Looking at the pros and cons (or advantages and disadvantages) of your choices will help you weigh up your options and make a confident decision.
Considering self-employment? Before taking the plunge into entrepreneurship, it’s important to explore reasons why being self employed might be right or not right for you.
Let’s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of self employment. You can think about what each one means to you, and how it will affect your decision.
Pro: Freedom of choice
You’ll get the opportunity to explore your creativity and make your own choices about the way you work. While you’ll get some input in your work if you work for a company, you’ll have even more freedom if you work for yourself. You can choose where you work, when you work, the people you work with and the projects you take on.
Con: Unpredictability
While you’ll get to choose how long you work for, you won’t get the contracted amount of hours that being employed with a company will give you. So you may find that your working days are long to complete your tasks, or not as consistent. You’ll have commitments, so make sure you understand if you’ll need to make sacrifices and if you’re happy with that. You still have the choice to choose, so remember that balance is key to work out what works for you.
Pro: Job satisfaction
Many self-employed people say they are happier with this career path because they get the opportunity to do what they love for a living.
Con: It can be hard work
Now this isn’t necessarily a disadvantage of self employment, but it’s important to remember that it takes a lot of hard work and effort to get your business up and running. It can be hard in the early days when you’re setting up, finding customers and clients. You’ll need to be enthusiastic about your business and have the determination to power through, and there’s always support available to help you.
Pro: Salary
Your salary isn’t fixed like it might be in a permanent role with a company. This means you have the potential to earn a lot of money by putting your efforts into a successful business idea. Self employment can also bring in extra cash, as you can be employed with a company and have your own business on the side.
Con: Security
While you have the potential to earn a lot of money, working for a company comes with more security. Your income might not always be consistent, and you’ll have business costs to pay for too.
Pro: Self employment benefits
There are benefits and allowances to help you through self employment available. This could include help with travel, tax and utilities (e.g. gas/electric). You’ll need to be eligible for certain benefits which you can explore on the government website.
Con: Less employee benefits
Working for a company comes with paid holiday, paid sick leave and even schemes that help you with travel, health and pensions. If you’re self employed, you won’t really get these perks.
Pro: Experience and variety
Every job brings experience, but with self employment, you’ll be able to experience all aspects of running a business because you’ll be doing most of them (you can outsource some activities or hire employees).
Con: Responsibility and liability
You are responsible for your business and its success. This also means you’re responsible for managing the work, including running a business, paying tax, finding funds and coping with periods of no profit. Think about whether you’d be able to cope with the additional things that come along with self employment.
Weighing up your options
How much these pros and cons affect the choice of self-employment will differ from person to person. You might not be worried about less employee benefits because you intend to work part-time anyway, or because you think the self-employment benefits make up for the loss. Somebody else might feel differently. It’s important to think about what each of these pros/cons mean to you.
