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Yes and no. When we operated our own printing co. in the 80s---yes, it was like that. We worked for our clients
And that's who you worked for. Your clients.
Money just didn't fall out of the sky.
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You do need an certain mind-set for the entrepreneur life.
And the mindset is serve your customer/client. You work for them. It is their money that pays you.
Money just didn't fall out of the sky.
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When we were building spec houses, there was NO client. We were just doing it for ourselves and if someone wanted to buy it, fine.
Again, the same principle. The money didn't just fall out of the sky.
You worked for your buyer.
They were your client.
Would you create a spec house, designed in such a way that someone who does not exist would want it?
Of course not. That's a waste.
Would you design a house that would be so freaking expense to build that there was no profit?
Of course not.
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answering to only ourselves.
No, you're not answering only to yourself.
You answered to what buyers wanted. You built a spec house that would bring a lot of money and meet market needs.
You answered to the market and economics. You didn't spend more money than it would take to make the sale profitable.
Seriously, would you not bother to research what the market wanted? (I.e. what other people want)? Of course you would do the research!
So again, this saying "you work for yourself" is false. It does not reflect the reality of entrepreneurship - you are to serve the customer/client and that money doesn't drop out of the sky.
My father was a manufacturer's rep so I had a front row view of that for pretty much my whole life. It suited my father, but honestly I never want to work as much as he did. Some of that was a choice, he enjoyed his work and didn't really have other hobbies. But some was a necessity, the way it is for anyone who owns their own business, particularly if that business is big enough to have additional employees.
I prefer being an employee and having other people take care of bringing in business and keeping the electricity on and providing a salary and benefits to their employees and all the rest of it.
It's similar to when my son was little and I chose to use a daycare center - that meant that staffing was someone else's problem, and I wasn't left scrambling if a nanny called to say their car broke down or they were sick, someone else had to fix that problem.
Many times my husband and I wish we weren't both self employed in the same family business, but at least 1 of us back working for someone else. Covid turned our industry upside down.
Many of the manufacturer's reps who sold to us over the years got let go by their companies and others barely hung on.
It is what it is, we're too invested to walk away so we have to keep going.
I like my current situation better than both ends expressed here, which is WFH with a flex schedule for an employer.
I don't have to hustle for work - it's there for me. This week, next week, next year. Sure, I could get laid off but I doubt the odds of that are any greater than a market downturn for a self-proprietorship. In any event, it's all or none. The work and pay is there, until it won't be at all. I've known business owners get dragged down for years in a half and half situation, not doing well enough to really be content but not doing poorly enough to cut the cord and move on to something else.
I work hard but I have plenty of flexibility. Sure, there are certain meetings and deadlines that require focus but I've spent 5 weeks in Cozumel this year working from the hotel and another week at a vacation house on a river. I'm not chained to my employer's business hours either. After I type this I think I'll take a nap. I've got 4 hours in already and I'll easily get another 4, or maybe 6 today. Who knows? Maybe I'll log 12 today and take off a half day Friday. Many business owners are chained to their own business hours.
I also have the security of knowing I will get paid for my hours worked. At the end of an hour worked I know that I'll be receiving a guaranteed amount of money for that hour. You don't have that being self-employed. You might work 80 hours per week and still lose money.
If for some reason I no longer like the job I am doing or the boss/employer I'm doing it for, I can change that. It might take a month or two or I might be able to do it in a day. I have zero capital investment in my job. If you decide you don't like running your own business anymore, you probably just can't turn on a dime and walk away.
I think being happier working for yourself is predicated on the assumption that you are financially successful. I can't imagine anyone feeling very happy while running a failing business.
Pro :. You can't fire yourself
Cons: no vacation/sick time
Loans : yeah, lien on house to keep business afloat.
Legal fees. Insurance. Travel expense. Marketing.
Not a thing about being self employed is salivating these taste buds to make it on my own. Kudos to folks marketing their unique or inventive ideas! I do support that tenacity.
As an employee, you work for 1 boss.
As an entrepreneur, you work for multiple bosses - each client/customer is your boss.
The only people who work for themselves are the independently wealthy.
Very true.
As a visually impaired person, I worked for different places but found quiet discrimination especially with other females. With everything, it's who you know.
Funny story - one year the large computer firm had their usual Christimas party. I decided to go, get really dressed up (1980's) and no one there recognized me except 2 people. One of the head guys was after me and he had no clue. Well, that was my acting for my lifetime.
There were pictures later on (during the work days) and I was in them. Still, no one caught on but I told a few people after that and they were shocked. So, I guess looking back I could have played that game.
I met my husband through a friend there though so that was why I was there at time.
I've been self employed most of my life and I cannot envision working for someone else.
