Why Do Individuals Go for Self Employment?

Self employment can be categorized within the form of the status in the labor market that can cover a vast range of activities. There are various reasons as to why individuals may go for the option of self employment and this is why the group might be heterogeneous. On the one end, the self employed individual can be seen as a single, entrepreneurial employee having micro businesses whereas, on the other end, a possible spectrum is that a group may comprise those people who tend to fail in finding an appropriate paid employment prevailing within the current market conditions. For instance, those who require working in flexible hours might rightly select it as way of earning an income in case a paid contract of employment that is offering enough flexibility is unavailable. There are others who consider this idea as the only alternative to unemployment.

In order to gain an insight of all the positive reasons that are attributed to those individuals who go for self employment, there is a vast range of motivations that requires consideration. These motivational factors might include the desire of self expression, for status, for independence or for any financial benefit.

Broadly speaking, this concept can be categorized within two sections:

· Individuals who go for self employment for voluntarily purposes such as to attain job satisfaction, independence as well as to earn higher returns, and;

· Individual who have been forced to enter into self employment simply because they do not find any other attractive opportunity.

In case, the motivation behind self employment of an individual is the former one, than the entire scenario can be viewed positively as it will offer the individuals an opportunity to increase the quality of living along with exploring different entrepreneurial opportunities. On the other hand, if an individual enters for any negative reasons or is forced within self employment then there are chances that the individual will be unwittingly encouraged to launch work opportunities or business ventures that are not only poorly resourced but, are ill-prepared as well. Such a situation might also result in a delayed transition towards unemployment.

Why is self employment growing?

There are many reasons to which the growth of self employment can be attributed to and below mentioned are some of the most common reasons:

· The number of people seeking full time employment jobs are quite higher as compared to the number of jobs available in the in the industry.

· Outsourcing of labor cuts a great deal of costs of the employers.

· Improved level of productivity as well as rapid increment in technological advancements tends to replace many jobs.

· The requirement to have flexible working time can be found in many working parents as well as in other individuals.

· The stripping of a whole management layer now holds very less opportunities for advancements.

· The advancement of the internet technology has made the idea of self employment accessible as well as low cost area to enter.

· Younger generation requires more freedom in their work and this is abundantly present in being self employed.

· It can be a part of your portfolio career in addition to your part time job.

Should you try self employment? What to consider?

It is the dream of many people to become a boss one day - by being self employed. But, the question is as to whether self employment is the right option for you or not?

Talking about the positive side, opting to this concept will allow you to be more flexible as well as freedom in your work through which you will be able to make your own decisions. Moreover, if your self employment plan is home based or if you are working from near your home, than it is considered to be a better commute. In addition to the positives, there are negative factors as well which might include the risk of extra stress risk, unpredictable income and most importantly the challenge to attain benefits on your own. You can consider about its pros and cons in a way that if you fall in this category, you go plan a vacation at anytime you want being its pros whereas, the con side will be that no one will be paying you for that trip.

If you want to work for yourself, discussing the topic with other people who are ether willing to start one of their own businesses or are conducting the affairs of a business similar to the one you are planning will be a good idea. Moreover, making a good amount of research of the market in which you are planning to enter along with its related matters such as tax obligations and record keeping will make the task easier.

On the other hand, even if you are planning to start a one-man business such as a graphic designer or a handyman after you have sought some experience in the field; there is still lot to be learnt about the practicalities of being self employed. Following mentioned are some points to consider when one is opted to this concept:

· How much flexibility you can show and what level of comfort you can show when dealing with an uncertain situation. What are your thoughts about the fact when you ought to have various tasks within your work?

· What is the amount of your fixed expenses and what type of resources as well as financial safety you have in your household (household income or savings)?

· What is the growth rate of the market segment in which you are deciding to enter?

· What are your thoughts about marketing and selling yourself as well as your business?

· Do you have the qualities of being self disciplined and self motivated?

· What is your competitive advantage and who will be the rivals in the market?

· Do you hold enough knowledge and information about business topics and market resources?

· How can you test your business plan? Are there any ways through which your business model can be tested initially so as to know whether the plan will work or not?

· Have you prepared an estimate as to what amount of capital will be required to start your business and whether you will be able to pay living expenses of you and your family during the launching phase of your work? Do you have that required amount of capital? If no, then how will you obtain it? Have you drafted any plan about what will you do if your expenses exceed your income than was forecasted?

Why Should I Be Self Employed?

Are you looking for an opportunity to become self employed and be your own boss? Being a boss to own can be a very big decision especially if your routine has been to work for someone else and have a steady amount of salary every month. The question as to why should I be self employed is supported with many reasons or you can also refer them to be the pros of being self employed.

