The Idea of Getting Self-Employed - Personal Statement Example

The Reasons for being self-employed: Considering the risky circumstances of the prevailing time, where almost every country is suffering from the after effects of the great financial recession, it is a wise decision to be self-employed. “Self-employed” is a term specifically used for freelancers. In the recent years, it has been observed that freelancers working over the internet have increased significantly and this trend is growing at a fast pace. Following are some reasons that will support the idea of getting self-employed: The biggest advantage of being a freelancer (self-employed) is the flexibility of time schedules. You can enjoy your time with family and can do work according only when you want to. This flexibility helps you to plan your live in a strategic manner. It is true that a freelancer can continue studies without any problem. Being self employed is as good as a part time job. Moreover, you can also learn the tricks of time management and work experience will contribute to your overall learning. A self-employed person enjoys the leverage of spending time with the family. Freelancers are under no obligation of completing a job at a particular time; instead it can be completed at any time that seems appropriate to them. This way they have more time to look into family issues and thus can contribute to family and social welfare. Self-employment has better growth opportunities. A person can perform more than one task simultaneously and can earn more than a conventional job. This way he can take up more work and can balance it with off periods. Self-employment can be a taster to a full time job. A self-employed person can easily understand the difficulties and hard work required to keep up with a full time job. Another great reason of being self-employed is that you enter the world of knowledge and expertise. You will experience grossly unconventional things; which a person can ever face in his professional job. Moreover, it will enhance your current skill set and you will be able to develop newer skills which will give you comparative edge. In addition, a self-employed person has unlimited income. It’s up to his own disposal that how much he is willing to earn. Bonuses and extra payoff may prove a worthwhile addition to one’s income, too. Under the lights of these above facts, it is easy to infer that self-employment is currently the best option for professionals, especially for those who are creative and innovative. Therefore, I believe that self-employment deems fit and proper for professionals like me. The skills required: Self employment is not less than a business. In fact, being self-employed means one is running a virtual business. Self-employment is all about motivation as one is not an employee of some company and hence has no fear of being fired by the higher authorities. Consequently, this feeling can make a self-employed person, lazy. Thence, self motivation and dedication is the key to produce efficacious results after getting self-employed. As far as technical skills are concerned, a person must be an all rounder. A person who wants to be self-employed must possess following abilities and skills which will make him prominent amongst his peers. A self-employed person must have good interpersonal skills. It is better to stick to a particular field and then develop the knowledge of other disciplines. It helps to achieve zenith of success in a shorter time, whereas, providing services in every field, will blur your area of expertise. The person, who wishes to become self-employed, must be a dedicated individual. Dedication and motivation are the two main things strictly required for self-employment. Make yourself an authority on a certain subject. Thorough knowledge and exceptional skills will help you gain market which will enable you earn an adequate amount. To become self-employed, a person must possess strong entrepreneurial skills. These skills do develop with the passage of time. A self-employed person is expected to take calculated risks and be resource parsimonious. In addition to the above arguments, it is quoted by most freelancers that ‘work spirit’ is the only thing required for becoming a freelancer. Hence, a person owning dedication and working spirit possess two hallmarks of a self-employed person. What are the various ways of starting your business? It is one of the toughest tasks to start and establish a business. There are different ways of starting your own business. Some of them are mentioned below: 1. Buy or Takeover a running business: This helps you to pave your path towards success on a fast-track company already enjoying good business standing and reputation. There are many sources to get information about such opportunities. The worth-mentioning sources include: Trade press Commercial estate agencies Advertisements What fails your business is lack of interest, dedication and hard work. Therefore, it is a foremost recipe of taking over a business that you must stick to your aim and give your maximum effort. 2. Buy in (Joining as a Partner) Another way to start a business is to join an existing business as a partner. This helps you to divide risk and to work freely, without any tension of getting bankrupt or incur business loss. You can get information about such organizations from the same sources mentioned above. Moreover, it is pertinent to complete your research first about the organization you are willing to join. Try not to give other partners opportunities to criticise you, as it will lead towards dissolving partnership. 