To think a lot of self employed people couldn’t hack working for a large organisation

I can't argue with you. I cannot possibly work like that, I did it for a long time but I couldn't hack it at all. I need constant change of focus and I like to set my own times. I've been self-employed doing various things since 2015 after full-time for for public and third sector organisations since the early 2000s and yes, I do this because I couldn't hack full-time work. Guilty as charged. Pretty sure it's ADHD but there wasn't a pathway when I was young so I'm just a bit of a mess, but I get by.

AIBU to think lots of employed people couldn't hack being self-employed?

Have you got any idea of the admin involved in running your own business?

For every 7-hour day worth of back to back visible work I'm doing 1-2hrs minimum book-keeping, scheduling work, providing quotes, researching, professional development, invoicing, doing my tax return, maintaining a website.

Yes, self-employment affords you a bit more flexibility but we're not being paid for time off sick, holidays, training courses, time spent chatting (yet networking is still important when you're self-employed), no pension contributions etc.

I'm employed and I know I absolutely could not tolerate being self-employed or running my own business. If people are sensible they work out their strengths and weaknesses and try to match them to their work - self-evidently, for businesses to function, we need a mixture of people who function best as self-employed, employer or employee.

I mean, you are coming across as a bit ignorant to the realities of being self employed. I’d actually say most people that have spent their whole lives in salaried employment have NO IDEA how much work is involved being self employed. Your husband may be given a disciplinary for multiple absences but I’m sure he takes for granted things like holiday/sickness pay, pension contributions, private healthcare etc. I also took for granted the fact that I didn’t have to find the work, I just had to do it when I was in salaried employment.

My husband is self employed as a builder/contractor and the hours he puts in are ridiculous. As well as the time he is physically working on site, he will also be trying to line up new jobs so will be visiting properties, measuring up, getting quotes and lead times for materials and any subcontractors he will need. It’s also not always as simple as a builder should only take on one project at a time. There are often situations where clients want to use specific materials which have a few weeks lead time and the builder will prep everything but until the materials are there they cannot go any further. So they will move to another job in the meantime. On top of this they also are responsible for their own bookkeeping, vat returns every quarter whilst also trying to manage cash flow which is one of the more stressful aspects as generally clients only pay once the job has been completed (or in phases if a large job). Then there is advertising, upgrading of tools, vehicles, social media, managing clients expectations, managing subcontractors… there’s a lot more to it than just turning up on site.

It is incredibly irritating when people assume all builders are tax dodgers. We have had to turn down numerous jobs because people don’t want to pay VAT and have asked if we can do it for cash instead. They then go elsewhere when we refuse so frankly it’s often the clients rather than the builders that don’t want to pay the tax 🙄

Wow another sweeping statement. My DH an extremely reliable and conscientious plumber of over 30yrs has never ever done this .If he says he will arrive at a time normally 8am that is the time he arrives .He works long hrs , does not advertise, word of mouth which speaks volumes .
Do you and OP actually have a clue about self employment before making really judgemental , tar all trademen's the same .
Self employment involves a lot it is not the walk in the park you and OP clearly think it is 🙄.

YABU. Doesn't being a SAHP have more in common with being self employed than working for a large organisation anyway?! No set hours/ shifts. Managing your own budgets, availability, schedules etc. No sick pay. No HR. Managing difficult clients yourself!
I agree with the PPs who've said that the reverse is true in my experience, most people who work in large organisations wouldn't hack it being self employed. Whenever I work with any I am amazed at how slowly everything moves and how many different departments there are to get the simplest of things actioned.

'Couldn't hack it' is a really odd way of looking at it.
Aibu to think self employed people chose to become SE because it can provide far more flexibility than office work.

If it seems appealing to you, then, set up your own business. It's open to all.

Completely agree - builder vs self employed - it's a big difference/generalisation. Builders juggle a lot of jobs or they'd be without jobs for weeks at a time and I get it.

I'm self employed and the positives are brilliant - no corporate bollocks, 1:1s, trying to get Pay rises etc. I just put up my prices when I want more £. But, I also pay a whack in corporation tax etc, no sick pay, and I'm never fully 'off'. I'd never change it though as the thought of being at the mercy of a range of idiot line managers as I have in the past makes me go cold. I get to have such an interesting life but I'm ultimately accountable, and by god I work harder than my employee friends!

Not read the full thread but I disagree. I am self employed just had to close last week due to having Covid (I am a childminder so can't work with it) it's cost me hundreds in refunds to my families which will get knocked off their next invoice, I had to reopen as soon as I was negative even though I was still feeling rough as I couldn't afford to stay closed any longer. I now run the risk of my families with older children leaving and using the school wrap around instead and my families of younger children leaving to go to a nursery as more staff (not just me!) so won't close for illnesses...even though this was my first closure in years.
In fact the only good thing I can currently think about being self employed is I can set my work hours around my family and I am at home when my children get in from school.

