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Why choose (supported) self-employment? What are the main challenges?

contributed by: Stacey on November 3rd, 2008
Average: 4 (1 vote)
4

People opt to enter the world of self-employment for many reasons. These include: 

  • Flexibility in setting work hours
  • Shaping activities around personal skills, needs, and preferences
  • The sense of autonomy that comes with being one’s own boss
  • The possibility of making more money for oneself, rather than for someone else
  • Avoiding competition for traditional employment
  • Contributing to the community by providing a needed product or service
  • Building capacity with respect to business skills
  • Broadening community connections
  • Experiencing a sense of increased pride 

Self-employment does not come without obstacles and challenges. These include: 

  • Time lag between business launch and profitable outcomes
  • Longer hours than traditional employment, especially at start-up
  • Access to start-up funding
  • Naysayers who believe that self-employment is not possible
  • Requirements to complete paperwork
  • A need for space to operate the business
  • Fear of losing PWD income support
  • A comparative lack of disability-related support such as job coaches, attendant care, assistive technology, and transportation
Category: Employment | Small Business Tips
Topic: supported self employment
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Comments

Thanks for Something to Think about

Submitted on November 3rd, 2008 by Kevin Lusignan

I like the last several posts on UNTAPE because it helps people to think about different issues that may arise when becoming self-employed. The biggest message with this tip for me is that people can become their own boss instead of working a job for someone else. It challenges the assumption for some that people with disabilities cannot be productive.

I want to thank Stacey from the BC Centre for Social Enterprise for all of her tips related to starting a business. I know that the purpose of her tips are for people with disabilities to start their own enterprises and at the same time they apply for everyone in our community so I created a new category called "Small Business Tips" and included her tips in there as well as in the employment category.

Self-employment is working

Submitted on February 1st, 2010 by orlando

Self-employment is working for one's self rather than for another person or company. To be self-employed, an individual is normally highly skilled in a trade or has a niche product or service for his or her local community. With the creation of the Internet the ability for an individual to become self-employed has increased dramatically 642-357.

Self-employed people can also be referred to as a person who works for himself/herself instead of an employer, but drawing income from a trade or business that they operate personally 642-359.

To be self-employed is not the same as being a business owner: A business owner is not required to be hands-on with the day-to-day operations of his or her company, while a self-employed person has to utilize a very hands-on approach in order to survive. It was said that 1 out of 5 new businesses failed within the first few years in North America, but success or failure in a business cannot be accurately predicted 642-062.

In some countries, (the US and UK, for example) governments are cracking down on disguised employment, often described as the pretense of a contractual intra-business relationship to hide what is otherwise a simple employer-employee relationship.