I work in my dad's bussiness. It's just a small office, only him and me.

The pros are that i get along with my dad incredibly well and that we r
never in an argument or anything.

A huge pro is that i can take my dog to work with me, he has his own
blanket in the office and guards the place when we're having lunch

Another pro is that time off is easily agreed upon since we can take
over for one another and you don't have to deal with backstabbing or
jealous colleagues who make your life miserable.



The cons are that my social circle is rather small because of this since
i have no colleagues outside my dad lol.

However, i think i make up well enough for that with friends.

another con is that you're prone to kind of get stuck in a rut, being it
is a family bussiness and never really closes. people drop in at all the
strangest hours and expect you to help them with their damn insurance...

I've only held 4 'reg'lar' jobs before going freelance.
I love it.
Go to sleep whenever I want.
Wake up whenever I want.
Travel whenever I want ('bout once a month for me).
And tho' I've been doing this as a living for going on 20 years now,
what I do, I've been doing for fun since I was 4(!).
Wouldn't want to live any other way.

Illustrator said:

i have to agree with you, that is one of the best things about it!

REDFEATHERS said:

you know...

i guess i work for myself


its alright, gets lonely...


when things work out well you get lots of praise from folks, but when shits messed up, you have to take all the blame for that....

I do some website work on my own, but it's not enough to sustain me and my family. It'd be nice to turn it into a full time job.

Does being a part-time pimp count?

How long have you worked for yourself? Around 14 years now.

Is it your ideal situation?It has it's good points and bad. What I hate is other people notions that if you're the boss, you can take time off work whenever you like. I find it doesn't work that way.

Would you rather work for someone else?I've done that. I don't mind working for someone else...but I kind of like doing my own thing right now.

Pros and Cons?Well..I've already mentioned the time off work thing. The more time you put into the business, the more you get back.....so it's a hard thing to take time off. But I can choose what jobs I want to do and charge what I like for it.

REDFEATHERS said:

One trick you could do is offer a 5% discount if it's paid in full before a set date. You make the date, say 14 days after they get the invoice. That might work for you.

Drew is self employed and owns his own business. It's great, BUT his health insurance is VERY expensive. But boy did he recently suck them dry.

That's my goal for 2006- I'd like to find a job that would allow me to add him on my heath benefits. And that goal is in the works...

One con to it is as nakedpiannoplayer points out there is little chance for social interactions in a realisitic world way.

I was part owner of a business and recently sold off my part. I'll never do that again, if I'm ever self employed again, it will be 100% or nothing. It sounds nice to say you make your own schedule and all, but if you're gonna be self employed, you gotta be willing to take the good with the bad. Don't take for granted the fact that if you're unhappy with your current job, that you can simply quit and walk away from it, because for business owners, when all goes wrong, it's not that easy...

I'm a full-time designer/graphic artist, but I freelance from time to time. I like the steady income, and the health benefits are great. We also have dental, which few companies offer because it's expensive.

I'm combo #3...

What I would really like to do is make a independent film.

Unfortunally, I am anti-social, well that isn't true persay. I can be very social.

However too many stupid visions and egos clashing over the way to go about such things can be a little sad. Plus, I don't want to have to try to get a larger sized project together, because it would take too much time away from the responcability I have to the org.

This is a pipe-dream of mine.

If I had an idea of what exactly it was I wanted to do - and the means to do it - I'd definitely become self-employed.

I'm definitely not cut out working for big businesses. Or certainly not ones in the financial sector, which is where I'm based.

The people I work for/with - and cater to - are some of the most insipid, conservative, anodyne people you could imagine. I just don't have the corporate mindset that goes along with it.

Sometimes I think I'm literally the only person in this office who has the ability to think differently. Which is cool in some ways - I'm not treated like an idiot and, whatever happens, they know damn well that I refuse to be defined by their standards. But I work hard and do my job so they have no complaints that way. On the downside, it doesn't really go in your favour to be the 'voice of reason' sometimes. People want your opinion, but only when it suits them.

Ooooh, I look like I'm having a rant about work here.

But, seriously, the point of all that is that I long to have my own business - or work in some form of industry - that reflects my outlook. To treat people how you expect to be treated, to celebrate different ways of looking at things or to try different approaches. To treat your employees as vital parts of the workforce, whatever they may do. To recognise and appreciate hard work. To remember that people are individuals.

I think I'd be a pretty good boss.

MickG said:

I made my short film, and I had control over it the whole way through. I was the writer, director, producer, editor,...I even made a couple of quick cameos. It was a lot of fun to do since the cast and crew were all friends of mine. i haven't done anything for money, though. I think it'd be fun to make films for a living.

TMPletz said:

yes, that's the ideal, but I don't have friends.