Are you ready to Consult?

Gut Check - Are you ready to Consult?

Self-employment means lots of things. It means freedom, setting your own schedule, being your own boss, and doing what you love. It also means dealing with difficult clients, sales calls, no sick days, no benefits, and no steady paycheck. Before you jump into this world, you need to determine if you are ready to handle everything required of the independent consultant.

If you have a traditional salaried job in the corporate world, you most likely enjoy the following benefits:

• Steady paycheck
• Yearly reviews and possible pay increases & bonuses
• Company holidays
• Paid Vacation
• Sick days
• 401k / retirement plan
• Subsidized Health care coverage
• Insurance (Disability, life, unemployment)
• Paid training / seminars
• Paid travel (if required)
• "Lost time" - for personal errands, doctor visits, etc.
• Friendly Co-workers
• Free coffee ...and more, depending on your company.

Whew! That's quite a list, and I probably missed some. It's a lot more than your base salary. To be fair, there are some drawbacks as well:

• Somewhat rigid work hours
• Commute time
• Limited job opportunities
• Boring tasks
• Limited income potential
• Annoying co-workers
• Layoffs, re-structuring, etc.

For the most part, working for yourself has all the opposite benefits and drawbacks. If you are successful enough, you can gain back many of the lost benefits, but in general it's a trade off.

Generally, an entrepreneur should be willing to accept the following:

• Living on a highly volatile income (for a little while anyway)
• Paying for benefits (100%)
• Wearing many hats - salesperson, marketing, accounting, and your core business.
• Total accountability - the buck always stops with you!
• Solitary work environment - there's not much "water-cooler" talk when you are the sole employee.

Of course, there are great benefits to working for yourself. This article was intended to give you pause - and take a gut-check. If you aren't prepared to accept the realities of self-employment, you will probably be better off in your current job.