8 things to think about if you’re considering self-employment

Is self employment for you?  Perhaps you’ve lost your job or you’re facing redundancy and think self-employment is the answer.  Or maybe you just woke up on a grey, cold Monday morning and thought “why don’t I give it all up and work for myself?”


Here is the 8 things to think about if you're considering self - employment.

Is there enough of a push to move you from your current situation?People who move successfully into self employment have a degree of restlessness with their current situation.  In other words, you’re likely to be frustrated with how things are right now, enough to motivate you to want to change and set up your business.

Do you have a passion, not only for the work you do but for turning it into a business? If you’re passionate about what you do you’ll find it easier to ride the waves of change and keep going when starting out.  You’ll also find that others will be attracted to your passion and will be more likely to help you make your business a success.

Do you have a clear vision for what you want to achieve both commercially and personally? In answering this question you need to think through the commercial aspects of your business proposition i.e. what the business is going to offer, to which customer groups and to which geographical markets.  But you also need to think about what success look like for you as an individual.  Is it about earning a certain amount of revenue, having independence and autonomy, working certain hours or days of the week, all of the above or something completely different?

How well do you know yourself and how to manage your energy levels and emotions? You need to know yourself well enough to know what you can do to stay motivated and energised.  For example, do you like working on your own or do you prefer to have lots of people around.  If you’re an extraverted gregarious type you may find days of working alone at home sap your energy and motivation so you may need to develop strategies (such as meeting a friend for lunch) to keep your energy and motivation high so that you are set up for success.

Do you believe in yourself?  Are you confident in your own abilities? To move successfully into self-employment you need to believe in yourself, your capability and your ability to make things happen.  In essence, you need to know you can make it a success whatever happens.

How much personal drive do you have to keep going even when things get tough? Research shows that people who move successfully into self-employment are focused on continually improving what they do and learning how things could be better; resilient when the going gets tough and personally driven to keep going at all times

What about your financial buoyancy?  Do you have plans in place to guarantee some form of a positive cash flow or income stream during your transition? This could be achieved through a range of means e.g. savings, redundancy payment, financial support from a partner, part-time job etc.  A general rule of thumb is that people feel that they need a financial lump sum that covered six months of living expenses.

How good is your support network? To make a success of self-employment you need a well-established network of contacts that can provide different types of support at different times.  People typically need three types of support – (1) Practical support such as child-care, help with household chores etc (2) Technical support in areas outside of your expertise such as IT, finance or some other discipline that is an absolute necessity but a complete mystery to you and (3) Emotional support from people close to you who can help you through the tough times.

10 New Rules for Today's Job Hunt

If you are mid-career, out of work and looking, you've probably already figured this one out: The tried-and-true job-hunting techniques that served you so well in the past no longer fill the bill.

While you were faithfully toiling away for the same employer, maybe for decades, a lot changed. Today it's a brave new world of social media and digital resumes and Google-ability. What's more, many extremely qualified people are willing to take positions clearly "beneath" them. Some will even work for free.

What's an experienced, qualified, truly valuable potential employee who needs a job that pays actual money like you to do? You really have only one choice: Get to know this brave new world, and conquer it.

Here are the 10 biggest differences between then and now:

1. You can no longer depend on a resume to get an interview. Simply mailing out resumes and then sitting back and waiting for responses was never that effective, and today it just doesn't cut it. It's a waste of time, paper, postage, and psychic energy.

2. Your experience matters less than it used to. This is unfair, even counter-intuitive, but people don't want to hear about everything you did way back when. They want to hear about everything you can do, specifically, to help them today. And tomorrow.

3. You shouldn't expect to hear back. Unfortunately, this little courtesy has gone the way of the vinyl record. Keep on networking, interviewing, and researching right up until the moment you have a firm job offer in your hot little hands. Maybe even a little after.

4. A resume is no longer a comprehensive summary of your work and education history. Don't bother to list jobs more than 15 years old. Emphasize recent accomplishments, certifications, and training.

5. More about resumes: You need a digital-friendly one that is easily uploadable, downloadable, and scannable (i.e., no bullets, boxes, boldface, unusual fonts, indenting). It should be rich in the "keywords" that employers in your field are looking for.

6. In fact, overall computer literacy is a must. Get comfortable with applying for jobs online and learn how to research on the Internet. If all this is new to you, your public library is a good place to start. Oh, and have a professional-sounding E-mail address.

7. A good idea is to go one step further and establish a lively Internet presence. Explore LinkedIn (get some stellar endorsements), Twitter, and Facebook. Become active in your field's social media sites. Consider building your own Web site (with a career-oriented blog, professional photo, and resume).

8. One of the first things a potential employer will do is Google you. That means you need to find out if there's anything negative about you online. If there is something bad, try to get it removed. Your best bet may be to "bury" it with more recent, more favorable, links (see No. 7).

9. More than ever it's about who you know, and who knows you. This is important: Finding employment nowadays is less a matter of applying for existing open positions and more about identifying needs potential employers have and demonstrating to them that you can fill these needs. Fortunately, there are more networking venues (real life and virtual) than ever before.

10. Many interviewers/hiring managers/recruiters may be younger than you. Get used to it. Treat them with respect and learn how to speak their language. Do not say "You remind me of my son/daughter," or "When I was your age... !"

You can do this. So go forth. And conquer!

Karen Burns is the author of the illustrated career advice book The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real-Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use, recently released by Running Press. She blogs atwww.karenburnsworkinggirl.com.

Sulfur Recovery Unit

Know about Sulfur Recovery Unit.

Found the link below. 

http://www.esnips.com/doc/e08f3094-c059-433d-8e17-57ba3f5d73c9/Sulfur_Recovery_Unit_Expansion_Case_Studies