Plus all the admin time they have to do in the evenings and weekends (or during the day and therefore they're not earning when doing it).

Every builder starts at 10am after going for breakie? Every single one?

How ignorant. You could say the same of corporate workers who take long “work” lunches. Or MPs who get their din dins paid for by taxpayers.

Shocked at the classist attitudes in this thread, can’t lie

You probably can if you want to give up things like sick pay, maternity/paternity leave/paid holidays and are happy to put the effort in to find the work in the first place

Wow. Sorry but you sound like a complete twat with this statement.

I go back and forth between corporate SMEs and self employment as suits my life and circumstances at the time as for hacking it well none of it’s a picnic is it ?

@housinghero
Do it then?!?

That's not a self employed thing. Loads of people who are employed do the same thing and say they have to work late. Some tradesmen have to pick materials up before work so don't arrive on a job until later in the morning.

OP - With all people and trades there are good and bad and you seem to have got someone bad at time keeping. Hopefully their work is of a good enough standard to make up for it.

I currently have two SE jobs and one employed job.
One SE job is for a large company. They drive me absolutely nuts - there is so much waste (time, resources), irrelevant dictats, meetings, people not pulling their weight. They want me to be employed by them and there is absolutely no way (I'll just leave).
The employed job is for a university and whilst it's a little better organised, there is still an enormous amount of pointless bureaucracy and wastage.
My other SE job is for a small independent practice, there is no waste, if something needs changing - we change it. Someone is crap, they replace them.

@underneaththeash I want to have you manage to convince a university to allow you to have an outside related interests in other businesses ? We have had contractors fired for trying to do that.

A lot of SE people couldn't hack working in a large organisation
A lot of employed people couldn't hack being SE.

A lot of people couldn't hack working outdoors/indoors/driving all day/being on their feet all day etc Most people (if they have any choice) work in a way that suits them best.

Myself and DH work together. We have a client who tells us it doesn't suit them when I wfh one day a week because they can't see me actually working Interestingly they don't comment about us wfh evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays.

Don’t tar all self-employed with the same brush OP. I’m self-employed. Had to go back to work after DC were born very early as I had no paid maternity leave except SMP. Teacher and NHS friends of mine had a year off, well paid. Same goes for sick leave - I’m amazed how often employed people are sick ( often around early December - in fact a teacher friend regular takes sick leave in December to organise Christmas!) I don’t think I’ve had a day sick since 2018.

“There is no way in a million years my husband could get away with so much time off.”

🤣 come back when you’ve comparing with your own experience of working in a large organisation.

I used to Freelance and spent time in large organisations regularly. The amount of pissing about was shocking - people showing eachother holiday photos and discussing wedding plans and what they were up to at the weekend. Coffee breaks/fag breaks were a thing too
Blew my mind

I am self employed. You're right that I could NOT hack working in a big org again, the politics, the time wasting, the layers of authority, the arbitrary rules and hours, the unnecessary meetings, the convoluted chains of communication.

Being SE is great in many ways, flexibility to do things like being around for kids, take random days off, opportunity to earn exponentially compared to somewhere with fixed salary bands etc.

Downsides are that you are never really off duty, like never, and you are not ONLY doing the thing that you specialise in, I spend not even 70% of the time doing my main job, a lot of the time its networking and marketing, accounts, HR for subcontractors, etc etc.

I run a small company and dh is a self employed roofer - I don't think a lot of people in larger organisations could hack our jobs, they're both 24/7 roles. If you're not actually there, then it's on your mind type situation.

As I said, dh is a roofer. The thing with your builder, and I don't know why he's making lousy excuses, is that he'll be running at least one other job along side yours. So you're job may be 5 days, but that doesn't guarantee 5 days in a row.

But, if this is what he's doing then there really isn't any need for all the pathetic excuses! Decent trades are really busy at the moment, so if they're otherwise doing a good job then it might be best to put up with it.

But the excuses would really annoy me!! It's a bit like one of my employees phones in sick with a bad ankle, but their throats are always affected some how 😂

Quite

I'm a freelance consultant, although my clients are often 'big businesses' I have the luxury of only being tasked to do the project in hand with little exposure to politics, reviews and uptight office culture. I can benefit from being exposed to best practices that I can learn from as well as being able to ignore the nonsense. I can speak my mind, point out failings and generally not have to worry too much about ruffling feathers within that organisation. I can work from home or on site and have flexible hours. I don't get holiday pay, pension or private healthcare which I have to sort out myself but I get paid more then enough to compensate.

OP, sounds like you have just employed a shit builder.