Self-employment Support?

[puglogic]

For anyone who's just dipping their toe in the waters re: self-employment, I wanted to share this. It's not for everyone --- it's kinda like Making a Living Without a Job on steroids, and with an edge --- but I go back and read it frequently and always get good inspiration from it (ymmv): http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog...l-credentials/

[Geila]

Dh and I have been thinking about self-employment for a while but the thing that keeps us back is the health insurance. I would love to know what companies people are using for their insurance - especially the high-deductible policies, which is what we would want. Are people using group policies, ie, industry pools?

I'm also curious to know how many people who are self-employed are going without insurance. And if you are forgoing insurance, how long have you been doing so?

[Bastelmutti]

When I was a sole proprietor, we used BCBS - it was expensive, but decent. Not great coverage. We didn't do high deductible. Now I have an S-corp and DH has a full-time job, so we use his insurance, which is much better than we had before.

[Zoebird]

The 4-hr work week is a great idea for understanding how you want your business to work.

Essentially, you want the business itself to be able to function without you. That, btw, might take some time to get to, but it is still a good goal.

If you really look at our work, we are running 3 businesses:

1. our big business which is essentially a rental/licensing business -- this is the one we are going to franchise;
2. my yoga business -- which is independent of the big business/franchise from which i rent time/space to teach;
3. DH's writing/editing contract work -- which is independent of both businesses and entirely ad hoc.

The first business is an actual "business" as opposed to a "job." A business is something that can function without you. A job is basically something that cannot function without you -- you have to do the work or labor of that job in order to earn income from it, etc. And it is this that you want to get to the least amount of administrative work as possible.

Teaching my classes requires me. Editing/writing that my husband does, requires him. Both require their own admin as well. Each of us spend about 20 hours per week in our job-businesses. And, we each spend about 2.5 hours a week in our franchise business's admin.

Right now, my job-business supports the franchise business while we continue recruiting and growing that business. As I develop the job-business (and train teachers), I'll be able to expand the yoga schedule as needed, putting in teachers whom I have trained to pay rent to the franchise business. Once those teachers demonstrate their capacity to maintain and grow a class, I may reduce the number of evening classes that I teach (from 3 to zero), and possibly even some of the lunch time ones (as on friday, for example -- it was nice to have Fridays off for a while there!).

The point is to get the franchise business to create a healthy passive income (both in the offices where I teach plus also from the franchises themselves), and then the yoga teaching -- which I love -- will be secondary. But, I can teach when I want, as often as I want, and based on our family's needs without having to worry. And if I do -- for example -- go back to the US for 3 months to travel, be with family, and to teach, then I know that the franchise business is healthy and can continue without me, and that the yoga side of the business will also be healthy and maintain itself in my absence, so that when I return, I'll be able to pick up classes again based on the schedule that suits our family.

DH's business will always be job-business. That's the nature of writing and film. But, it's thrilling work, and one can't argue. But, he'll also still enjoy the passive income of the franchise. And, we're' designing it so that you can either A. be like me and work in the business, or B. be like DH and manage the business and recruit people, but not have to be a practitioner yourself to create income from the business.

Anyway, once we get the franchise business down to a clear 4 hours a week, we'll get everything sorted for our franchise book. So far, we are looking at about 5 hours a week on the business, which isn't too bad. I'm working an additional probably 5-8 hours a week right now on recruiting new practitioners and on sales (getting new clients -- particularly corporate clients). It's good, though.

I think if someone wanted to just work in management/recruiting/sales, they'd probably have a business that took them about 10 hours a week? More if they were feeling completely excited about doing that all day long.

[citrine]

I am self employed as a massage therapist and would never go back to paid salary work. It was very scary to be my own boss, but it is working out well I am able to get an "ok" health insurance through a company that provides it for massage therapists and yoga instructors which works out well. I am also looking to get into doing some craft shows and the like. I have a lot of time to take care of our house, the cooking, and the odds and ends which helps my fiance to just focus on his work. He is salaried, but gets commission as well which gets quite tiresome as he tries to make the numbers every month.

