You wake before the sunrise, dress quickly, steal a cup of coffee and maybe a piece of toast, fight the commuter traffic to work and then spend the day doing something that the boss doesn’t pay you enough for. At the end of the day you fight the traffic going the other way so that you can get home and prepare to do this again tomorrow. The days seem too long and the paychecks are too small. Even weekends aren’t enough to recharge your batteries and get ready for the next week.

Fortunately, you are not alone. Unfortunately, you are in the same category as most other adult Americans (except the 17% or so that have already lost their jobs). If you like earning a living this way, good for you. If you don’t, your next question is probably, “What are my alternatives?”

Well, if working for someone else is one way of making money, then working for yourself is obviously the first alternative. Self employment and business ownership are the reason that you have the job that you have today. Someone else started a business that needed employees and you were hired. If the business is structured correctly, everyone makes money- both the employees and the owner. However, we believe its better to be the owner than the employee.

We believe in self-employment and business ownership for a number of reasons:

-In the days before the industrial revolution, most people worked for themselves. When the practice of mass production was developed, people moved to the factories and began working for certainty of hourly wages. We have now lived through 3-4 generations of Americans who know little more than “go to school, and get a good job.” Our schools and colleges are geared toward producing graduates who have the skills to support a business. Very few of these learning institutions teach any form of business ownership skills, however. As a result our young people are competing for jobs in an age where the information they acquired in college becomes outdated within 3-4 years. Its no wonder that the percentage of graduates who actually find jobs for which they trained is decreasing every year

If you research the number of new businesses that are started every year, you will also notice an interesting demographic fact. The majority of new businesses are started by immigrants. They come to the United States for “The American Dream.” Since most don’t have the college education to ‘compete’ with our college graduates, they are finding another way to make their living. Being self-employed business owners is their mechanism to success.

When you look at the most affluent people in America, one of the things you will notice is that very few of them have jobs, most have businesses. If business ownership for you means Apple or MicroSoft, remember that convenience stores, mini-storage facilities, and the ‘geeks’ that you call to help you with your technology issues are also businesses. You don’t have to be a Steve Job or Bill Gates, because successful businesses come in all sizes. The bigger question is, “If you could replace the income
that you are making as an employee with income you make from self-employed sources, would you consider that to be success?” This touches on another aspect of business that differs from employment. As a business owner, you get to determine how big and successful you want to be.

- The state and federal governments recognize the need to stimulate businesses in order to keep the economy growing. To help do this they have passed and will continue to pass tax laws that treat businesses and self-employed people better than employees. As a self-employed business owner, you have the opportunity to take advantage of these tax laws.

-You are the boss and the boss makes the rules. When to come to work, how to dress at work, how much you should be paid (always remember your boss is paying you wholesale wages and selling your services at retail prices to someone else), when you can take vacation, whether you can stay at home with your sick child. These now become your decisions because you are now the boss.

In these uncertain times, financial security is only available by developing multiple streams of income. One of these income streams may be a job, but it is essential to develop another source of income to prevent the potential devastation that could be caused by unwanted changes in your job situation. Fortunately, with the recent development of internet business models, it is possible to start and develop virtual businesses with minimal upfront investment. Other options include home-based businesses that you can develop based on that unusual skill that you have.

Will your business fail? Maybe. If it does, you will be left with a job (which you will have whether you start your business or not) and an understanding of what didn’t work when you started your first business. Unfortunately our educational system has put so much emphasis on NOT failing that we think that failure is undesirable and as a result, fear failure. Failure is simply a way of determining what works and what doesn’t. How many HUNDREDS of times did Edison fail in his light bulb design before he got it to work? If the thought of failure keeps you from trying to start your own business, you can always go back to your job.

Some business ideas will appeal to you, some won’t. It doesn’t matter. Who would have thought that we would be able to build businesses around picking stuff out of other people’s garbage (which we now call recycling), take pictures without film or hear recorded music without using a disc or tape to store that information. New business ideas are being developed everyday and the potential is unlimited for the person who is willing to try. What matters is that you are ready to find SOMETHING to create that security. Make a decision and start changing your life today.

Hearth and Home LLC, http://hearthandhomesite.com is an internet business, located on the Central Coast of California, which consists of an expanding network of niche websites.

Author: David C Jennings
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger