To wonder how many of you employ yourself and if not why not?

[girlfriend44]

Instead of trying to get someone else to employ you, and have the worry of applying for work, interviews, and all the other things that go with working is there a reason why you don't work for yourself?

There are lots of positives to it and you don't need to rely on anyone else?
If you don't self employ why not?

well I can tell you're not a self-employed accountant with advice like that...

Replace colleague with staff or customers, same shit different role.

Because I really love my job and it's not something I could do on a self-employed basis.

Also, the people I know who are self-employed are always complaining about how hard it is being self-employed.

I don’t think I have any skills that would lend themselves to self-employment. The roles I’ve been doing for the last 20 years wouldn’t really work (in science - but I don’t have a PhD). Then the stress of would I get enough work, and dealing with people…ugh.

I do, I'm a PAYE employee of my own limited company and draw dividends...I couldn't work for someone else now, I love working for myself!

Most people are too lazy or scared to be self-employed.

You're ALWAYS reliant on someone else, whether it's a supplier or clients/customers. That doesn't just disappear. It's not always possible to find more or switch.

Everything has a flip side. You get more freedom, but also every single thing is on you 24/7. You have to make every single decision, all the time, and you have the pressure of making enough money to fund other people's households when you employ people. You also need to know a lot of legal stuff. The work never ends, and it requires a lot of different skills in completely different areas.

I have worked both and there are pros and cons to each.

Because I like the security of having sick pay, paid holidays, a decent workplace pension...

I am self-employed and I don’t think it’s the right thing for most people. Yes, there is a huge amount of flexibility, and I make loads more than I could at a job, but if something goes wrong there are no colleagues to jump in and help you out and you end up working nights and weekends. It’s better than a shit job with shit colleagues but a good job with great colleagues beats self-employment any day of the week.

That’s what I said for years and years, but now I am absolutely loving being in a job! I wouldn’t have taken any job though, the perfect job came up for me at the right time.

You can put shed loads into your pension & not have to pay Corp tax on it. That's the equivalent of employer contributions

Because I get paid 6 figures employed for my particular skillset but I’m absolutely crap a networking and lead generation so if I worked for myself I probably wouldn’t earn anywhere near enough. I use my skillset extremely well in an employed role and have enough self awareness to accept that while I could do it self employed then 20/30% of my time would be spent doing stuff I hate. It’s a no brainer really

Because what I do does not really exist on a self employed basis and I am fairly agreeable person who acrually likes working with my colleagues.

"lazy or scared"? No, it simply doesn't exist in my sector, and in many (most?) sectors. It just doesn't cross our minds because it's not even a thing. How many self-employed police officers, or soldiers, or social workers do you know?

Public sector work is for people who prioritise vocation or pensions above anything else. I was talking about private sector work as the trajectory is typically moving out of public sector into literally anything else, so my post assumed people had either already done that or skipped that step.

“Lazy or scared” suggests that you think most people deep down would like to be self-employed but aren’t. I think a lot of people (myself included) just don’t want to be. There’s lots of things I don’t want to be, and it’s not to do with laziness or fear.

I don’t want to work with children, so I’m not a teacher.
I don’t want to deal with sick people, so I’m not a dr.
I don’t want to have to deal with winning new clients, so I’m not self-employed. I’m sensible enough to know it’s not my skill set.

Tbf I am self employed as I said upthread. I'm a massage therapist I dont have any clients Im not pleased to see, if I dont like someone I dont rebook them. I earn more than I used to when I was employed. Its the social media shit I dont like.

Aside from the business development aspect of it that PPs have identified, I feel I need a manager to help me navigate tricky issues, escalate problems to, and support me with HR/line management things. When you’re self employed it’s all on you and that’s not a level of responsibility I want.

My sister has recently taken on a business, and watching her work through the issues of being responsible for the business’s fortunes, the responsibility of the people she employs, and how to ensure future profitability is a level of stress I just don’t want. Being self employed isn’t for everyone, and entrepreneur/hustle culture doesn’t acknowledge that.

No ta. I get a pension, sick leave and carer leave all paid.

I dread to think what the insurance would be for a self employed midwife

Loads of reasons. I’ve trained for a career path that’s all about public service, I’ve no interest in profit-making or sales. The idea of having to sell would make me miserable. I also love being part of a large, mission-driven organization which I couldn’t get on my own.

I am, and its certainly swings and roundabouts...

I did my own tax for years but have gotten too 'big' to continue, so now have an accountant which has really helped; I wish I had done that sooner for sure. So that's one job that I hate off my shoulders, meaning I can focus more on my customers.

Invoicing is easy enough and I don't have paperwork really, as there are simple apps you can use. Getting people to pay me however, is very stressful. If you ever employ someone, please pay them! As quickly as you can!! That is without a doubt the most stressful part of my whole job and always has been.

Pro points, I work in a v. niche profession where there are plenty of clients to choose from; I can work anywhere including wfh, I pick up DC every day, can keep on top of the house, relax loads, and I earn over double what I'd earn if I did the same thing as an employee. I don't tend to think about work too much in the evenings and weekends these days, as I have put in some strict strategies to stop doing that, so my work life balance is pretty reasonable and I have a huge client pool so I don't need to spend to much time fishing for more work as I'm pretty much at capacity.

Also hate no holiday/pension/sick, but that's why I earn more than double my employed counterparts, so I need to get a grip really.

Oh and most people that do what I do, are self employed, very successful, extremely highly skilled, very busy, well-off, well-respected, intelligent...women!

I couldn't be told what to do now, so looks like I'm stuck like this until I drop dead!

Because I don't want to work for a broke employer who can't afford to pay me 😂 I'm already a cleaner, cook and live in nanny for a family who don't pay me!

No but seriously I work for a big organisation and in a field that's not a selling something on etsy kinda vibe. Not saying I couldn't go self employed - but I couldn't do my job self employed it's too niche.

This isn't true. I make a living from my 'crafting' (and I'm not married!). Social media makes it possible, if you've got an original and good quality product. Plenty of people want to buy hand made stuff but you need to spend a lot of time building up a loyal following, taking great photographs of your work and communicating with customers.

Self-employment does not exist in most private sector industries either. The only self-employed people I know are tradespeople and IT contractors (who are all desperate to go permie due to the shitshow that is happening in IT at the moment).

I’d hate to work for myself. I work for a large gov dept and would hate to work for myself.