· You have your fate in your hand. You have the freedom to make your decisions as this opportunity is absent in a regular 9 to 5 job in which you really cannot select what to do, why and when.

· You have the opportunity to do what you have been dreaming of. Since all the affairs are in your own hand, you are free to make those decisions to which you have always wished for your own.

· Your earnings depend upon your performance and there is an opportunity to earn as much or as little as possible. There is more freedom to work as well as rest depending on what you feel.

· You will be able to spend quality time with your family members and friends.

· Your work schedule is flexible and can be designed to adjust with your needs and requirements.

· You can control your level of development. For instance, you can learn and work on aspects which you have interest in rather in those areas in which your boss is interested in.

· A successful setup of your own can bring you pride.

· You have the opportunity to follow your dreams.

· The working hours are quite flexible however, remember that the more you work the more you can earn.

Facts to remember

· Motivation is the key towards opting a successful self employment plan. If you want to become successful, you will have to put in some extra hard work.

· You will be held responsible for all your actions and its consequences unless you go for a partnership concern in which all the partners will be held liable.

· Networking on both online and offline courses will be important.

Self employment is considered to be a life changing decision, so, it is very important that you look into every aspect and then start your work so as to become successfully self employed.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Atif_Mumtaz_Khan/2161611

You Are Handcuffed by Your Reality, And It Sucks

Your reality has you handcuffed and you have stalled, flat lined, maybe even started the slow, easy spiral of death. Death caused by living in your current reality vs. living in the future.

I have been fortunate to spend time with some very successful people in the last few years. One common trait that they ALL have is they do not live in the past (ever), or even the present... they live in the future. They tell me about what they are going to do, what's next for them and they want to only talk about the same topics with me. What am I going to do? What's the next big thing I'm working on? What does my future look like?

I balked at this line of thinking for many, many years. I thought I would only be viewed for my actual accomplishments vs. my dreams, and I was wrong. The only people who want to talk about what you have already done are people who have not achieved what you have. The players, the influencers, the billionaires want to talk about the future. Stop worrying about if you have accomplished enough to gain influence. Start building your future, and don't be afraid to tell the world about it.

Here is my action plan to bust you out of your current reality and get you building a new one: 

1. You need to dream. Just sit back, put your feet up and dream. Dream about anything you want. A new home in Malibu, a dream vacation climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, a supermodel spouse, whatever... the crazier the better.
2. Write it down on paper. Something happens when the pen hits the paper... you get closer to reaching your dreams... they start to become goals.
3. Print physical pictures of it. I want to start to see pictures of your dreams on your bathroom mirror, on the rear view mirror of your car, in your wallet for you to see every time you open it.
4. Take Action. Call the real estate agent and tell her you want to go see $2,000,000 homes. It doesn't matter that you can't afford it. You need to see your future, and you will want to know the size of your new closet and kitchen island and pool with a swim up bar.
5. Run the #'s. Figure out how you are going to get there. How many deals, how many sales, how much income per month (after taxes), how much will you need to make to afford your dreams.
6. ANYTHING LEGAL... ANYTHING. Now do anything legal... anything to make yours dreams a reality. Because once you reach them, you will want to recalibrate at the new levels and do this process all over again.

Remember, the players already know you are good, that's why you have their attention. Don't bore them with your past or your present. They get excited about your future and you should too.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Matt_Manero/2187044

This ONE Thing Can Help Your Business Succeed

Man, do I have a passion. Well, maybe I'm starting a little too far along in the story here - let's roll back the clock a little bit so you can see where I'm coming from.

I was watching TV the other day and I caught the end of a show about some investors looking to finance the next big product or company. The premise involves amateur inventors and entrepreneurs who try to achieve the American Dream by getting one of these super-rich investors to agree to go in on their ideas - usually with a sizable investment that would allow the entrepreneur to scale their operation in a big way or just launch their product.

During this particular episode, one of the investors was intrigued by the entrepreneurs' idea, which would do something great for some poor people in Africa while providing a quality product to American consumers at a reasonable price. But this investor, however moved he may have been, responded with something that rang so true I wish I could repeat it to every single investor I meet without coming off as rude or preachy.

What did he say? It was something in the vein of, "this is great and it warms my heart, but HOW WILL IT MAKE ME MONEY?"

Now, before you whip out your list of expletives and email them to me (and compare me to a heartless money monger), let me explain why I think this is a crucial question to ask yourself if you are a serious entrepreneur.

I know most of us have a many things we're passionate about. Some of these things run so deep in our veins that we feel compelled to make a business out of it. Generally, there's nothing wrong with that. If you like to get creative with people's hair or makeup, you may want to open a beauty salon or start a cosmetology business. When I was a kid I met a guy so passionate about baseball cards and comic books that he opened a local "Cards and Comics" store (this is where I met him). I loved going there because this guy knew his stuff. He knew everything that was going on in the various series of comics, and he knew which baseball cards would be the next best ones to save in a hard plastic display case.

