Why Being Self-Employed Is Better Than A 9-to-5 Job

 

INTRODUCTION

Being self-employed is an improved way of livelihood and making money—it does sound suspicious right? Nevertheless, this post will clear this suspicion and prove why self-employment is the best way to live a stress-free life. A self-managed business that you have started for yourself is no doubt the best way to make more income. It is another source to enjoy financial freedom and become your boss. To sum it up, self-employment is the most guaranteed way of having a balanced bank account and life at the same time.

We can define being self-employed in a simple definition that is working for no one else but yourself and your passion. When you are self-employed, you get to manage your income and better still; you get to choose your workspace and your working pace when you become your boss.

Imagine getting stuck in a nine-five salaried job where you don't enjoy what you do and there's no motivation to push you further. Gradually you start getting scared and tired of Monday morning, your fears start turning into depression because what you do was never part of your dream. Then you try to convince yourself to stay back because of the security the job gives you—do you know how miserable that sounds right now? It makes a person pathetic.

Has it ever crossed your imagination that:

·         Most successful and wealthy individuals you know are self-employed? Do you also know that they became that successful because they were self-employed?

·         Thankfully, technology has made it possible for almost every aspect of jobs to be handled online.

·         Owners of salaried jobs, most times treat their workers as though they are workers and not human beings?

·         If you have been procrastinating on starting your own business, this is the right time to start up something and be self-employed. If you are reading this article right now, I am certain you have come across a lot of e-books and articles that discuss a lot on home business opportunities and the likes, however, this article will be showing you convincing reasons why you should start a business of your own and why self-employment has better advantages than salaried employment. In upcoming articles, we would discuss extensively how you can start your own business, run it, and maintain it on a long-term basis.

 

THE JUICY REVELATION ABOUT SELF-EMPLOYMENT

Can you stake all you have in a bet that you know everything about being self-employed? No need because you will be shocked at all you will be learning soon. Are you aware that your routine job can be a riskier way of staying financially free when compared to self-employment? Hold your horses, don't just sit therewith an upturned nose thinking self-employment is easy and a bed of roses—you will be left disappointed if you have that sort of mindset about being self-employed.

If you are considering starting a home business or any other sort of self-employment, have it at the back of your mind that there are a lot of risks involved. In situations where you have a nine-to-five job for an instance, being self-employed could mean risking the security that comes with your steady and stable source of income—well, that’s a risk and a big one

In this section, however, we would be considering the risks related to salaried jobs and then compare those risks with risks that can be seen when one is trying to the startup, run and maintain a home business as an only source of income.

Nevertheless, have it at the back of your mind that there is absolutely nothing as peaceful as being your boss. You get to do what you love. You start living your passion to the full. You begin making returns from the value of the ideas you offer to people. And also you have full freedom to engage in other matters without having to explain your reasons to anyone.

 

SALARIED JOB RISKS VS SELF EMPLOYMENT RISKS

If you believe there are greater risks in self-employment when compared to salaried jobs well, the truth is, if you are currently in the United States as a paid worker you are taking more risks than you can ever know.

As a worker in another person’s institution, you are expected to hand over your rights to call the shots. You can never take charge of your workflow. And all these you do in the bid secure job security. You are not allowed to make meaningful inputs. When you follow a static work schedule, you fail to exercise your creativity. You are forever restricted to a certain pattern of work. You may be thinking that job security is what matters the most but here are some points to elaborate more on how substantial that is:

Your freedom of movement is taken away completely from you. You are always told when to come into the office and when to leave.

·         As mentioned earlier, your use of creativity is limited. At other times, you do not even get to exercise your potentials at all. You are told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.

·         You have no control over who you work with—whether they are qualified or not.

·         You are blamed for any failure that comes up in the course of your work. Even in situations where management should have hired external hands to make the job a success.

·         You are expected to complete tasks with unrealistic timeframes. in doing this most times, it takes up your time. Painfully, the extra time put in most times gets no additional reparation.

·         If you eventually are given the time to relax, you are told how long you can do that, when, and where you are to do it.

·         With so many of your rights sacrificed daily, you should expect to have the best as an employee right? However, that is not the case. Now ask yourself:

How many times have you written resumes while still on a job? How many times did you change jobs?

