Making people and ideas findable
So...you were "self-employed"...
But when does being "self-employed" become a liability?
Take into account some of the following issues....
1) Self Employement tax...now you not only get to pay the normal taxes that every one else does, you get to have an additional percentage thrown on for good measure.
2) Insurance benefits...as we've seen from some previous posts (including Pat Coyle's piece on getting charged more for taking preventive care of his family), for the independent / small firm, it's pretty much being on the "Pay More, Get Less" program.
3) What happens when you decide to go back "mainstream"?
And that's a big part of this post. What roadblocks have you run into by having that "self employment gap" in your resume? Of course, that really means you've had to do EVERYthing to run your business: marketing, sales, operations, management, fulfillment, customer service, etc. etc. And you would think that would give you some credibility (especially if you ran your own business successfully...). So...does it help? Does it NOT help? What's been thrown at you? How have you successfully presented the experience to a potential employer? How have you presented it, where it was NOT well received? And did the experience of trying to get a "mainstream" job just make you throw up your hands and go back to being self-employed...where (hopefully) you were making more money anyway?
I'd love to hear your thoughts...
Tags: employment, job search, jobs, recruiting, self-employed
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cindy Dashnaw on -
(1) I'm set up as an S-corporation, and technically, an S-corp doesn't pay any taxes. I will pay taxes on my income when my husband and I file taxes at the end of the year, but my CPA assures me I'm saving about $6,000 a year in taxes this way. Plus, I'm able to deduct expenses and mileage. If I pay estimated taxes to cover Social Security and Medicare during the year, I should be fine come tax time. So I encourage everyone to explore the various options for setting yourself up as a sole proprietor.
(2) With two kids, I'm not sure I could have gone freelance without being able to join my husband's insurance plan. I honestly don't know how people do it otherwise.
(3) I hope I don't have to face this for awhile, if ever!
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Theriault on -
Cindy,
Great response. Going the "inc." route can make a lot of sense...not just for the taxation purposes as well. Keeping the activities (and finances) separate from your personal life is great protection FOR your personal life (although there are folks here that can get a lot more specific into those protections that I can). I can say the insurance issue is becoming more and more of a problem (barrier to entry?) for independents / self-employed people. It definitely can be expensive to have even a decent health insurance plan (anyone in the insurance industry care to comment on ways to acquire a good policy at a non mule choking premium?)
And let's hope the same for your #3 as well!!
Good luck and even greater success!
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