I remember wanting to buy some cards off of him, and he wanted more than the cards were worth, because he said Darryl Strawberry and a few others were going to be HUGE.

Here's the problem with this guy's business, though: he was too passionate about the business and not passionate enough about making money. There was no question that this guy knew his stuff - he knew the product inside and out - but he didn't know his business inside and out. The sad reality is that the best he could ever hope for, like the cosmetician or hairstylist, is to make a living, rather than make serious money. And again, if that's what makes you happiest, then that's almost all you'll ever need. Maybe the people on that show I mentioned could start a nonprofit to help these African ladies and they could feel fulfilled for the rest of their lives. But... to make it big, this "Cards and Comics" guy, named Rob, needed to focus more on growing his business.

I found out much later in life that eventually Rob closed shop in the early 2000's, which serves as proof of his biggest mistake. The key here is that, even a small business needs a plan for at least some growth. Even if to offset any unforseeables like a lawsuit, government regulation, or whatever. But his passion for baseball cards and comic books made him blind to shortcomings in his business. I'm willing to bet that, on a bad month, he convinced himself that the next big "crossover event" in a popular comic book would dig him out of a hole. Or perhaps the next Mickey Mantle would have a special limited edition card that would bring him a big payoff and keep him in the black.

His passion for the sport and the comics, however, blinded him to the possibility of Darryl Strawberry having substance abuse issues, or to Jose Canseco writing a bestselling book naming several top players as anabolic steroid users - which, of course, made many of these players lose all credibility as great athletes. So, cards that could have been worth thousands today, are worth $150 or less. Now, that may sound like a pretty good return on a card that only cost a few cents, but we can't ignore the time value of money, nor the harsh reality of inflation.

The big takeaway here is that if you have a passion that drives you to open a business, you first need to have an honest soul-searching introspection to determine if your business idea is one that can truly make you a millionaire or if your passion for the product or service would overtake your passion for making money. If it's the latter, you may be dooming yourself to becoming part of that infamous "80% of businesses fail" statistic - and nobody wants that.

For more entrepreneurial direction, swing by [http://headlesshammerhead.com] for tips, resources, and other useful stuff!

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Giovanni_V_Crisan/2309270

Put Your Hands on My Baby: Learning to Trust the Experts

"You don't have success unless you take someone with you."

-Napoleon Hill

Although the quote above may have you think this post will contradict my previous article about letting go, it really won't. I'll start as usual: with a story.

Many years ago, I had a friend who opened a women's gym in a relatively small town. He had moderate success, even though he would never become wealthy running just one gym. He later admitted that he'd opened the gym to try and meet beautiful women (which is just as stupid a reason as you can imagine for going into business). Anyway, he wanted to cut costs as much as possible, and taught all the classes, and he handled all of the departments in the gym, like Accounting, Inventory, Legal, etc.

I'm sure you probably already know where I'm going with this, and you may think that you would not commit these mistakes yourself, but sometimes the reality of running a small business is that you have to wear all the hats if you can't afford to have someone else wear them. In a bout of desperation, you may choose to go the cheap way and do everything yourself. Avoid the temptation!

The first thing to ask yourself if faced with this issue of having to do everything yourself is, did I plan for this in my business plan? If your answer is no, then you need to go back and spend several hours or days researching and planning for this event. This is not easy, as your mind and ego (we all have them!) will try and convince you that you can do it, no sweat. Take the time to research the position you're planning to take on - what responsibilities and skills will be needed.

A good method of getting quick answers for this is to look on job boards. So, for example, if you're planning on handling your own accounting, look on accounting job boards and find out what you need to know for the position. Learn about SAP, AP, AR, Payroll, Taxes, etc. After you've researched these things, honestly ask yourself if you'd feel comfortable going on an interview for one of those positions you saw online. If your answer is no, or you have a doubt as to whether you could answer any questions the employer would ask you, then you're not ready to handle that skill.

The second thing you'll need to do is ask yourself if you have enough time to handle all the tasks. My women's gym friend was teaching aerobics, cardio kickboxing, basic yoga, and doing personal training, and he also had to handle inventory, accounting, cleaning, legal, marketing, management, reports and general clerical (contracts!), as well as IT and maintenance for the equipment.

Realistically, he couldn't handle all of that by himself in a 24-hour day without doing a crappy job.