OP, you got nothing out of working your jobs? Didn't you get wages and benefits? That's what you signed up for.
Sounds more like OP wanted a job that meant something to him, which he found when he worked for himself. If you get paid bimonthly, it's a miserable rest of the month when it's not a pay day. Money and benefits aren't everything if daily life is a dread.
I think it takes a special type of person to be self employed. If you lose your job and decide "maybe I'll try and be self employed" you're prob not going to like it. But if you've spent the last 5 years dreaming about how you can branch out and imagine the feeling of creating your own business, less worried about the money then it might be for you.
I'm in commercial lending and there are a lot of brokers out there who make big money and have all the freedom in the world. Thing is it takes A LOT of work at the start. So you really need to go into it with a book of business well established confident that you're contacts will stop working with the big bank and start working with little you. But if you can make it happen it's the best gig in the world. There are guys literally making $300k because they brokered $6,000,000 worth of business, which really isn't much in the world of commercial lending.
And that's who you worked for. Your clients.
Money just didn't fall out of the sky.
And the mindset is serve your customer/client. You work for them. It is their money that pays you.
Money just didn't fall out of the sky.
Again, the same principle. The money didn't just fall out of the sky.
You worked for your buyer.
They were your client.
Would you create a spec house, designed in such a way that someone who does not exist would want it?
Of course not. That's a waste.
Would you design a house that would be so freaking expense to build that there was no profit?
Of course not.
No, you're not answering only to yourself.
You answered to what buyers wanted. You built a spec house that would bring a lot of money and meet market needs.
You answered to the market and economics. You didn't spend more money than it would take to make the sale profitable.
Seriously, would you not bother to research what the market wanted? (I.e. what other people want)? Of course you would do the research!
So again, this saying "you work for yourself" is false. It does not reflect the reality of entrepreneurship - you are to serve the customer/client and that money doesn't drop out of the sky.
Well, you sort of have it right. Self employment means you can pick and choose your jobs. When you work for someone else you can’t pick and choose your jobs. The people that do the picking and choosing hand it off to you to do the work. And that sometimes means you get to deal with some really unpleasant people.
Late husband and I owned a janitorial company. We worked exclusively at HOAs.
Our clients, the board, the property managers tended to be reasonable. The homeowners in the said HOA’s sometimes were not. Often were bat crap crazy.
But let me tell you, I did run into a number of managers who would ask us to give them a bid on their property, and occasionally we would find one who was not worth dealing with.
We were going around a property, given access by the property manager. The board president came out and questioned us and started asking us for stuff that was absolutely none of his business until we were working there, and he was obviously deranged.
He required a check in and a check out. We were not to be on the property unless he was there to supervise. We had to use the time clock and give him five hours. Twice a week.
This was a once a week property easily and about two hours with the two of us. Not to mention, we have a schedule — we don’t work to their schedule, we work to our schedule. Period. And, nobody supervises me. I have a list of duties to do, I do those duties and then I leave.
None of this we brought up with him because frankly, it was none of his business. Until we are contracted in somewhere after writing a full proposal, what we do is not his business.
My late husband simply did not deal with people. He looked at the man, showed him the keys and walked off.
I excused myself because my job was with the husband so I could take notes so we could come up with a proposal and when he got the proposal then we could negotiate. He refused to leave us alone.
We called the property manager and I asked so do you just need a third bid, and he said yes, so we gave him a bid that we knew they’d never take. My husband had such a good time writing that bid. If I recall correctly he actually added a fee for dealing with the board president. That added about $1200 to the month.
And that to me is the beauty of self-employment. If someone decides to lose their brain cells and go off on me, we had enough business we could walk away. And we did, and usually replaced them very easily.
So does money fall from the sky no, and in the interest of customer service yes you’re right I had people I had to call to. But I never felt like I worked for them. I worked with them. That to me is the biggest difference. And the last property that we dumped was because they were asking me to work for them, not with them and trying to make me do things that I was not comfortable with and was out of the realm of what I was supposed to do. I cannot tell you how many times I had to tell them that “my insurance coverage would not let me do that”.
I am retired on SS with no other extra income than what a few side gigs bring in. I enjoy them ok as they keep me from having to be on an employer's leash. I can't stand that anymore after years of it. I am one of those who never really found satisfying work. I had a few fulfilling jobs but those kinds of jobs are long gone.If Inever had to go out and earning money again I'd be perfectly happy. I lack any courage and confidence to pursue things that I think about doing. I am just tired of it all and really don't care anymore. The world has changed and I cannot keep up. I could see myself living like the people in "Nomad Land" but I think even their version of the world has been eradicated.
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You said it right there...
Solly says — Be nice!
