Success In Self-Employment

Vincent Gabriel

Description

In this book, Vincent Gabriel teaches you how to make an assessment of yourself to find the right kind of business opportunity for self-employment. It covers business planning, and how to set the right goals for self-employment so that your family and your finances will not be in jeopardy. Some of the opportunities discussed in the book includes:
Freelance writing, freelance teaching, coaching, mentoring and consultancy, small F&B business, tutoring etc.

Sujets

• Entrepreneuriat
• Business
• Economics
• Entrepreneurship
• Employabilité, métiers et formations

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 octobre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789810777524
• Langue: English

Extrait

Success In Self-Employment
Vincent A. Gabriel
Aug 2013
Published And Distributed
Rank Books
ISBN 978-981-07-7752-4
Copyright 2013 Vincent Gabriel
Typeset and Cover Design: Rank Books
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information retrieval systems - without written permission of the copyright holder.
Condition of Sale
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the copyright holder s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Disclaimer
The author disclaim all liability and responsibility for loss caused to any person by any act or omission to act directly or indirectly as a result of material contained in this book.
Printed in Singapore
Preface to Self Employment: Success
At the final stages of my life I want to leave behind to my students as much of what I have learnt these years. Success depends on:
Knowing yourself and what you can do
Knowing the business environment
Knowing exactly what the customer wants, in the way he wants and at the price he is prepared to pay
This particular book will help you improve your prospects if you re involved in one of two places.
Fully self-employed as in:
Tutoring
Part-time teaching
Payroll management
Or when you are in a part self and part employed situation when you work in
The food and beverage industry
The writing for newspapers and magazines
Self-employment is about YOU discovering your strengths to earn a living for yourself and your family.
About the author
Vincent A. Gabriel has employed himself the greater partner of his life. He has experienced the fields written about in this book.
Over the years, the demand for more information has led to calls to sell books here and there, so it was decided to go to E-Books, a format that allows universal reach.
It is hoped that you will find this book useful as I have found writing it pleasurable.
About the approach
I have learnt much from my vendors, suppliers and friends, so I wish to acknowledge your kindness. I am only given a page and that cannot fill in all the names of ALL the people who have helped me.
On the onset of this new series I must thank: Lim Li Kok from Asiapac Books who gave me my first Success in the Food Business and KC Goh of Rank Books who gave me the 20 books that followed.
My family, friends from all over Singapore, which has grown as a business hub and lighthouse of business knowledge.
Content
Preface to: Self Employment: Success
About the author
About the approach
Unit 1 Being Effective: Friends, Fiends and Focus
Unit 2 Time, Fools, Focus
Unit 3 Fiends and Friends: Freelance Writing
Unit 4 Freelance Teaching
Unit 5 Coaching, Mentoring, Training And Consultancy For Change
Unit 6 Tutoring Queen Of Self-Employment
Unit 7 Selling As Self-Employment
Unit 8 Into The Food Paradise
Unit 9 Back Into The Business: Outsourced Jobs
Unit 10 The Golden Fingers
Unit 11 Doing What You Like: Personal Services
Unit 12 The One Big Mistake - The Straw That Broke The Camel s Back
Unit 13 Self-Employment Beyond Today
Unit 1
Being Effective: Friends, Fiends and Focus
When you complete this unit you will be
able to identify the short, medium and long term goals in self-employment
analyse these goals
compare how each of the self-employment activities measure in the attainment of goals
Introduction
In Unit 1, you will accept the importance of time management.
In this unit you accept that by being in Self-Employment you enjoy the benefits of self-actualisation. Hence when considering effectiveness, you will only consider the practical goals of income, leisure, long-term retirement (after the age of 68) and viability of the business service.
Time and Goals
The three time periods to consider are: short, medium and long term.
The short term refers to the twelve-month period that the Self-Employed person like you has to plan for.
The medium term refers to the period beyond twelve months but less than thirty-six months. This is the period needed to measure if a business is strong enough to be described as self-sustaining.
The long term refers to the period from three to five years, a period of time necessary to prove that the business has developed enough acceptance in the community, as to be able to continue to grow and provide a sustainable income for you.
Goals and practicality
Within the short term goals, three practical outcomes can be regarded by the Self- Employed as being needed:
a) providing a monthly income of $3,500 (in 2013). This can be considered as the income needed to sustain a family of two parents and two children (under the age of twelve) living modestly in a Housing and Development Board flat and attending a neighbourhood school with modern expenses for food, clothing and insurance.
b) time for the family
This refers to having time for one meal together as a family once a day
c) control over the work environment
Being a Self-Employed person gives you control over working environment and this refers to you deciding when to start work, when to stop and the fact that you have no supervisor to answer to for your actions.
The medium term goals are more difficult to pin down for the Self-Employed Person. Three ideals, among others, are identified as being common with anyone who is self-employed.
The first is the ability of the business to generate enough for the Self-Employed to contribute regularly to a saving fund aimed at retirement (CPF Life being one example) on top of the annual Medi-Save contributions needed before the business can be re-registered for another year. Most Self-Employed Business Services are personal and unique to the service provider and cannot be sold to someone else, hence the need to contribute to a formal retirement fund that can withstand the rigours of inflation and financial crisis (that seems to be a feature of today s economy).
Another medium term goal must be the ability of the business to provide enough funds to the Self-Employed Person to be able to stay in hospital for about one month when a medical emergency arises. This can be provided by buying medical insurance, with a proviso for loss of income during the period of hospitalisation.
The third medium term goal must be for the business to provide opportunities for the owner to be able to interact with his customers and get business opportunities in an open environment and your properly completed job creates another opportunity for new clients.
The long term goals for the Self-Employed Service provider requires the individual make a conscious commitment to permanent sustainability of the service.

