Self-Employed Or Non-Traditionally-Employed People, Speak Up!

[rastahomie]

I'm one of a handful of Community Board participants who doesn't work a traditional Nine-to-Five. I am self-employed, meaning that my boss is a demanding jerk who expects nothing short of perfection, and my one employee is a pot-smoking layabout who tries to half-[butt] as much as he can get away with. My boss and my employee are one in the same: me.

I'm a professional writer. Mostly I write celebrity trash stories about whatever the Duggars or Roloffs or other C-list reality TV people are up to. The publication I write for the most seems to favor that kind of story, so that's what I write. I'd love to write Pulitzer-caliber stories about important issues that matter, but my readers want celebrity trash instead, so that's what I give them. I'll cry all the way to the bank.

Some weeks I'm rich, most weeks I'm broke, it all depends on how many readers I get.

Being self-employed has been one of the best things that's ever happened to me! I love being able to work in my pajamas and set my own hours. Further, I don't have the temperament for working with others, so being 100 percent on my own has been a huge boon for me.

On the downside, my entire world consists of my workspace in my spare bedroom. I don't get to leave the house for eight hours each day and interact with other adults. That's a huge chunk of the American way of life that I'm missing out on. Also, there's no such thing as vacation or sick days; I either work or I don't make money, end of story.

What do you other self-employed people around here do to make ends meet?

 

[Allison]

I'm one of a handful of Community Board participants who doesn't work a traditional Nine-to-Five.

I don't get the feeling that is the case.

 

[kimblebee]

How did you get into that work?

I'd love to be self employed but have no idea on how to start that or even what I could do.

Writing celebrity gossip would be a dream job lol

 

[Allison]

Does your wife have a traditional job with benefits?

 

[usnuzuloose]

We have our own business, and we work as sub contractors. The job is not a typical 9-5 job. My husband is on 24/7 on our side, the contracting side my hubby works on call for a week , every 3rd week. To some the money could look like a lot, but by the time we put money away for taxes and all the other stuff it takes away a good chunk of the income. So we don't get full benefits, no vacations, no insurance, and dh works very hard and cant slack off. We are just an average american family like most people. I need to work and can not work at the moment.

 

[rastahomie]

How did you get into that work?

I've always been good at writing* - even going back to elementary school, teachers always praised my writing skill. Other people are good with numbers or science or art or whatever, I'm good with words.

Anyway, after decades of slugging out behind a desk, I was at home one day, read an article on a celebrity trash website (it wasn't about celebrity trash), and saw the words "Write for Us" on the site. I figured, what the hell, I'll apply. Eight weeks later, I was knocking out 20 articles per week.

@kimblebee If you can write in coherent English (with good spelling and punctuation), and are interested in pursuing this, I'll give you an email address where you can get started.

*What you see here on the DIS isn't my best work. Sometimes here I'll choose my words poorly or mess up punctuation or whatever. Rest assured that my professional work is much better than what you see here. Here I can let my guard down a bit.

 

[rastahomie]

Does your wife have a traditional job with benefits?

Nope. She really needs to be on Disability due to her mental health issues, but she doesn't want to be that person, so she babysits a couple of kids.

 

[KimBean]

I've always been good at writing* - even going back to elementary school, teachers always praised my writing skill. Other people are good with numbers or science or art or whatever, I'm good with words.

Anyway, after decades of slugging out behind a desk, I was at home one day, read an article on a celebrity trash website (it wasn't about celebrity trash), and saw the words "Write for Us" on the site. I figured, what the hell, I'll apply. Eight weeks later, I was knocking out 20 articles per week.

@kimblebee If you can write in coherent English (with good spelling and punctuation), and are interested in pursuing this, I'll give you an email address where you can get started.

*What you see here on the DIS isn't my best work. Sometimes here I'll choose my words poorly or mess up punctuation or whatever. Rest assured that my professional work is much better than what you see here. Here I can let my guard down a bit.

Reading celebrity gossip myself I'm not sure good spelling, grammar, and punctuation is necessary.

My husband is self employed. There are definite upsides and downsides. He can be off whenever he wants. But getting a new mortgage loan is going to be a doozy. Getting our car refinanced took us 2 years because we had to wait on having 2 tax returns. We make $X but they will only look at $X - business expenses. So it either looks like you make a lot less than you do or you have to pay more in taxes for 2 years to qualify for home loan.

He is in direct sales (network marketing.)

 

[Tattylou]

I am self employed too - technically I'm a 1099. I work in a small group private practice doing psychotherapy and counseling. I am independently licensed in my state so I bill my client's insurance company directly for the sessions that I have with them. I pay a portion into the group (we all do) to cover costs for our office space, the receptionist, on call coverage, billing company, etc. It is a great set up. I get the benefit of making my own hours, but also have professional peer relationships and support. I typically work Mon 9am-9pm and Tues/Weds 9am-7pm ....then I'm off Thurs - Sun every week. I do make some calls or follow up on emails on the off days, but it is minimal. I used to work less when my boys were babies, but now that they are in full day school I go in earlier in the morning. I love it. I love working with the clients I have and I enjoy having professional peers in the building too. It is rewarding work. I have complete freedom and flexibility over my schedule. My DH is a teacher so I do get benefits like health insurance through him.

