Self Employment – 10 reasons why being self employed may not be for you…A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article on Ten reasons why you should work for yourself….

At the time, one of the comments was along the lines of, “good article, shame it didn’t paint the opposing argument too; that self employment is just not for everyone”. With this in mind, I started to write down a number of reasons why self employment is not a career choice for everyone, and after a while I could not stop! Without having too much self doubt (as I am self employed!), please see below this list of reasons why you might not be cut out for a self employed lifestyle:

1. You like order

The trouble with being self employed, is that if you like the 9-5 and you like having your weekends to yourself, then you may have considered the wrong career path. Self employed people do get to choose when they work, but they generally work long hours, have to reply to emails out of work time, and rarely does a weekend go by, with out you just having to do that ‘thing’ that just needs to be done. Perhaps you’re the type of person who needs order and proper structure in their working life. If you’ve always worked in organisations where order and planning prevail, where business processes and resources are managed, thanks to the innovative technology provided by the likes of JD Edwards managed services.

2. You don’t like making big decisions (all the time)

If you are worried about putting your neck on the line and taking business decisions that matter, self employment is probably not for you. If you like to be told that decisions have been made and you are happy to just go along with the flow, there is a good chance you would struggle at making the big decisions quickly when faced with issues or objections on your own.

3. You need a solid wage

Irrespective of whether you would like to be self employed or not, the reality is that for many of us – we have bills to pay, and bills need paying. Being self employed, there is no guarantee of a wage.

4. It is not the right time

You may have great ideas, but that doesn’t mean that self employment always comes at the right time. If you have young children or other commitments, some people just cannot commit to the level of life changes you need to make, to make self employment a success.

5. You like having job duties

There is no job spec for a self employed person or a new business startup. It can be literally a case of doing everything and becoming a jack of all trades. Therefore if you like having specific job duties and ticking off your job duties until they are completed – self employment may not be for you. Yes, when self employed, you still need to have structure and lists of things to do – it’s just your lists tend to be bigger as the day goes on, rather than the other way around.

6. You don’t have a specific passion

You generally need to have passion for that ‘thing’ to want to be self employed. If the only person getting you out of bed in the morning for work is YOU, then imagine a self employed job that you are not that bothered about! You need to really love that job that you want to do for yourself, if you want to consider doing it on your own, or as part of a self employed team.

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