·         How many times have you being laid off without prior notice or an official notification?

·         How many times were others laid off in your workplace and you are given all the duties of the laid-off workers?

·         How many times have you worked nonstop, sacrificing your time without any compensation? How many times was your time used and you were not compensated? How many times were your rights to a good vacation sacrificed?

 

Comparison between Employed vs Self-employed

 Enough with the questions already, let us now delve into comparing the risks between self-employment and salaried jobs.

• Customers' patronage: As a self-employed person you would need to work hard and make your brand loved and known. In situations where there is no patronage, you are affected immediately. However, in the case of a salaried job, your salary still comes in even without customer's patronage and you will never get to know about this condition until you are laid off.

·         Cash flow: When there is a reduction in cash flows as a self-employed business owner, you will be the first to know, you have every right to do the needful to secure your business. In the salaried job, however, you are most times, the last person to know. In some cases, you get to know during lay-offs and you oftentimes have no right to contribute ideas to save the company.

·         Cutting Cost: In salaried jobs, you have no say over expenses made in the company. You are not to do anything even if it is affecting your salary. As a self-employed person, you can easily cut down on costs to prevent running down your business.

·         Motive: Self-employed businesses are created to make money for the owners. So, if you are self-employed, you make as much money as possible and you enjoy the benefits that come from it. In salaried jobs, however, money is made for shareholders and the executives and you are paid as little salary as possible.

·         Additional income: If your business yields additional income due to your work, you get to enjoy the additional money and benefits. When there is an additional income from your input in a salaried job, you are still paid the same agreed salary. The additional income is shared by the executives and shareholders.

·         Business relocation: As a self-employed person, your business will not relocate to any other location unless you decide to do so. In the case of the salaried jobs, you are not informed of any relocation. This simply means you do not have equal rights as the owners of the business in such an enterprise.

·         Feedbacks: In a self-employed business, you get every single feedback from your banks and customers on the health of your business, directly. In salaried jobs, you are only given access to feedbacks on the whims of the management and not directly.

·         Retirement plans: As a self-employed business owner, you work towards your retirement the way you deem necessary. In the case of a salaried job, however, you have no control over your retirement plans. It is more like you are forced to go with whatever plans the establishment has made for you concerning your retirement.

·         Business growth: The ability to successfully grow your business is fully dependent on you as a self-employed person. In salaried jobs, the growth of the business is fully dependent on the bosses and most times may depend more on politics run by the establishment than your contribution.

 

ADVANTAGES OF SELF-EMPLOYMENT OVER SALARIED JOBS

We can now go further to discuss the advantages of self-employment over salaried jobs. No doubt when a home-based self-employed business is in its initial phase, it takes a lot of patience, the careful creation of brand awareness, and also a lot of hassles that come with convincing customers to patronize your business. More often than none, it leaves you exhausted and you wonder why you had gone ahead to become self-employed in the first place. You tend to forget that self-employment is the greatest course a business person can ever engage in. In this section, we will discuss in detail why self-employment is the best.

·         You are your boss: Recall how much you detested being under someone while working in a salaried job. Try to recall the desire to be your boss; well, here you are finally. You were able to escape a monitoring boss and now you can live life as you have always wanted. Your clients suggest how your products and services should be but that is where their powers end. You are in full control of your business and you decide how it is run, beautiful, right?

·         You get to earn more: Research has it that over 45% of self-employed persons earn higher than their counterparts salaried employees. As a self-employed person, you also have the right to deduct some amount from your additional earning for personal use. This is a practice that can never be carried out as a salaried worker.

·         Saving and spending becomes convenient: Ask your salaried friends when last they were stuck in traffic and their bosses didn't make an issue of it? When last they carried out a professional job from the comfort of their homes and still earned as much as possible? Well, that is just a little part of the goodness of being self-employed. It is surely a lot of expenses when the cost of gas you spend as a salaried person moving from your home to the office is calculated. However, as a self-employed person, you are conscious when choosing a location for your business. Naturally, you would want it to be as close to your home as possible. With this, you cut down extensively on gas money. Another way you cut costs is when you save from not eating out most times since your home is close enough. Since your office is close to your home, you can easily prepare home-made dishes for yourself and your family.

