THEJOBDOCTORCAREER$•Selbstständigoderangestellt:Beideshatjaetwasfur
sich.MARTYNEMKOsagtIhnen,welcheVorteileSiemit
einemAngesteJltenvertragbekommen. .Mif'THE CASE AGAINST
SELF-EMPLDYMENT
M
y wife.Barhara,can'tunderstandwh}'onearrh
I'dwanttObeself-emplovcd.Shesays:- Employerstakecareofa milliondetails:they~the
workplace, maintainir, buy insurance,::Indprovide
healthbenefits,rerirementplans,andso,on. - Employers provide infrastructure: COlupUrer suppon,
printingservices,crc.arnocostrothccl1lployees. - Employers offen provide free training, frequenrl}'Q1l
companytime. - Manypeople'sfavornepartofthejobisthesodaIaspect:
conversarionsovercoffee,littlecelebrations,forexam-
pie.Mostself-employedpeoplcareone·ortwo-person
businesscs.It'shardTadamuchcelebratingby}'oursclf! - To be self-employed. you mustbe veryself-motivated
bccausechcrc'snobosstomakeyoudayourwork. - Tobesetf.employed,youmustbeabletodevelopstrate-
gies, implementyourplans, uoublcshoor,andsolve
problems- usuallyqUIckI}', andb}' )'ourself.Mosr
peopleneeda reamtOmakcallofthathappen. - Vouhavetobewillingandableto~yourbusiness.
YoumUSTbeeasHylikable,norafraidroaskpeoplefor
business,and,aboveall,yOll musrnotgrocrastinare
(seemycolumninBusinessSpotlight3/2009).
Weil,Itellmywife,scIf-employmenthasadvantages.
Icanbemyownboss.Isetmyo\vohours,thewayI
work,aodwhiehc1ientsI'llworkwirh.IfIwanrrobuy
somerhingformyoffice,Idon'rneedrhreesiwatures.
Idon'rhaveroworkonteams- thardrivesmecrazy.
carurcoach[b'nOfkoutD etwa:Karriereberater(inl
drivenl'drIv'Ilj ehrgeizig--
health_benefl\$l'iicJij,benlrIlS] Krankenversicherung
~plementstl1.!'lmphmenll etw.umsetzen
insurance:buy-[Jn'Ju:>~nsJ Versicherung(enlabschließen
leasesth.[li:sJ--- e~n
malnl:3instl1.[meln'lcm! etw.ill51.andhaltenBurI havetOadmitthatmanyofthoseadvanragesare
morefamasythanreality:forexample,rhebitabout
settingyourownhours. InfaCt, moSTself-cmployed
penpleworkverylanghours,and,cvcnwhenthc)'are
awayfromtheirwork.rheycontinueroworryabourir.
So,thinkverycarefullybefoteyouchangeyourjobSta-
tusfromemployeeroself-employed.- Advice I'dgive mychild- here'swhatI'dtcIl my
daughterifshewererhinkingofsrartinga business:
If )'Oll'teintelligem,driven,bllsitless-~,anddying
tobesclf-employcd,developa businessplanandthen
seeifyou'rcstillexcitcd.BurIbclieverbatmostpeoplc
shouldforgctrhe"romance"ofsclf-emplo)'menrandin-
sreadlookfarajob, 00 arhoroughsearch,makingall
yourinquiriesinjuSfoneor(Wowecksroincreaseyour
chancesofgeningmultipleofferssoyoucanchoosethe
beStoneavaibble,Treattharsearchlikeajob- most
succcssfuljob-scekersspend 20 co 30 hoursa weekan-
sweringadvertiscmems,asweilas~allingorwritingpo-
reminlcmployers,cvenif a jobhnsnotbeenadvcrrised.
Don'tfargertotalktOever)'oneinyourpersonalmt::
~sotharasmanypeopleaspassibleknow}'ouare
lookingforworle
If,despiteallthcwamingsabove,youstillwanttO
considerself-employment, rd recommcnd you read
\VbyAren'tYOllYouraMIBoss?(ThreeRivers,ISBN
978-0-7615-1537-J,$15.95) byPauland5amh Ed·
wards,andPcterEconomy.Thisshon,usefulbookcan
helpyoufindbusinessidcas,andit alsoprovideshelp-
fulstrategiesforchangingthewar}'ou\Vorkandyour
wayoflookingatemploymenringeneral.
InrhenextissueofBusinessSpotlight,wewilllook
moredosely::Itsrartingyourownbusiness. 31
j.".,jMorejobadvlcealWlVlv.business-spoflight.delcareers
MARTY NEMKO is one ofAmenca's top ~
~.TheauthorofCoolCareersforDummies
{Wiley, ISBN 978·0-470-11774-3,$19.99),he
hasbeenadvisingclientstormorethan 20 years.
He is based in Oakland, California. Contacl,
mnemkoO<:omcast.nelorwww.martynemko.com5/2009 BU5jnessS~ght 57