If you have enough of your own capital and are a good enough trader/investor, then you can make a go of it managing your own funds. If you don’t, then you need to be a good salesperson to be self-employed. You need a good balance of talent, dedication/drive, publicity, willingness to get out there and drive sales. If you have enough capital to hire staff, then you can potentially delegate the sales part, but remember that rainmakers are expensive - and for good reason. A lot of people on this board are more analytical types… if you are thinking of self-employment as a long-term plan, ask yourself if you are good at sales. Are you good at calling up people cold on the phone and letting them know about your services and following up… politely, consistently, and firmly. Maybe you are, but remember that good analytical skills and good sales skills are not necessarily correlated (you could be good at both; it’s just that one skill doesn’t help to predict the other). The primary reason that self-employed businesses fail is that demand dries up after the first few jobs are complete. Something like 80% of business startups fail by year 3. Successful entrepreneurs can often try again, so the statistic isn’t quite as bad as it looks. Just don’t underestimate what’s required to run your own business.
LPoulin133 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > This idea that you’re not your own boss because > you have to answer to people is slightly > contradictory in the sense that this meaning of > ‘boss’ you’re implying is not what most people > think of when they think of a boss’ duties or > directive. Are you trying to imply that someone > is their own boss because they answer to no one, > that a ‘boss’ should have no responsibilities or > accountability? > > In that vein, are you saying you have no one to > answer to? Are you properly relating the size of > your network of responsibilities to one of a CEO > ‘spending one’s life’ answering to people? It > seems as if there is an unfair relation there. > > Besides, we all know CEO duties are > overblown…you think Ken Lewis or Jimmy Cayne > ‘spent their lives’ appeasing anyone but > themselves? Do you not see it is only what you > make of it whether you are ‘corporate’ or not? > I think being self employed doesn’t mean you have no one to anwser to necessarily. It depends how you set things up. If you have enough money to run it yourself then yes you probably answer to only yourself. But if you are involved in providing a service for any other person/company you in a way work for multiple people. So you have control over how you set up you business (I view self employment as running your own busienss which creates a value that you can sell). You control the number of relationships you have and you control the direction your business grows in whether it is small or grows is up to you. You could answer to numberous clients or a few clients.
TheAliMan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My father has been self-employed for about 20 > years now. I’ve watched him go through really good > and bad times growing up, but he has always made a > lot of sacrifices. The way I look at it is this: > if you want work to be a source of wealth so you > can enjoy other things, then you probably > shouldn’t be working for yourself; if you want > work to be the source of your happiness, you are > probably the type of person to do your own thing. Nicely put.
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you have enough of your own capital and are a > good enough trader/investor, then you can make a > go of it managing your own funds. > > If you don’t, then you need to be a good > salesperson to be self-employed. You need a good > balance of talent, dedication/drive, publicity, > willingness to get out there and drive sales. If > you have enough capital to hire staff, then you > can potentially delegate the sales part, but > remember that rainmakers are expensive - and for > good reason. > > A lot of people on this board are more analytical > types… if you are thinking of self-employment as > a long-term plan, ask yourself if you are good at > sales. Are you good at calling up people cold on > the phone and letting them know about your > services and following up… politely, > consistently, and firmly. Maybe you are, but > remember that good analytical skills and good > sales skills are not necessarily correlated (you > could be good at both; it’s just that one skill > doesn’t help to predict the other). The primary > reason that self-employed businesses fail is that > demand dries up after the first few jobs are > complete. > > Something like 80% of business startups fail by > year 3. Successful entrepreneurs can often try > again, so the statistic isn’t quite as bad as it > looks. Just don’t underestimate what’s required > to run your own business. Good I should have read this first before posting… Well put I would add that you can be the best at something and have a great product or service but if nobody knows then you will be out of business or as they like to refer to it “under capitalized”. On the other hand if you can sell ice to an eskimo then the quality of the product or service is almost unrealte to the income you will earn. This may not be right but unfortunately it is true. Some of the most successful sales people I have seen just have some sort of gift. It is natural for them its just in their nature. With hard work though it can be duplicated but it is a shift for the analytical. We used to say that 90 percent of financial business is about people/contacts 10 percent is about the product but you better know 100% of that 10%. As an example I know of a company that has discovered compounds that inhibit the growth of cancerous tumours. Has anyone heard of it … no because it is run by an accountant and Scientists.
flynnch Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > As an example I know of a company that has > discovered compounds that inhibit the growth of > cancerous tumours. Has anyone heard of it … no > because it is run by an accountant and Scientists. That’s unfortunate. It probably also doesn’t help that there are hundreds of other specialty pharma and biotech companies as well as thousands of clinical research labs that are working to develop similar types of therapies.
Well thats why you need marketing/sales ppl 
and Ibankers, financiers who thrive on bonuses.
Yes it is a very tough environment out there but I was recently told that some companies in the sector are selling below the value of the cash in the bank. Not much I can do about it from where I sit but it sounded pretty good to me does anyone have any knowledge about these sorts of early stage bio start ups? I know they had it reviewed by the National Cancer Instiute.