CASE STUDY 1.1
I married the man I loved. He was in sales, and from what I could gather doing well. After we married, he wanted to be self-employed. He got into land banking. He said that he was doing well. Then one day after five years, he was out of a job.
Then he went into selling gold coins. He seemed to be doing well. One day he went to Penang on a business trip. The next day 20 angry people turned up at my house. I tried to call him. There was no answer. I had to call the police to help me sort out things. The company selling gold coins was engaged in a scam.
Then two years later, he suddenly appeared at my doorstep. I was angry. I did not want him. The daughters wanted him back as their father.
I had no choice. I told him to drive a taxi. He said that if we did so we could not live in this private housing estate but had to move to a HDB flat.
He went back to doing foreign exchange.
Imagine, some of the best bankers from the best banks with their degrees in economics and finance getting burnt, and yet my husband claims that he could do and must do foreign exchange. I am waiting for the next explosion and the angry crowds at my doorstep.
What have I learn?
Self-employment has to be planned for.
Do something that you know well.
There should not be any limits, for example there is no rule/law that requires taxi drivers to stay in HDB flats.
Specialised training is needed in some professional fields as the interests of clients and their welfare have to be protected.
You may say that I am overly negative. I believe I am a realistic after all that I have been through. I am not selling the house (a semi-D) as the proceeds will go to my husband s reckless lifestyle.
Some types of services that were once popular have become less so. An example used to be the freelance insurance agent. Today this particular industry is tightly regulated and the freelance insurance agent has all but disappeared and replaced by the professionally qualified, fully accredited insurance executive who works for an insurance company.
The internet has brought buyer and seller together and various types of freelance agents have been rendered toothless as buyers and sellers meet over the internet and transact business.
Hence any long term goal for the Self-Employed Service provider to survive more than three years, requires the practitioner adds value to the service provided. An example would be a business consultant who not only helps a business identify its weak areas but who also helps the business get government grants (to achieve business objectives) and bank loans (to grow the business).
The Self-Employed Service provider who is able to widen and to deepen the services to clients would be working on the 6Cs.
The 6Cs are:
Concept

Communications

Capacity

Capability

Contractors

Content
The end result would be to build up the intellectual property unique to that business. It is this intellectual property that can be transferr