 

[kimblebee]

I've always been good at writing* - even going back to elementary school, teachers always praised my writing skill. Other people are good with numbers or science or art or whatever, I'm good with words.

Anyway, after decades of slugging out behind a desk, I was at home one day, read an article on a celebrity trash website (it wasn't about celebrity trash), and saw the words "Write for Us" on the site. I figured, what the hell, I'll apply. Eight weeks later, I was knocking out 20 articles per week.

@kimblebee If you can write in coherent English (with good spelling and punctuation), and are interested in pursuing this, I'll give you an email address where you can get started.

*What you see here on the DIS isn't my best work. Sometimes here I'll choose my words poorly or mess up punctuation or whatever. Rest assured that my professional work is much better than what you see here. Here I can let my guard down a bit.

Thanks, I'll totally get that email address from you. I'll look into it but maybe because I'm North of the border I won't qualify.


We should start our own trashy rag LOL

 

[rodeo65]

Thanks, I'll totally get that email address from you. I'll look into it but maybe because I'm North of the border I won't qualify.


We should start our own trashy rag LOL

I would love that too! I'm also north of the border, kimblebee - We have TIFF, Vancouver is big for entertainment...TMZ North!

DH is self employed with an office in the basement, so long hours down in the dungeon. I have been intermittently employed over the years, but my last company had a huge layoff last November. We do not have insurance currently due to the layoff but really never had, as even while employed I was a contractor and never qualified for benefits until the final year. Managing our finances with a once monthly payout, which is how he chooses to draw from his business can be a struggle and tax time is always fun. We need to start making instalments - paying a once yearly lump sucks!

I had always wanted to write as well, but just never got to it. My husband's partner is well known in their industry and is looking to have his story told, so there is talk of DH interviewing him and then I'll do the writing.

 

[Squirlz]

My Wife is a world renowned dairy goat expert. When she had her farm in TN she started a blog to teach others from her experience. It's called Fiasco Farm and is about 300 pages of information about animals and cheese. She hated veterinarians so she studied and developed herbal treatments for things like worms, arthritis, asthma and such. She actually cured her own asthma with the tea she invented.

So people started asking her where they could buy this stuff. Since her paying job was developing websites for small businesses, she decided to start her own and named it Molly's Herbals. Flash forward to 2008 when our relationship started, she moved up here to Michigan and I began working for her. She handles all the finances and paperwork and I prepare orders to ship. I don't get a paycheck. As far as the government is concerned I am retired. The business keeps growing but we want to keep it something that just the two of us can handle and keep in our home, and have time for fun and travel. We don't even advertise. All word of mouth and repeat customers.

 

[kimblebee]

I would love that too! I'm also north of the border, kimblebee - We have TIFF, Vancouver is big for entertainment...TMZ North!

DH is self employed with an office in the basement, so long hours down in the dungeon. I have been intermittently employed over the years, but my last company had a huge layoff last November. We do not have insurance currently due to the layoff but really never had, as even while employed I was a contractor and never qualified for benefits until the final year. Managing our finances with a once monthly payout, which is how he chooses to draw from his business can be a struggle and tax time is always fun. We need to start making instalments - paying a once yearly lump sucks!

I had always wanted to write as well, but just never got to it. My husband's partner is well known in their industry and is looking to have his story told, so there is talk of DH interviewing him and then I'll do the writing.

We constantly are having movies shot here so you may be onto something LOL

TMZ stands for Thirty Mile Zone so we should call our website AFTK (a few thousand kilometres)

 

[Uncranky Donald]

I co-own a small music venue and bar. Running the business is exhausting and thankless. I bartend many nights to make money. I am currently on sabbatical though as 8 years of this was taking its toll on my health and mind. Before that I was a gigging, recording singer/songwriter and worked in the food/bev industry to pay bills. I briefly worked as an expressive arts therapist in my mid 20's which was my only experience w/ a "9-5".
I also work in theaters, television and larger music venues as a freelance stage hand, P.A., & music festival supervisor. I work crazy hours, can go long periods without work and am rich with experience and not much else

 

[PigletsPal2]

I'm self-employed as well, but both DH and I are retired federal government employees, so we each have an annuity and Social Security from when we worked in the private sector. We're also covered by our carried-over health insurance. Our share of the premiums is larger, but not onerous.

I'm a freelance book editor registered with a site that posts jobs in many different areas of publishing, from writing books, blogs, articles, reports, academic papers, and miscellaneous writings to web development and maintenance, graphic design, game design, audio transcription, translations, e-book formatting, and even virtual personal assistants. My personal niche is editing other people's writing. I've scored six jobs through this site over the past year, none of which would cover my mortgage payment. If anyone is interested in checking out this site, let me know, and I'll PM the info to you.

I also lucked into the job of editing a friend's third book in a mystery series she writes. She "parted ways" with the editor of the first two books in this series, and she was desperate. I had mentioned to her that I had done a little freelance editing in the past, so she offered the third book to me. I agreed to do it, but only if she'd let me do it for free, to make sure she was happy with my work, and if she was happy, that she would recommend me to others.

