The Joys of Self-Employment

Filed in archive Careers and Money on May 8, 2007

I have been self-employed many times throughout my career, and even though I now work for someone else, I have wide latitude to work from home, so I still have the freedom that comes with the situation. For me, I love it. But it's not necessarily for everyone.

Over at the blog My Two Dollars, David offers up 10 things he's learned about working at home. My favorites, or at least the ones I can identify with:

9. Some days it takes a lot of effort to shower and get dressed before noon. - Like David, I like the feeling of stumbling out of bed in the morning and getting a few things done before hitting the shower. But it's true that once you get rolling, it's sometimes hard to stop. Personaly I like to use the shower as a natural breaking point after I've accomplished some things in the morning. It's nice to have the choice, unlike an office that might frown upon you coming to work in pajamas and no deodorant.

5. Handling your money becomes a bigger deal when you freelance. - When you're not working for an employer that helpfully withholds money from your check to pay your taxes, it's up to you. Not only do you have to make some judgments on how much to set aside for taxes, you have to constantly remind yourself about the impending tax payment so you don't start convincing yourself that you have a lot more money than you do.

3. Working at home saves a LOT of money. - Take away transportation and meal costs and you can save a ton. Plus, when you're self-employed, any travel you do can be used as an expense against your income. If you're working for someone else, you get nothing for your commuting dollars, which can be significant over the course of a year. Also, while you still have to eat, pulling food from the fridge is cheaper than going out to lunch and/or buying Junk food when your work becomes too stressful/boring.

David also emphasizes the loneliness of working at home if you don't get out and see people from time to time. I've always been bad about doing this, and I would say it's my biggest regret in the times I've worked from home. While the lack of co-workers can be great in that no one's dropping by your office to waste your time or ask you to go to an unnecessary meeting, the downside is that the social aspect at home is a big zero. If you don't get out once in a while and have lunch with others or something, you'll start to feel like the world does not know you even exist, and that can be tough.

Overall, though, like David, I would highly recommend ditching the office office for the home office any day.