Not very long ago, I personally decided to make a major career and life decision. This decision has come with a multitude of challenges, and lessons, but also heartbreak. You see, it’s HOT out here – let’s talk about self employment.
Now for starters, many of y’all don’t get the real gist of what ‘self employment’ really means. Allow me to reintroduce it to – Self-employment is a term used for jobs in which the worker is not an employee of another person or organization. Self-employed people work for themselves and are their own bosses. They may own their own businesses as sole proprietors, or work as independent contractors.
So to say, there are several business structures in which someone qualifies as self-employed. These include working as a sole proprietor, being an independent contractor, being a member of a business partnership, and part-time self-employed structures like gig work – something many Ugandans have gotten used to.
Self-employment can be a great way to earn a living, but it also has its challenges.
Inconsistent Income
As we said earlier, self employment comes with the perks of not only being your own boss but also the chance to pay yourself. Self-employment can be challenging, with a lack of consistent income being a common and major concern. For those whose income depends on their ability to sign clients or sell products that don’t yet have a strong customer base, earnings can fluctuate greatly during a slow month or off-season, and unfortunately this often leads to having multiple debts and whatnot.
Stress, Fatigue, and possible depression
Along with inconsistent income and the lack of guaranteed benefits that come with employment, the demands of managing a business as an individual can feel overwhelming for self-employed individuals. This often leads to many episodes of stree, fatigue and possibly depression since an individual becomes a one man army with multiple responsibilities on his/her shoulders.
Clients Prefer Teams
Truth be told, it’s very uncommon for a client to take on a self employed person/consultant as opposed to getting a fully fledged team to work with. Don’t get me wrong, I know self employed people/consultants running some crazy accounts/clients – however, regardless of your experience or expertise, it’s really difficult for ‘big clients’ to choose an individual over a team.
Contrary to popular belief, a Team comes with the security in numbers that an individual can’t possibly counter. Take an example of the event someone gets sick/ill – A team will chip in to fill the gap as a self employed person will leave a client hanging.
Limited Freedom
Let the fact that someone is their own boss and can do whatever they want when self employed not fool. There is no absolute freedom with being self employed – as a matter of fact, self employment will have you on your toes more than employment will. When you leave the 8-5, kiss freedom goodbye – you shall be up at 3am completing a client’s pitch and at 5am designing work yet you have another client meeting at 8am. Matter of fact, this might be the cause of stress and depression, the mere fact that you barely get any rest.
So, as you plan to go the self employment route, you should know that it’s not all rosy out there, however, if you are disciplined enough and you get it right, you will always be in the bank like a boss.