What It Really Means To Work for Yourself

Someone at CareerJournal is desperately afraid of setting out on their own:

There used to be a sharp division between self-employment and working for someone else. Today, with the erosion of the traditional employment contract, those differences are increasingly blurred. After all, everyone today has to take responsibility for their own employability and financial continuity. There are still some important differences, however. When you work for someone else, you have a safety net. While you don’t have a guaranteed job, you at least have some protection under the law, along with a chance at a retirement plan, depending on your age. You also have psychological support from co-workers with whom you have a history and emotional bonds.

For those who’ve worked in large organizations for a long period of time, going out on their own can be a shock. They’re often unprepared to operate with minimum resources or be completely responsible for their livelihood today and tomorrow. Consider the woman who went the self-employment route after being downsized from two jobs. She says, “It took six months to realize “I am ‘it’ ” — that I had no one to do the admin stuff for me, that there was a direct relationship between what I do and whether my family eats.” Whether you’re dreaming of being in charge of what you do and when you do it, or free from office politics, remember, you have entered into a world in which there is little protection and no guaranteed income.

via the Bostonworks Job Blog.

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