She was very happy with my work, has been singing my praises and handing out my business cards at every opportunity, and has contracted me (for real money this time!) to edit her next entire series of cozy mysteries, called "Old Cities." She has plans for at least seven books in this series, so I'm set for work for awhile. I still don't make the money my DD#2 makes at freelance editing, but she has a degree in publishing from George Washington University; I have a HS diploma and a certificate for winning the county spelling bee in third grade.

Because freelance work isn't my sole means of income (I'd starve to death!), I only bid on jobs that look interesting to me, that have fewer than 20 other freelancers bidding on them, that have reasonable requirements and deadlines, and that pay a decent fixed fee rate. I don't bid on hourly rate projects. I work when I want to, and I'm a floja when I don't want to work. Right now I'm working on the second read-through of Rainy's book, and she wants to get it to the publisher by June 15, so I'm pretty focused on that right now.

I absolutely LOVE freelance editing and it's very gratifying when you see that your author has accepted all (or even most) of your suggested edits.

Queen Colleen

 

[wenrob]

My Wife is a world renowned dairy goat expert. When she had her farm in TN she started a blog to teach others from her experience. It's called Fiasco Farm and is about 300 pages of information about animals and cheese. She hated veterinarians so she studied and developed herbal treatments for things like worms, arthritis, asthma and such. She actually cured her own asthma with the tea she invented.

So people started asking her where they could buy this stuff. Since her paying job was developing websites for small businesses, she decided to start her own and named it Molly's Herbals. Flash forward to 2008 when our relationship started, she moved up here to Michigan and I began working for her. She handles all the finances and paperwork and I prepare orders to ship. I don't get a paycheck. As far as the government is concerned I am retired. The business keeps growing but we want to keep it something that just the two of us can handle and keep in our home, and have time for fun and travel. We don't even advertise. All word of mouth and repeat customers.

She's got good SEO, it came up immediately in a search. I didn't even have to type "herbals." That's a pretty cool success story.

 

[kimblebee]

I'm self-employed as well, but both DH and I are retired federal government employees, so we each have an annuity and Social Security from when we worked in the private sector. We're also covered by our carried-over health insurance. Our share of the premiums is larger, but not onerous.

I'm a freelance book editor registered with a site that posts jobs in many different areas of publishing, from writing books, blogs, articles, reports, academic papers, and miscellaneous writings to web development and maintenance, graphic design, game design, audio transcription, translations, e-book formatting, and even virtual personal assistants. My personal niche is editing other people's writing. I've scored six jobs through this site over the past year, none of which would cover my mortgage payment. If anyone is interested in checking out this site, let me know, and I'll PM the info to you.

I also lucked into the job of editing a friend's third book in a mystery series she writes. She "parted ways" with the editor of the first two books in this series, and she was desperate. I had mentioned to her that I had done a little freelance editing in the past, so she offered the third book to me. I agreed to do it, but only if she'd let me do it for free, to make sure she was happy with my work, and if she was happy, that she would recommend me to others.

She was very happy with my work, has been singing my praises and handing out my business cards at every opportunity, and has contracted me (for real money this time!) to edit her next entire series of cozy mysteries, called "Old Cities." She has plans for at least seven books in this series, so I'm set for work for awhile. I still don't make the money my DD#2 makes at freelance editing, but she has a degree in publishing from George Washington University; I have a HS diploma and a certificate for winning the county spelling bee in third grade.

Because freelance work isn't my sole means of income (I'd starve to death!), I only bid on jobs that look interesting to me, that have fewer than 20 other freelancers bidding on them, that have reasonable requirements and deadlines, and that pay a decent fixed fee rate. I don't bid on hourly rate projects. I work when I want to, and I'm a floja when I don't want to work. Right now I'm working on the second read-through of Rainy's book, and she wants to get it to the publisher by June 15, so I'm pretty focused on that right now.

I absolutely LOVE freelance editing and it's very gratifying when you see that your author has accepted all (or even most) of your suggested edits.

Queen Colleen

Please PM me the information. I'm the editor for a few friends. One friend calls me when she needs to know how to spell a word. She knows she can just google it but she's been calling me since before the days of cell phones and easy access to the internet.

 

[amberpi]

I am an independent consultant. I'm at the point where I pick and choose my engagements, because I've worked on some of the most noteworthy cases in my little niche world, I'm pretty lucky I'm very grateful I don't have to worry about much but what's interesting these days

 

[PigletsPal2]

Please PM me the information. I'm the editor for a few friends. One friend calls me when she needs to know how to spell a word. She knows she can just google it but she's been calling me since before the days of cell phones and easy access to the internet.

Kimblebee, I sent you a PM. Good luck!

Queen Colleen

 

[amberpi]

These backgrounds are amazing! Super cool stuff to hear. I'm just a corporate type getting paid more on the contracts I like, not following a passion - but I'm writing now and having had the career I have, I have the money to do so. That sentence was a nightmare