The path to self employment is long and tough. If it was easy, everyone in the world would be doing it. While self employment is expanding throughout the world most people are still stuck working the dreadful nine to five job. Everyone must work to survive. Whether people want to hear that or not, it is true. Too many people today want to do less work for more money and well, that's just not working. However, it can be done. It will be challenging and it will be hard. There are pros and cons to being self employed and today this article will focus on both.

The Pros: This is pretty obvious. Staying at home, setting your own hours and spending more time with your family are a good start. That's why most people take a leap of faith into the self employment world. However, did you ever think about how it would feel to create your own destiny. When you create your own employment you are essentially putting you and your family's destiny in your hands. While there is no ceiling holding down your success, there is also nobody there to bail you out if you fail. With that being said remember anything is possible. All these positive takes on self employment make the industry look very desirable, but the intent of this article is to show how hard it can be. So onto the cons.

The Cons: This part is tough to write about. Once we as humans get out of fantasy land, we must tackle the tough issues of self employment. So what happens when we leave our nine to five job for self employment? Well sit down for this because it is not pretty. People often fail to realize the benefits they are giving up when they leave their employer. By benefits I mean insurance coverage on dental, vision and health care. In 2002, the U.S Chamber of Commerce estimated that those three benefits made up almost 42% of an employees salary. That alone is scary enough to make you stay put in your cubicle. Now this is not the case always, but for the most part employers do cover your dental, vision and health care insurance. Those reasons alone are what make employers attractive to employees in the working world.

Hopefully this article has opened your eyes to the way things are and are going to be in the self employment world for years to come. Special people can make the transition with ease, but we're not all special. You will need to have built up a pretty good income before trying to make it on your own. This is crucial to your success. If you don't have enough money in savings then it will be very difficult to get yourself off to a good start. Like people always say, "it takes money to make money". It is so true. This article is not intended to scare you. If your desire is to be your own boss then by all means go for it. You only live once, but please do as much research as possible before taking the leap. Either way, good luck to you and your future.