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Where should I work? – Getting a job vs self-employment ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ

Where should I work?


Where should I work? Getting a job vs self-employment

Introduction ๐Ÿ‘‹

If you’re wondering what career path to follow, it can be really helpful to know the differences between self-employment and getting a job.

Getting a job and self-employment are the two main types of work.

You can do just one or the other, or you can do both!

Today we’re weighing up your options on where to work. ๐Ÿ’ผ

Self-employment vs getting a job – what’s the difference? ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ

Before we weigh up the pros and cons of these 2 types of work, here are the main differences between them!

Self-employment ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐ŸŽจ

  • You work for yourself ๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™€๏ธ
  • You’re in charge of your own business ๐Ÿ‘‘
  • Unless you hire other people to help you, you have to do everything from promoting your business, dealing with customers, to paying bills ๐Ÿคนโ€โ™€๏ธ
  • You might have a lot more work to do, in order to pay your taxes. You might even hire an “accountant” to help you pay your taxes (What is tax? ๐Ÿ’ธ) ๐Ÿ’ฐ
  • You get paid by customers giving you money ๐Ÿ’ณ
  • Getting paid by customers can be irregular ๐Ÿ“ˆ
  • If you want to set up a pension or retirement plan, you might have to do it yourself (Why you should save for retirement when youโ€™re really young ๐Ÿง“) ๐Ÿง“
  • If you want more money, you may need to increase your prices or take on more customers โฌ†๏ธ
  • You can often choose your working hours โŒš

Getting a job ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ’ผ

  • You work for an employer e.g. a business, a charity, the government ๐Ÿข
  • You sign an “employment contract” to agree to the work that you will do for your employer ๐Ÿ“œ
  • Jobs are usually paid by the hour or are given a “yearly salary” ๐Ÿ’ท
  • Money gets sent regularly to your bank account for your work (usually each week or month) ๐Ÿ”
  • You are usually given a “job description” that tells you what work you need to do ๐Ÿ“ƒ
  • You are given a “payslip” that tells you how much you’re getting paid each week/month (How do payslips work? ๐Ÿงพ) ๐Ÿ’ธ
  • Your employer often helps to send your tax payments to the government ๐Ÿ“จ
  • Usually you should be offered a company pension to help you save for retirement (free money from your employer!) ๐Ÿง“
  • You might get given bonuses when you perform well at work ๐ŸŽ
  • You are usually given set working hours โŒš
  • If you want more money, you might have to ask for a pay rise, or get promoted ๐Ÿ™
  • You might be given training for your job, or even get your educational certificates/exams paid for by your employer ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿซ
  • Could receive benefits like health insurance, paid time off, retirement plans, etc. โœจ

The pros and cons of working for yourself ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ

It’s important to weight up the pros and cons before making any decisions about where you should work.

Weighing your options can help you to work out which is the best fit for you. ๐Ÿงฉ

Pros โœ…

The pros of working for yourself are:

  • Independence – You can make your own decisions rather than an employer making them for you ๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™€๏ธ
  • Flexibility – You can adapt your work to fit your lifestyle by choosing the type of work you do and your working hours ๐Ÿ“†
  • Choosing colleagues – You have more choice around who you work with, rather than someone else choosing for you. ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿคโ€๐Ÿง‘
  • Location – You can choose where you work, and don’t have to commute to an office if you don’t want to! ๐Ÿ—บ๏ธ
  • Variety – Get bored easily? When you’re self-employed you can create a lot of variety and new experiences in your work. ๐Ÿ’ƒ
  • Effort – When you’re self-employed, you create your own success. You benefit from all of the work and effort you put in, whereas working hard for an employer doesn’t always guarantee that you’ll benefit. ๐Ÿ‹๏ธโ€โ™€๏ธ
  • Job satisfaction – You can adapt your work to create a job that makes you happy! ๐Ÿ˜€
  • Income – The amount of money you can earn from self-employment is limitless! How much you earn relates to how hard you work, and what you decide to charge. ๐Ÿ’ธ
  • Your own boss – Hate having a boss? If you’re self-employed, you are your own boss and don’t have to deal with the stress of performance reviews from them, or office drama. ๐Ÿ‘‘

Cons ๐Ÿ‘Ž

The cons of working for yourself are:

  • Motivation – You need to be very motivated if you’re self-employed because nobody is telling you what to do!๐Ÿƒโ€โ™€๏ธ
  • Finding clients – It can be challenging trying to find clients and make money when you’re self-employed ๐Ÿ•ต๏ธโ€โ™€๏ธ
  • Demands – Because you’re not guaranteed an income with self-employment, self-employed jobs can become stressful and demanding when you’re not making enough money. This can make it hard to find time for other things in life like hobbies, family, and friends ๐Ÿฅด
  • Uncertainty – It’s not guaranteed that you’ll make money from self-employment, which means you can potentially lose money instead of making it. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ
  • Money skills – People who are self-employed need really good money skills – whether it’s keeping enough money aside to pay your tax bills (What is tax? ๐Ÿ’ธ), deciding how much to charge for your work, making sure that you have at least 6 months’ income saved up for emergencies, or deciding how to spend your earnings. ๐Ÿ’ณ
  • Organisation skills – Self-employment can need a lot of organisation for things like keeping track of how much money you make, and filing paperwork for your taxes. โœ๏ธ
  • Legal knowledge – When you have an employer, they usually have a legal team to help you avoid making legal mistakes. When you’re self-employed you don’t get this support, and have to keep track of lots of different laws on your own! ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€โš–๏ธ
  • Employee benefits – If you’re self-employed you don’t receive employee benefits like sick pay, paid time off, bonuses, or retirement plans. ๐ŸŽ

Conclusion ๐Ÿ‘

So that’s it!

Self-employment and getting a job both have their benefits and drawbacks.

The important thing is to decide which is the best fit for you! ๐Ÿงฉ

If you know any friends or family members who might benefit from learning about self-employment vs getting a job, share this post with them!

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