Finally, you need accept the reality of your situation and suck it up. Some of the skilled jobs need to be handled by someone else. The easy stuff, like cleaning, you'll need to do yourself. That's easy. But if you're not a natural manager, or an accountant, or you don't know all the laws in your municipality (city, county, state, etc.), hire someone to do it - someone who is an expert. And it's extremely important to remember to let go and trust your people, always. Don't hire someone if you're going to micromanage them, because that would completely defeat the purpose, and it will take up more of your time than if you had done the work yourself.

If you have any comments, questions, or would like me to send you a list of resources that can help you decide on who and how to hire someone to perform a specific function of your business, please email me at HeadlessHammerhead@gmail.com, or visit [http://headlesshammerhead.com].

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Giovanni_V_Crisan/2309270

Bringing An App To Market

The App market has always been popular especially as a marketing tool for businesses but for many it has seemed out of reach, even if you have a fantastic idea for an App, many people have no idea where to start, who will build the app and even if they can afford to pay for an App to be built.

There are different categories of Apps and these include Games, Social networking, lifestyle which may include dating and travel, productivity, News, Entertainment and the utilities Apps which may contain notepads, calculators, anything that may make a function easier. It isn't so much about coming up with a new idea but making an old one better.

The kids App market is hugely popular and there is a massive scope for both Game Apps and educational Apps with developers combining the two and creating educational Games. The other markets that are proving popular are videos, it is estimated that we watch videos for an estimated time of 16 minutes every month.

It isn't cheap to have an App built although it is certainly easier than it once was and there are many new developing companies emerging that can help you through the process. Many businesses can justify the cost because it replaces many marketing and advertising strategies the company already has and it adds to the communication between the Business and the customer. There are very few businesses now that haven't got their own App or are seriously thinking of investing in the process. Many companies also have an in house developer who can help with the process hence cutting the costs quite considerably.

If you have a great idea for an App one of the first things you will consider is the cost but don't let that get in the way of you seriously thinking about it. If you want to start your own App business and have thought for some time about bringing an app to the Market there are many resources out there that can give you a rough idea of what the App will cost. There are also some really good sites that will allow you to build your app without coding which is a relatively new concept. Whatever you choose to do, developing your App idea can be a possibility if you want it to be, with a little hard work and lots of research, you could bring your own app to market with great success.

Marcetme is an online resource for those with a business idea, a business or those that want to get ideas and connect with others in their chosen field. Users can advertise their products, business and services as well as chat with other users.

http://www.marcetme.com

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Claire_Warrington/2289604

2 Reasons Why Business Plans Will Never Disappear

After graduating with an MBA, I thought I had figured out the way to ensure entrepreneurial business success. Up to this time, I had failed twice in operating a pair of businesses (an online travel agency and a network marketing business). One of the things that I did not value during this time was having a clear and focused plan. The courses I took taught me about business plans, but did not make clear the value of having a comprehensive. Over ten years later and various opportunities of working with and for entrepreneurs in addition to operating a consulting business, I've come to realize that without a clear and focused business plan, the owner and / or investor is well on his or her way to a quick dissolution and a possible material decrease in personal net worth. The purpose of this article is to reinforce the importance of taking the time to create a solid business plan and initiating the action to make it a reality.

Reason 1: Is the Business Opportunity Valid?

Too many times I've had the unfortunate privilege of talking about entrepreneurial opportunities with aspiring business owners with the only goal being the desire to make money. Don't get me wrong, making money is great provided the motivation is right. Making money for the sake of having it only is a dead-end plan.

The business plan motivates one to give critical thought and time to a viable market opportunity that truly provides a solution to either a pain or need in the market. What judges whether a market opportunity is valid or not depends on the ability of the business owner to prove market demand. The best method of proving market demand is to disclose actual sales. The only way to prove a business's ability to maintain for the long-term is to disclose a sustainable sales track record.

Reason 2: Where is the Business Going?

In addition to being able to prove the business idea viability by having sustainable actual sales, the business owner needs to have an objective for operating the business. No one just starts and operates a business for the kicks and giggles of it. Either as a way to build and extract personal wealth or as a manifestation of a life long calling, the business represents a vehicle for one to achieve an ideal goal.

The business plan provides a framework for one to disclose to investors, employees, and other important components of the business why it exists and where it's going. I've learned that the business plan is a moving document in that it's always in a state of revision. As the business continues to operate, it will achieve and overcome its initial goals. As time progresses and the market changes, the business will revise and updates its reason for existence.

jerichobizfinance.com is an online platform that specializes in providing expert level advice and guidance to the micro entrepreneur in the areas of accounting / finance, operations, management, sales and marketing, human resources, and lending in order to help grow your business and maximize your cash flow.

Please visit http://www.jerichobizfinance.com to learn more.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Pierre_Pinkerton/1809337