developed nations where there are fewer employment opportunities and being self-employed is in many cases the only option.
Many businesses in old Istanbul are established more than 50 years ago. For instance, the oldest Turkish delight shop in Istanbul is 232 years old (est. 1777). What's the formula for their business longevity? Apart from low operating costs and uncompromising product quality, I think it might be because there is a strong culture of self-employment there.
Being employed is a relatively new idea compared to self-employment, only becoming widespread beginning with the industrial revolution and the rise of division of labour.
People thinking of self-employment and starting up are often reminded that 80% of new businesses don't survive for more than 5 years. It conjures an image of businesses going bankrupt but I think people give up self-employment because they find after a few years that it so much easier to be employed, and not because their self-employment idea is a dead end. Therefore, do not be deterred by this statistic.
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