by Jacqueline Dooley
For me, the biggest benefit of self-employment is choice. It beats flexibility, money, challenging work and even success. I cherish my ability to choose, among other things, how I work, when I work, who I work with and when I come and go.
There are a few pivotal moments in my professional life that set the course for my ultimate liberation and I thought it’d be fun to pinpoint them.
The first was a long-ago performance review. I’d been working at one company for about two years when someone was hired above me. He was an excellent writer and had a lot more work experience than me, but he had no idea what I did on a day-to-day basis. Looking back, I realize I was in the wrong department so while it was totally appropriate to hire him for the position I thought I’d wanted, it wasn’t necessarily appropriate for me to report to him.
Nevertheless, when it came time for my annual review he tried his best to evaluate me and he gave me a small raise. I was extremely disappointed. I’d been working very long hours building a new service for the company which they successfully sold to existing and new clients. I expected a promotion and a title change, along with a larger raise. I said as much.
And you know what? I got it. That same manager nominated me for employee of the year. It was the first time I really felt like someone listened. And, though I didn’t know it at the time, it was the first time I made a definitive choice to influence my career myself (beyond quitting a job or applying for a new one) instead of waiting for change to magically happen. I now realize I also had a great manager.
The next pivotal moment was the birth of my first daughter seven years ago. I was driven to find a way to reduce my hours without impacting my career, and consulting seemed a logical path to take.
The final and biggest push for me was getting laid off. This naturally crystallized my lack of control and made me realize that if I worked for someone else, the choice of staying at one job as long as I wanted was never really my own.
Real choice doesn’t happen every day. It’s one of those things you take for granted until it’s taken away.
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This article was published in the Poughkeepsie Journal on Saturday, January 12, 2008.
by Jacqueline Dooley
I used to think, naively, that choosing self-employment over traditional employment afforded me more freedom. I reasoned that by breaking away from the social and economic dependency I faced as an employee, I’d somehow become more relevant, more worthy of existence within this vast, mindless machine of unrestrained capitalism.
I was wrong. While I now have a greater earning potential than I ever did as an employee and an almost limitless flexibility with my schedule, I’m more vulnerable than ever before. And, if possible, I’m a lot less relevant – if you’re the U.S. government, that is.
U.S. Federal and State laws exist to protect employees, not freelancers. Labor laws in New York state regulate many things such as how often employees get paid, and what, if anything, gets deducted from an employee’s pay. As a freelance consultant, I’m not considered an employee, and therefore I’m not protected by the laws of the state. Sure I can sue a client for breaching a contract or violating a nondisclosure agreement, but this is at my own expense.
In addition, I face the very real possibility of IRS audits and increased accountability for every dollar earned. It makes me wonder exactly where my tax dollars are going, and why I seem to be excluded from the usual and customary protection the U.S. affords the majority of wage earning employees.
Is this fair? The revenue I generate for myself and, therefore, the government, exists because of services and deliverables I’ve created. To put it bluntly, my job wouldn’t exist if I didn’t exist and neither would my tax dollars.
I’m paying for my own healthcare. I’m paying for my child’s private school education. I’m paying federal income tax and local state tax for public schools, and service for everything from transportation to law enforcement. All I ask in return is to have the same protection as any full-time employee would.
I’m not complaining. I’m genuinely perplexed. I think self-employment is a vast new frontier, a new route towards freedom and prosperity for Americans the likes of which hasn’t existed for 100 years. But our government needs to recognize it, and nurture this growth.
I want to see subsidized healthcare for self-employed individuals in my lifetime and more protection for lost wages due to illness and injury. Above all, I hope the cost and accountability of being self employed won’t prove to be my undoing.
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This article was published in the Poughkeepsie Journal on Saturday, 12/29/07 via the title, “Regulations Taxing on Freelancers”
by Jacqueline Dooley
As 2007 draws to a close, I’m tempted to write an article devoted exclusively to my business resolutions for the coming year. But the marketer in me is curious about how realistic I was in setting my goals for 2007 back in December of 2006. If I’m not held accountable for sticking with my resolutions, after all, then who is?
Last year my main proclamation for 2007 was more of an anti-resolution. My goal was to avoid rapid growth of my business and try to stay exactly the same in terms of client load for the upcoming year.
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This article was originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal on Saturday, December 29th, 2007.
I succeeded on both accounts. I drastically reduced my workload at the end of April 2007 and enjoyed lots of time with my children over the summer. I read many books, took many naps and allowed myself to regroup for the first time since I opened up shop in September 2002. Recharging was great, but it came at the expense of financial stability. I didn’t plan very well (or at all) for the reduced income and as a result spent the summer completely broke (but happy!)
It took me all of August and most of September to build up my workload again, and I’m very happy to say that I’m moving into the new year with some amazing new clients and prospects.
In fact, as I move towards 2008, there’s only one client on my roster that I’ve carried over from as far back as 2006. All other clients signed on with me starting in March 2007 or later. This doesn’t mean I didn’t stick with my resolution of avoiding rapid growth and heavy workload.
On the contrary, my workload is extremely manageable this year compared with last. What I didn’t realize is that suppression of growth doesn’t have to mean lack of change. So if 2007 was the year of honing down my workload to a more bearable level (after the initial pain of honing down too much), then I proclaim 2008 the year of the new client.
This year I resolve to work smarter and earn more while working less. I see my business as the path to freedom for myself and my family, and intend to try out new ideas and push the possibilities, the promise and the potential of self-employment in 2008.