[catherine]

For anyone who's just dipping their toe in the waters re: self-employment, I wanted to share this. It's not for everyone --- it's kinda like Making a Living Without a Job on steroids, and with an edge --- but I go back and read it frequently and always get good inspiration from it (ymmv): http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog...l-credentials/

I agree--Tim Ferriss is brillant at delegation, that's for sure! I've been tempted to get a VA (virtual assistant) myself, but just have not had the nerve to take the plunge.

[Stella]

I have considered self employment at some far-distant date, but this week two separate people who barely know each other asked me if I would be interested in doing a little part-time teaching of their kids next year. That caught me a bit off guard. By trade, a million years ago before I "retired" I was a technical writer and software tester and now I am a homeschooling SAHM. Other than working as a preschool assistant in college I don't have any formal teaching experience, but these people have been seeing the stuff I'm doing with my own kids and would like their kids to have some similar experiences.

Beyond the actual teaching, I would probably be helping them put together a loose curriculum for their kids that is specifically targeted for those particular kids and their particular needs and interests.

One of the kids is a pre-K kid who is five in early September but not going to Kindergarten because of the cut-off dates. His mom wants him to have some extra learning beyond a typical preschool curriculum. He has a real love of learning and she wants to be able to feed that in a way that keeps the spark alive.

The other kid is a very bright middle schooler who is just totally floundering, mostly because he is bored out of his mind. He has a real passion and a clear idea of what he wants to do in life and is really craving learning experiences that he can connect both to his real life and to his future goals. While I couldn't personally teach him all of the stuff I think would benefit him, I would be able to be sort of the "general contractor" in this situation. I can research opportunities for him, work some of my contacts in the field he is interested in and, in conjunction with his mom, oversee some of that learning and combine it with the stuff his mom and I can teach him.

This has really got me thinking. It's still kind of a nebulous, unformed thought at the moment, but it seems to strike at something I know a lot of people are looking for. I keep getting hung up on this "I'm not actually a teacher" thing, but I know with my own kids they take on a lot of the actual learning themselves. I'm more of a partner in their learning. A sort of guide. I am really good at helping them navigate all of their options, design learning opportunities based on subjects they are interested in, find out what resources are available and connecting them to the people who do have the expertise to help them explore subjects more deeply when I know I'm out of my league. It is possible that this could somehow become a sort of business idea, or at least I could do it for a few friends who want me to. I'm under no pressure to produce income, I just think this would be fun to try.

[lhamo]

Stella I think that is a wonderful idea -- great for you and a wonderful service to parents and kids. Can you move to Beijing? Or maybe I should move to MInnesota. On weeks like this one has been, it is pretty darn tempting to put the fancy apartment up for sale and get the heck out of Dodge....

lhamo

[Float On]

Stella, I'm a former homeschooler and I have a friend that has a 'school house' to target science and math for homeschoolers in the area. She does have degrees in biology and other sciences and she has done very well with her school house. So much so that she bought a small house to be the school. She has been able to have labs and equipment and more hands on material than most homeschoolers could have in their homes. She is meeting a need in a target area and her classes fill quickly. She has been doing this for maybe 13 years now.

[catherine]

Stella, you would be doing the kids a great service! My oldest son was a product of "square peg in round hole" syndrome when it came to his public school life, and his father and I wound up sanctioning his dropping out at age 16. I homeschooled him when he wasn't at a full-time job, and I really enjoyed the challenge. Meanwhile, he started feeling better about himself on DAY ONE of leaving school. Even his siblings said, "Mom, J__ doesn't act crazy anymore."

He has always been extremely energetic and curious, and so he was a natural at finding his own path, which took him from skibum to golf pro to GED student to community college student to undergrad to law student.

I have always maintained that kids like him need an alternate route. I was so angry at the public school system at the time he dropped out (they essentially took away from him the two things he excelled at--singing and soccer--because his grades weren't good enough) that I've also had it in the back of my mind to start a charter school or something. Of course, I also have no experience in teaching, other than a few months of subbing.

Stella--think about it!