Well...surprise! Once you're self-employed you'll have all sorts of people to answer to including a multitude of officials and inspectors similar to those that your boss used to have to deal with everyday.

In addition you'll have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new bosses in the form of customers! While the old cliché, "the customer is always right," isn't accurate in absolutely every case it is a rule you'll need to abide by.

You'll acquire, and keep, customers by making them happy and the way to do that is to accede to their every request (as long as they are possible, practical and legal). Every customer is, in a sense, your "boss".

If a customer wants those thousand widgets on his shop floor by Monday morning, and you were planning to watch a playoff game on the weekend, you had best be packing widgets instead if you want his/her next order!

The reality is that you'll probably have more people telling you to do things, not less, once you're self-employed!

When you were a sweeper-upper down at the widget works, if the official widget inspector came in and told you, "These widgets are one millimeter below the legal minimum," you said "I'll go get the boss!" If a customer came in complaining his widgets were in green boxes when he had asked for blue ones, you reacted the same way.

Now you can't push these kinds of problems upstairs to be dealt with. You ARE "upstairs!" When your new improved widgets don't sell as well as you had expected it's you who will have to figure out a way to market them in a better fashion.

You may already realize that. If so, you're going into business well prepared and with your eyes open. You'll stand a better chance of success that way.

Perhaps you are thinking, "Well, I'd be able to set my own hours.

I can watch daytime games or spend more long weekends up at the lake." Think again!

The fact is that you will probably have less time, not more. Your business success depends on the effort and time you put into it.

During your working days if you knocked off an hour or two early all you could anticipate was a chewing-out from your boss.

Now you'll have to figure out how to balance the books to account for the lost income you should have brought in instead of goofing off!

Maybe you're thinking "Boy, I'll get rich overnight! My widgets will sell like hotcakes and I'll get to keep all the money!

Think again! It may well be that your widgets will sell more like yesterday's cold waffles when they first hit the market.

Then your task will be to develop a way of promoting them to a world that's not nearly as excited by zircon-encrusted widgets as you are.

It will also be you sitting at your desk pondering phone bills, electric bills, rent notices and all the places that expect their share of your money...whether you have it or not.

There's an old saying that goes "Overnight successes don't happen overnight". This applies in any field and in almost all instances.

The reality is that there are a few things you need for self-employment.

1. A good idea which can be either your own or someone else's.
   
   
2. Confidence in that idea. If you don't believe in what you're marketing why should the world?
   
   
3. Enough expertise and advance research to know why your idea for a product or service is better than others in the marketplace.
   
   
4. Enough backing, again your own or from someone else, to weather a rough start or an unexpected slow period.
   
   
5. A willingness to work hard for long hours.
   
   
6. The ability to seek help when, and if, you need it and the resources to know where it can be found.

Does the above describe you? If so let us encourage you to further explore our site