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you have enough of your own capital and are a > good enough trader/investor, then you can make a > go of it managing your own funds. > > If you don’t, then you need to be a good > salesperson to be self-employed. You need a good > balance of talent, dedication/drive, publicity, > willingness to get out there and drive sales. If > you have enough capital to hire staff, then you > can potentially delegate the sales part, but > remember that rainmakers are expensive - and for > good reason. > > A lot of people on this board are more analytical > types… if you are thinking of self-employment as > a long-term plan, ask yourself if you are good at > sales. Are you good at calling up people cold on > the phone and letting them know about your > services and following up… politely, > consistently, and firmly. Maybe you are, but > remember that good analytical skills and good > sales skills are not necessarily correlated (you > could be good at both; it’s just that one skill > doesn’t help to predict the other). The primary > reason that self-employed businesses fail is that > demand dries up after the first few jobs are > complete. > > Something like 80% of business startups fail by > year 3. Successful entrepreneurs can often try > again, so the statistic isn’t quite as bad as it > looks. Just don’t underestimate what’s required > to run your own business. This reminds me so much of the 10 Roads to Riches by Ken Fisher
For me, no matter what you’re doing (job, career, self-employed), everything revolves around five pillars (in no particular order): 1. Job satisfaction - Are you passionate about what you do? Do you enjoy it? Does it feel like work or is it something you would enjoy regardless of compensation? 2. Compensation - This should include all compensation, both cash and benefits, and should be normalized on a per/hour basis. $100k for 100 hours a week is no better than $50k for 50 hours a week. You should also consider how highly correlated your performance is with your pay. 3. Education - Is the job providing you with the skills/experience you seek? Are you exposed to clients or projects that are in your long-term interests? 4. Flexibility/work-life balance - Do you dictate your own schedule or are you on someone elses clock? Can you choose to work less, knowing that you’ll make less? 5. Influence/control - How much do you influence the strategy and execution? Are you forced to accept the status quo or can you implement improvement? Each of these will carry a different level of importance for everyone. Until you reach a certain level as an entrepreneur, everything is give and take. I think in the long run, though, it is possible to achieve satisfaction in all five.
jond2062 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > 4. Flexibility/work-life balance - Do you dictate > your own schedule or are you on someone elses > clock? Can you choose to work less, knowing that > you’ll make less? > > People sometimes think that being self employed instantly allows this but it is not necessarily the case. If the buck stops with you then for a time at the start and from time to time there after you may not be able to say no and when everyone goes home to their family you have to make sure things get done.
flynnch Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > jond2062 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > > > 4. Flexibility/work-life balance - Do you > dictate > > your own schedule or are you on someone elses > > clock? Can you choose to work less, knowing > that > > you’ll make less? > > > > > > People sometimes think that being self employed > instantly allows this but it is not necessarily > the case. If the buck stops with you then for a > time at the start and from time to time there > after you may not be able to say no and when > everyone goes home to their family you have to > make sure things get done. You hit the nail on the head. Flexibility as an entrepreneur can come and go, and at the outset may be very limited. I guess for people who are in demanding client serving roles, however, the prospect of flexibility down the road is well worth the sacrifice of entrepreneurship (at least for me it is). If anyone has ideas they want to discuss, hit me up: jond2062 at gmail dot com
I would like to point out, even when you “work for yourself” or have your own business (however you want to call it)…you still report to someone. That someone is the customer. So instead of worrying about being fired, your concern just shifts to losing customers. I have a side business (two actually) I run while also working (they account for about 40% of my income annually…which is not big dollars) and all that happens is I have no one else to blame if things screw up in that business, but I feel just as accountable, just as much pressure, etc to perform, come thru, etc as I do at my “day job”.
kevinf12 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I would like to point out, even when you “work for > yourself” or have your own business (however you > want to call it)…you still report to someone. > That someone is the customer. So instead of > worrying about being fired, your concern just > shifts to losing customers. > > I have a side business (two actually) I run while > also working (they account for about 40% of my > income annually…which is not big dollars) and > all that happens is I have no one else to blame if > things screw up in that business, but I feel just > as accountable, just as much pressure, etc to > perform, come thru, etc as I do at my “day job”. The beauty here (for me anyways) is that if you have one employer and they decide you’re gone then your income is decreased by 100% (hopefully only temporarily). If you are self employed and for exapmle say you have 100 distinct customers each representing 1% of your gross income. If one decides to change then you are less affected as it is a natural progression to move on and hopefuilly up to the next customer. I always saw it as increase job security because you are constantly dealing with some turn over so it becomes a normal course of day to day business. Your overall reputation is more important than how one person feels about you. You can try to please everyone but there are just some people that you can’t work with no matter what you do and there are some people that you just don’t want to work with.
Well said, flynnch. A lot of people believe starting a business is 100x riskier than working at a company, but is it really? I feel paranoid working at a job where my income can go down -100% at any time.
“I always saw it as increase job security because you are constantly dealing with some turn over so it becomes a normal course of day to day business. Your overall reputation is more important than how one person feels about you. You can try to please everyone but there are just some people that you can’t work with no matter what you do and there are some people that you just don’t want to work with.” That is one major upside…choosing who you want to deal with. I have a few customers that became such a pain that I basically just gave up the business. Plus, in my service business I can price it to reflect how busy my schedule is…so if I dont really want much work I just charge a higher rate and that tends to take care of itself. And while there is some ability to scale down your income under your control and not have it be an all or nothing deal, I would be kidding myself if I didnt think there was still that same risk of 100% loss of income no matter how hard I try. There could be plenty of reasons (lawsuits to name one) your business stops cold…
While it is of course possible for some event to remove your income. I could be wrong but I have always felt more control over that than the whims of a manager or corporate downsizing. It can be hard to get rid of those tough clients and more difficult to say no to them when you are starting out but the negative effect of a poor cleint on you and your business is almost impossible to calculate. It doesn’t happen all the time but I have said no to business and I have asked people to leave because I just wasn’t capable of giving them the service that the required. Not that I think anybody else could as they were more suited to the do it yourself world.