Is Self-Employment for You?
February 24, 2011 in Uncategorized
Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Are new tricks even necessary? Maybe the old repertoire is sufficient to bring happiness to a veteran dog. Consider these questions, all from men in the building trades:
I've worked for contractors all my life. Now they say I'm too old. No one wants to hire me because, admittedly, I've slowed down some and can't carry roofing supplies up and down a ladder all day like I used to. But carpentry is all I've ever done. It's all I know. Have I really outlived my usefulness?
The guy I worked for most of my career is retiring and moving out of state. He'll sell me his company, with all his contacts. But I don't know. I've never had to worry about the business end of the trade. What do you think I should do?
I'm a plumber for a good-sized factory. I have steady work and good benefits. Some of my friends feel I could make more money on my own, especially now that I've reached my ceiling on the pay scale. But I've never had to worry about hustling jobs. What happens if I get up some morning and there's no work waiting for me?
Taking the plunge into self-employment can be a frightening experience. But anything that's rewarding is worth the effort. The secret is to prepare and carefully consider exactly what it is you want to accomplish. Do you want to work, or do you want to manage workers? If you really want to work foryourself and by yourself, you're probably further along the road to independence than you think.
When I first retired after many years of being a small-time, country preacher, I wanted to make something that I could point to at the end of the day. I had always loved carpentry, but it seemed that the only game in town involved apprenticing out or learning the ins and outs of the business by working for someone else. I had faith in my skills, but I didn't know how to begin.
My first job happened by accident. I built a porch for a neighbor. Someone saw my work and wanted a deck built around a new, above-ground swimming pool. Pretty soon I was doing a lot of small carpentry jobs for a local farmer. Then I met a man who became my partner. He lived right across the street and had the same interests I did.
Our first job was a renovation that no big contractor would touch. It wouldn't be cost-effective in that we couldn't get in and out quickly. We didn't care very much about our time, though, and were perfectly willing to go slowly. That led to similar jobs. We became known for tackling the kind of projects that required creative thinking. Old house renovations often call for leaving your square and level home. 'Eyeballing' old renovations is often the only way to make things fit in with existing construction. We promised our clients that when we began a project we would stick with it until we finished - no matter how long it took. People appreciated that. We also made sure we were clean and neat and that people were completely satisfied before we moved on to the next job. We trusted them - they trusted us. We had found a niche market and soon had all the work we wanted with no worries about scheduling vacation times or managing office politics.
Could we have hired more people and expanded? Sure. But why? We were perfectly happy the way things were. As we used to say in New England, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!'
What's the point of this story? Modern methods of operation, in every field, often create niches where creative, experienced veterans can flourish while remaining relatively unencumbered with administration details. Is that particular skill that you've spent a lifetime developing really in demand, but you're too afraid of launching out on your own because you've always performed it in order to receive a paycheck from someone else who told you what to do, when to do it, and then profited from your work?
All three of today's questions relate to fear, not skill. When you've worked your whole life for someone else it's hard to think about being on your own. But stop and think for a minute. It's acquiring skill that's the hard part. No one will ever go hungry if they have a skill or talent that someone else needs. Marketing ability? That's what the Over60Exchange is all about. People skills? You can learn those, no matter how old you are. You probably already know how to please potential clients better than some young whippersnapper right out of trade school.
Satisfying work, done well into 'retirement' age, consists of doing something that you love, and doing it well. That's a valuable commodity. It's worth good money. So are you.
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