·         As a salaried person, even if you have the creativity of a genius person, you have ideas that can turn the firm around or working nonstop to help increase productivity—you are most times neglected and expected to work in accordance to the manual handed over to you by the bosses. You are never expected to grow beyond your current skill. As a self-employed person, however, you meet a lot of challenges on your growth journey. This, in turn, keeps you on your toes all the time and encourages you to always update your skills. It also helps you enhance your knowledge about things.

·         No co-worker misunderstandings and troubles: Some of us are naturally loners that love working without getting bothered about a company or lack of it. I know what you are thinking, you miss your co-workers and you need them around? So you miss that guy that makes loud calls during breaks? How about those that make use of your things without letting you know? How about those that don't fail to taunt you mercilessly? You still miss them right? Worthy abolition!

·         Sick reports: Okay, so how many times have you been to the hospital when sick and you are asked if you needed a note from your doctor to report in sick? Have you not yet realized that most times as a salaried person when you report in sick, the managerial board most times record that as a lie against your name? There's naturally no time set out for you to check your health and get a little bed rest. The good news is, now that you have decided to be self-employed, you have no one to report to. You have every right to periodically check on your health and get as much rest as you need. What can be cooler than that?

·         Your workplace is genuinely yours: You need to redesign and do some interior decorations in your office space, go right on. Do you want to hang your family's picture frame on the walls? You are entirely free. Do you think you need a taller desk and not the one you are currently using? No one is stopping you. These are the sort of liberty you enjoy as a self-employed person because the workplace is entirely yours and no one else's. Now, try doing this same thing as a salaried job person, what happened when you tried? Okay, let me guess, you were pointed to the established rules and regulations guiding those 'spontaneous' ideas of yours? What were you expecting? Of course, you are not the boss of yourself.

·         Get new equipment whenever you need it: I have heard friends that come home from their salaried jobs complaining about how a piece of equipment or two was due for a change in their workplaces. About how they've written management for a change and nothing is happening. The worst part of the entire story is, they are still expected to produce the same output as they would with a piece of new and working equipment. Sad. However, it can never be heard of in a self-employment situation because you can easily change equipment to new ones if you so desire. No one would question your decision on that.

·         No uniforms: Being self-employed could be likened to be fashionable or unfashionable whichever suits you. You don't need ties, long-shirts, suits, or a particular type of trousers to sell your product to the world. Unless you are supposed to meet prospective clients in person or via video calls you can choose to dress or not to dress. It's all about your choice. The same can, however, not be said about salaried jobs as you are expected to be dressed as the management wants. You are expected to neglect your choices and your comfortability when it comes to fashion.

·         You create your schedule to suit you: Whether you are interested in flexible schedules or fixed ones, they are entirely your choice. As a self-employed person, you have all the right to create a schedule that works for you. If for instance, you are not a morning person, you can easily shift your business to operate from the times you are confident and feeling up to it. If you are an early morning person, you can also schedule your business early in the morning when your kids are still asleep and not disturbing.

·         You are no longer treated as a product on sale: As a self-employed person, you are valued and given credit for your work. With creative market campaigns and sheer hard work, you will begin to create a brand name for yourself. With that comes recognition and credits from new and existing clients and other times strangers.

·         You get to select your clients: In a salaried environment, you don't get to select who to serve. You are forced by your ruling management to serve every customer that comes your way. Whether it is an old man that yells at you for every single service or a mean woman who has no value for employees; you have no option but to serve them. However, in self-employment, you get to choose your customers, and even if you get yelled at; it simply means you have selected wrongly.

CONCLUSION

If you are contemplating starting up a home business or you already have one up and running, you now know the risks and challenges you are likely to face. However, be rest assured that a business that makes you your boss is way better than a salaried job where you have to be blamed for everything, limited on your use of creativity, make money for executives and shareholders instead of yourself, and finally, answer to a boss.

Although oftentimes, the worry and stress of life and the hassles that come with running your own business begins to wear thin the joy of being your boss. Have it at the back of your mind that the life of a self-employed person is way more fantastic. 

Making a successful niche with self-employment may take a lot of time, some hard work, dedication, doubtless money to start with, times when you may want to simply give up, and unexpected problems. But what good thing doesn't require those too?

Everything good thing entails these gears and the result, if completed, is remarkable and worth being rebellious about.