- Freedom. "Self-employment brings a large amount of personal freedom. You don't have to dress up in a suit and if you want to sit down and play the piano you can do.' says Tim Foster. Being self-employed means you decide when you work and who you work for. This is true, but it is also worth remembering that success usually involves working long hours and, in the beginning, you will probably have little choice in who your customers are. There is freedom, but it is not unconditional.
- Life-style. For many people, self-employment is becoming a life-style decision. This means any number of things to different people, but usually includes some element of getting out of the rat race. This may involve spending more time with your children or moving from the city to the countryside.
- Money. Of course money is key. It is an important motivator for virtually everyone (even though they may protest otherwise). Some people who decide to become self-employed may believe that they can earn more money working for themselves. Realistically few small businesses grow into big businesses. But millions of people earn comfortable livings from small businesses ... some make millions. Alternatively, others believe that earning less money will be compensated for by additional freedom.
- Escape. Not all reasons to become self-employed are positive. Many people simply decide that they have had enough of the company politics attached to working in any organisation and particularly large ones. They are heartily sick of the office gossip and want to escape to a world free from constant competition and pointless power games.
- Independence and responsibility. People are often attracted by the simple fact that they will no longer be answerable to anyone else. If they make a mistake, the blame is laid fairly and squarely on their own shoulders. Sally McLeod worked in the National Health Service before becoming an independent consultant. 'I was frustrated with the work I was doing. I felt it didn't give me enough scope and I couldn't really see the results,' she says. 'Working as a consultant is fundamentally different - you can devote all your energy to a single project with a finite lifespan. You are not side-tracked and you see the results of your work.'
After a year in business, Chris Thorpe's consultancy had a client base of 15 companies, including British Telecom, Glaxo and other multinationals. It achieved an international quality standard certificate within 18 months. There are, he admits, pitfalls to going it alone. 'Independence brings with it irregular income and working hours; an initial reduction in business contacts; the need to separate your business and personal life; realization of who will support you and, finally, that success or failure is completely down to you.' Undeterred, he observes: 'I have found it a breath of fresh air. Consultancy allows you to become really involved with the client so that you become an extension of their department. You can undertake and complete a range of projects at the same time.'
It always helps to put down on paper the pros and cons as you see them. So think about why you want to become self-employed. Ensure, as much as you can, that your reasons are positive rather than negative.
You need to seek out constructive criticism wherever you can find it. Now, show what you have written to someone else - do they agree? If they do agree, ask them to give reasons. For example, if you want to become self-employed and run a pub and feel that now is the right time, they may elaborate and say that you have the correct skills: compatibility with many people, interest in people, talkative, etc. If they don't agree, ask them to give reasons. For example, running a pub in a new location may not be such a good idea without the extensive network of your family and friends nearby. You might have secretly acknowledged this to yourself, but put it to the back of your mind until the concern is raised by a friend.
" Health, wealth and happiness
The reality of the business world can seem weighed down with pessimism. If a good idea is to be turned into a good business the man or woman behind it must cast aside dismal forecasts and create their own optimistic scenario. There is a lot of idealism attached to starting up your own business. It may be the biggest risk (personally and financially) you ever take. Having a mortgage may feel a heavy burden, but consider a mortgage and possibly a number of employees relying on you for their monthly cheque to support their families.
Most people who go into business have an idea that to some degree they might achieve wealth, health and happiness - and not necessarily in that order. Among many other qualities there has to be a lot of the dreamer in the self-employed man or woman.
There are plenty of recipes for success. But for every neat and catchy success formula there are hundreds of business failures: good ideas which bit the corporate dust; bad ideas which predictably failed. Self-employment is not a cure-all.
Indeed, one survey by the Institute of Manpower Studies found that a self-employed person is more than three times as likely to be in the poorest tenth of the workforce than an employee.
Things do and will go wrong. According to research carried out by CCN Business Information nearly a quarter of all company directors in the United Kingdom have been involved with companies that have failed during the past six years. More than 10 per cent of these directors have had more than one failure and 1,000 have been involved in more than ten failed companies. So, for every impressive success story you read about there are many other failed businesses.
