Do you Have What It Takes To Be Self Employed?

Its the end of the week and for some self employed techies it may have been a hard one. I am usually the first person to tell someone to follow their dreams however some people need a reality check. Working for yourself is much harder than most nine-to-five workers think.

Sure, people who are self employed don’t have a boss whipping them all week and they can essentially choose their own hours of work, but being self employed is so much more than that. When you stop “working for the man” and go it on your own you have to become the technician, secretary, manager, marketer, salesman, entrepreneur and accountant. You get no sick pay, holiday pay or overtime, in fact there will be times where you will have to put in many hours of work and not get paid to fix up a mistake or have a client refuse to pay you.

I find the best way to spot someone who has the potential to go it alone is to see whether they can manage their money or not. For example, some people will earn $700 this week at their 9 to 5 job, and that will become the amount of money they spend that week.

Someone who has what it takes to become self employed will either save or look for a way to invest that money and turn it into more money. That person will have no problems putting away 3 – 6 months of living costs in case they get sick without the desire to buy a new 60 inch plasma television with it.

However, to be successful in business it isn’t always about saving, its also about spending. Everyone knows the old saying of “it takes money to make money” and its usually true. That doesn’t mean that you should spend lots of money on new office equipment, its about spending money wisely and only spending on items that make you more money.

I personally look at business as planting $1 in the soil and watching it grow into $10. I’ll spend $100 on advertising and it may turn into $1000 worth of work. However, buying brand spanking new office equipment wouldn’t provide that sort of return on investment, nor will that 60 inch plasma television that is desired by so many.

Can you motivate yourself? Can you manage your own money? Do you have any savings? Do you love what you do? If not, then maybe becoming self employed isn’t for you.