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#1
08-01-2007, 04:31 PM
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Post If You\'re Self-Employed
(crossposted in OOT)
If you're self-employed I'd like to hear a little about what you do. I've always thought I'd end up being self-employed soon after, if not directly after, graduation. A lot of other posters are probably in the same boat. I think it would be helpful for those of us who are interested in eventually being our own boss by hearing from those who actually are. How'd you end up working for yourself? What do you do? Do you enjoy what you do? Do you have any advice or recommendations? What have you learned? Any regrets? 
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#3
08-01-2007, 05:55 PM
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Re: Post If You\'re Self-Employed
[ QUOTE ]
I'm self employed and I work for a boss that is completely insane. [/ QUOTE ] Tell us how insane you are.
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#4
08-01-2007, 07:12 PM
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Re: Post If You\'re Self-Employed
I do all kinds of crazy [censored] on these here internets. PLus I do some real estate investing, and some other offline [censored]. I am 23 and been this way since um 04 ish.
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#5
08-01-2007, 08:34 PM
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Re: Post If You\'re Self-Employed
Yes
Professional gambler for 14 years.
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#7
08-01-2007, 10:54 PM
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Re: Post If You\'re Self-Employed
[ QUOTE ]
(crossposted in OOT) If you're self-employed I'd like to hear a little about what you do. I've always thought I'd end up being self-employed soon after, if not directly after, graduation. A lot of other posters are probably in the same boat. I think it would be helpful for those of us who are interested in eventually being our own boss by hearing from those who actually are. How'd you end up working for yourself? What do you do? Do you enjoy what you do? Do you have any advice or recommendations? What have you learned? Any regrets? [/ QUOTE ] I ended up working by myself when I made the conscious decision never to spend the rest of my life being a slave to some 9-5 job doing something I had no passion doing. I invest in real estate but right now I am working really hard to start my own real estate agent business franchise. This is incredibly hard to do, but once I have it established, the competitive advantage is tremendous. I love what I do because I love the challenge of trying to do some seemingly impossible task. The sky is the limit and there is no cap towards what I can achieve if I continue to just work at it until I become successful. Some advice. Becoming self employed is like starting up your own business. Keep your eye on the big picture because it is extremely easy to get caught up doing the technical stuff that isn't worth your time. You need to calculate your worth / hour and focus as much of your time as possible to do ONLY the things that are worth your time. I work for an insane boss because this insane boss keeps doing the technical stuff instead of the entrepreneurial aspects. I spend 85% of my time being a technician and only 5% of my time actually thinking about ways to grow my business. It should be reversed. Reason why it is not reversed is because I want to test a couple of things myself before I hire an entire team with all sorts of expenses to carry things out. One of the big things I learned from the mistakes I've made was not recruiting enough team members to help guide me through in the beginning. I was the know it all self employed entrepreneur who thought he was invincible. I ran full force without even knowing where to run and repeatly fell face first into the cement floor. I can't really regret anything I've done because I've followed my heart the whole way. The lessons I learn and continue to learn can only be learned by making those mistakes I've made. Even if you are self employed, think of it like a small business. You will STILL need to develop a team and / or system to help make your life much easier and allow you to focus on the things and aspects of your business that really make you profitable instead of the things that keep sucking your time apart. Bottom line: Go for it. But don't trade one crazy boss for an even crazier boss. Keep yourself focused on the big picture because it is really easy to forget and lose track.
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#8
08-01-2007, 10:55 PM
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Re: Post If You\'re Self-Employed
[ QUOTE ]
(crossposted in OOT) If you're self-employed I'd like to hear a little about what you do. I've always thought I'd end up being self-employed soon after, if not directly after, graduation. A lot of other posters are probably in the same boat. I think it would be helpful for those of us who are interested in eventually being our own boss by hearing from those who actually are. [/ QUOTE ] i have owned my own law firm for a little over four years [ QUOTE ] How'd you end up working for yourself? [/ QUOTE ] my family owned a furniture distributorship. my grandfather started it and my father grew up working there. i worked there in the summers as a kid. so the idea of working for someone else didn't really cross my mind growing up, i always knew i would somehow work for myself. when i graduated from law school, i had been working in a firm that was doing car accidents and insurance law. it was a joke of a business that anyone could do so i asked another attorney working there if she wanted to start our own shop and she said yes. we did pretty good for about a year. we were making decent money, probably at least or a little more than we would have being 1st year lawyers, but hey we were our own bosses. after about 9 months tho, i began to see some problems in the business. there was too much competition and the only way i could see passing the ceiling we were at and grow the business was to break the law and several ethics codes. on top of that, my partner wasn't very ambitious. she was a great girl, but would have been happy to just keep on as we were. so i decided to scrap it. i did some research for a couple of months and found a new business idea. i got a new partner who took out a home equity loan and we started a new law firm in the spare bedroom of my partners condo. that was four years ago. we now have 28 employees and about 5000 sq. feet of office space. [ QUOTE ] What do you do? [/ QUOTE ] its a law firm, but its about 90% business, 10% law. pretty much a paper factory with minimal court appearances [ QUOTE ] Do you enjoy what you do? [/ QUOTE ] no, not really. nothing sours someone on the law like going to law school and then dealing with the court system, especially other attorneys and judges. but if you are smart and have some hustle, a law license is basically a license to print money [ QUOTE ] Do you have any advice or recommendations? What have you learned? [/ QUOTE ] having the right partners is critical. starting from scratch takes persistence and faith. we worked for almost 8 months before we took our first paycheck. also, i think this is one of the most important things. never, never be afraid to reinvest profits into growing the business. this was one of the biggest lessons i have learned. it is the only way you can be in a constant state of growth. we have from the beginning of the business reinvested between 10-20% of the profits back into the business. this was difficult to do, especially when we started to have some success. whether it was new software, computers, office space, employees, we just expect to spend the money. i am positive its been one of the main reasons why we have been able to grow. it creates a culture of growth that motivates us. [ QUOTE ] Any regrets? [/ QUOTE ] no, none yet i can think of. we have worked a lot but i do have to say that we have had a few lucky breaks. haven't faced any major crises after the first year and have been growing steady ever since. i wish i ran this good at cards.
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#9
08-01-2007, 11:06 PM
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Re: Post If You\'re Self-Employed
My last startup wound down and I didn't want to manage any more software development projects. And I was tired of living in a rainforest (the pacific NW). So I decided to invest my remaining savings and see if I could live off it's income. I needed a 15% return the first year just to pay my living expenses. I was able to beat that and grow my portfolio. After 5 years or so I now need around a 5% return annually for living expenses.
No regrets, it's been a pretty awesome lifestyle. I work from home, and have two young kids I get to see all day long. And if I want to take a break for some "afternoon delight" with the wife, it's a done deal! No real advice. I think if you understand a business where you can earn superior returns, being self employed is a good option. But you really have to be skilled and enjoy what you are doing. My biggest joy is not having employees anymore, my biggest regret is not having co-workers anymore.
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#10
08-02-2007, 12:17 AM
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Re: Post If You\'re Self-Employed
I got good at poker and was like "I'll do this". Then I realized the insaine amt of money affiliates make, so did that.
Poker and Rakeback Generally, no. If you're going to do something take the dive. Spend a lot of resources on advertising early. A lot of owning a business is basically hiring people that are better than you to do things.
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