How to Thrive When You Work For Yourself

February 5, 2024CategoriesWork

Are you currently self-employed? If you are working for yourself you must focus on how you can thrive so you can reach your career goals.

While not every person who works for themselves owns a small business, many do. The easiest way to understand whether you are self-employed or a small business owner? Being self-employed means you are the business. Being a small business owner means you often have other people working for you. Either way, you are working for yourself.

According to CNN Business, there are numerous benefits of working for yourself, such as getting to set your own hours, accepting or declining projects based on your interests and preferences, and having the ability to do your job from home should you so choose.

In this article we’ll cover:

  • Employee vs self-employment
  • Types of self-employment
  • Popular self-employment jobs in 2022
  • How to thrive!
  • Working for yourself

Employee vs self-employment

When you are an employee, you are hired by a company or someone else to perform a service in exchange for wages or a salary. You must abide by your employer’s workplace rules and policies or you can be fired. Pros include getting a consistent paycheck and getting support from the company. Cons include reporting to a boss, having less freedom, and having to prove yourself.

Investopedia tells us that a self-employed person is an independent contractor or a sole proprietor who reports self-employment income. Instead of working for another company and getting paid, you find jobs and pay yourself through your own business. Pros include you are the boss, more freedom, and knowing you are building your dream. Cons include you are 100% responsible… for everything.

Types of self-employment

Self-employed people have options when it comes to choosing the type of self-employment that is best for them. Which self-employment option do you fall under?

Popular self-employment jobs in 2022

Self-employed people work a variety of jobs. The list below includes some of the more popular self-employment jobs in 2022.

How to thrive!

According to Merriam-Webster, there are three definitions of thrive – 1. to grow vigorously, 2. to gain in wealth or possessions, and 3. to progress toward or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances. As someone who is self-employed, all three of these definitions pertain to you. Because it can be easy for self-employed people to take on too many responsibilities, it is essential for those who are self-employed to achieve a work-life balance.

When you are self-employed, you must be persistent, dedicated, passionate, and resourceful in order to make your business thrive!

Keep your passion
It is easy for self-employed people to get so caught up in managing their small businesses that they forget about their passion. You must keep your passion at the forefront of everything you do if you truly want to thrive. When you bring your passion with you to work every single day you are going to have a more positive outlook, and a positive outlook is definitely going to help you thrive.

Stick to your vision
When you first started your small business, you had a vision. This vision included the type of business you wanted to create, so stick to it! This mental image of what you imagined all of your business could be is going to give you a clear focus, and can even help you determine the next stage of your business.

Stay updated
Every so often you should re-evaluate your business. Taking a fresh look can help you keep up with trends. It can also help you better understand your competition. You should also update your small business website every two to three years, as well as update your business plan at least once a year.

Collaborate with others
As a small business owner, you understand how important it is for you to join forces with other people. This is one of the best ways for you to understand more about your business, which in turn is going to let you make better decisions as well as take more innovative approaches. Whether it is other business owners or your team of professionals, working together helps to improve overall productivity.

Schedule everything
Keeping organized is essential when you work for yourself. When you are the one in charge, it is up to you to schedule everything in a way that works. From scheduling your work day to your employee’s workday to business appointments and more, you must schedule everything in order to ensure that your business runs as smoothly as possible.

Expand your marketing reach
What does your marketing plan include? Small business owners must market their business in order to stand out from their competition. There are numerous ways for you to advertise your small business in 2022. Which ones will work best for your small business? With a little research, you can determine which marketing strategies you should add to help your small business thrive.

  • Social media
  • Email marketing
  • Influencer marketing
  • Press releases
  • Local listings
  • Online forums

Hire the right employees
When it comes to your business thriving, your employees are going to play a large role. No matter your niche, hiring the right employees will help grow your business. What qualities should you look for when hiring new employees? Dedication, confidence, reliability, teamwork, independence, leadership, communication skills, self-awareness, critical thinking, and integrity (10 Qualities of a Good Employee (With Examples), 2022).

Enjoy downtime!
While it may be difficult for you to enjoy yourself during times when your business is slow, you should take this opportunity to take a break. Taking care of yourself is super important when you are self-employed. You need to get enough sleep, stay hydrated, exercise often, and eat balanced meals, as well as take vacations to reboot yourself. When you do, you will become a better leader for your team.

Never stop learning
You must never stop learning about what it takes to make your business succeed if you want to stay relevant. Successful small business owners not only love to learn, they make it a goal to learn something new about their business at least once a week. The business world is constantly changing, making it necessary for you to keep learning so you can keep up with all of these changes.

Budget appropriately
Why is budgeting vital for successful businesses? Indeed explains there are several reasons why budgeting is important for a successful business – being prepared for emergencies, attracting investors, setting sales goals, meeting financial goals, paying off debt, easily preparing taxes, and making large financial decisions.

When you budget your small business finance is appropriate, you are doing what is necessary to help your business thrive.

Working for yourself

When you work for yourself, failure is not an option. Because you are the one in charge, you are the only one who is in control. You must make all of the decisions when you work for yourself, meaning you are the only one in charge of your destiny. Building helpful networks it is especially important when you work for yourself, as networking can bring in many more opportunities for you to thrive!

According to Indeed, the following list includes the best benefits that come with being self-employed.

  • You’re in control
  • You’re more passionate about what you do
  • You make your own work schedule
  • You choose your own coworkers
  • You have creative control
  • You determine your work environment
  • You can grow your skill set and knowledge base
  • You can choose what you outsource to others
  • You get the potential financial rewards
  • You can enable variety in your routine
  • You can build meaningful networks

    • Self-employed people must file and pay self-employment taxes. The self-employment tax rate is 15.3% and pays for both Social Security and Medicare taxes.

    When you are self-employed, you must find your own insurance. You will need to explore your health insurance options, as well as your dental and vision insurance options. If you are self-employed and own your own business, then you need to get liability insurance to protect your small business.

    Self-employed business insurance

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