Tag Archives: self-employment

The Only True Job Security Is Working For Yourself

Lemonade Face courtesy of Kiliii Yu on Flickr
You will achieve true job security only if you master your own destiny by working for yourself.

I’ve heard many times that a regular pay check is security. Actually, it’s regularity. You know to the penny how much you’ll earn every week or twice a month. But it can be cut off on any day in between–making the next regular pay check your last–for reasons having much or nothing to do with you or your performance. That’s not security.

Knowing when your business is facing trouble and taking action to forestall it creates security. The person who works in their own business is responsible for their own future. The person who works for someone else puts their future in someone else’s hands. Perhaps that person is capable, but is their boss? Their boss’s boss? The board, which may be a bunch of strangers? All that uncertainty creates job and career insecurity.

Some people cannot make a move to go out on their own because of real or perceived obstacles. If the obstacles are real, I understand, truly. And we’re in a recession. Though one interested source thinks recession is a good time to start a business. And everyone doesn’t have the personality to work for themselves. Consultant Hank Goldstein and I talked about that on my show, in a segment called, “So You Want To Be A Consultant.”

I know self employment is not for everyone, and everyone who wants it can’t get to it.

Yet, I think it’s the only way to find true job and career security.