3. Management Buy Out: No doubts that management buyout is an extremely successful way to start your own business. You just have to purchase the firm you are working for and your business will get started. There is no need for investigation of accounts and other things because you are already aware of them. Although, it is a very successful idea but requires commensurate hard work and time to maintain the previous pace of the business. Therefore, you must be vigilant and must think like previous owners to make your venture a successful one. 4. Freelancer: Creating your own freelance company is not a bad idea. It is as good as a real business but the only difference is that you will own a virtual business with people working on remote locations. You are under no obligation of performing limited tasks but can do anything you wish. Freelancing provides ample opportunities of growth when compared to a conventional business. It is pertinent to mention here that freelancing requires extreme hard work and the major cause of the failure of freelance businesses is lack of surge, time management and dedication. GO GOING FOR IT… Me (Analyse of Colour Personality Test) When it comes about analyzing my own self, I must admit that I am a dedicated and honest person. The results and analysis of colour personality test proves that I am a very calm and optimistic person. The results of my colour personality test are concisely mentioned below: Motivation: Motivation is the virtue what I have. I am a self-motivated person and do not require any partner at any point to get motivation. The source of motivation for me is my surrounding. I have the ability to perform tougher tasks with my belief and skills. Innovation: As I am a graphic designer, creativity is mixed in extravagant amounts with the cores of my mind and soul. The result of personality test shows that I am a sharp minded person having new ideas erupting in my mind, all the time. I have strong imagination skills and my detail oriented nature helps me to think out of the box. Moreover, I am an introvert and have strong reactions towards criticism and praise. Organiser: When it comes about assessing me as an organiser, I think I am very good at organising events. I have efficient organisational skills and what makes my ideas efficacious is the tendency of turning my ideas into practicality. My personality test results also revealed that I am a conservative and reliable person and as a group leader, I can utilise the skills of my group members in the best possible manner. Communication Skills: I have strong interpersonal skills. I try to be as friendly as possible with my colleagues and other people in my surroundings. This is the reason why I can perform better as a group leader. Working Spirit: What I inferred from the colour personality test is that I am a hard worker, an enthusiast and is always willing to work dedicatedly even in precarious situations. I prefer to complete designated tasks within the designated time, rather than assigning it to someone else. Moreover, I have a special ability to perform tougher tasks in stressed situations. With these key points of the results mentioned above, one can easily ascertain about my personality. MY SKILLS As far as my skills are concerned, I am a graphic designer by profession, and relative to this profession, I have strong imagination and creative skills. I am a creative person and can perform difficult tasks easily, relating to my field. Considering the current market of Graphic Designing Industry, I have a sufficient skill set to survive and prove my abilities in the Graphic Designing market. I am well versed with all the software currently used by the professionals. The ADOBE suite is on top of the list. Therefore, considering these factors, I am currently struggling hard to achieve the professional level. Skills Matrix: Skills My Current Level Required Level Steps to achieve the required level IT skills- Photoshop Higher level of understanding. Can perform intermediate level tasks Professional level work and smoothness Practicing Photoshop on regular basis. IT Skills- Illustrator Adequate knowledge with fair understanding of tools and filters. Professional level work with accuracy Learning to vectorise images. Going through manuals and watching online videos to learn more and improve. IT Skills- InDesign Very good understanding with the basic tools. Professional level with accuracy Doing practice on regular basis. Trying to improve skills of adaptation via daily practice. IT Skills- Flash Not more than a beginner Professional level required with accuracy Practicing to make flash intros. Improving knowledge about the tools and basics by reading manuals and E-books My Work: Organizations and Agencies: ARTQUEST Artquest.org.uk CIDA Cida.co.uk D&AD Dandad.org ECCA Ecca-london.org Shell Live Wire Shell-livewire.org Magazines: Eye Grafik- relaunch in January Creative Review Design week Other Websites: www.creativereview.co.uk www.dandad.org My Market: We all know that freelance industry in this prevailing era is on top. People are trying to be self-employed and this thing is enhancing the growth of freelance market. Therefore, considering this fact, I can certainly say that after becoming a freelance Graphic Designer, I may get many opportunities to earn my bread. Nowadays, there are different freelancing websites available on internet, which are providing a number of jobs to the efficient workers. Some of these top freelancing websites are Guru.com, Odesk.com, Vworker.com and freelancer.com. According to a recent research conducted by me, it revealed that currently, there are about five thousand jobs relating to Graphic Designing are available on Odesk (Odesk, 2011), about a thousand on Guru.com (Guru, 2011) and nearly about five hundred on Vworker. Thus, considering these statistics, I can certainly say that my market of Graphic designing is a giant market, encompassing thousands of opportunities. In addition, I can also get work from the local customers of my area. It’s up to my marketing strategy that how I come across these jobs. I believe that a person creates his own opportunities and makes his own way. Therefore, I am certain about the sustainability of market. It is also observed that people are shifting their businesses on ecommerce websites and the numbers of ecommerce websites are increasing. Therefore, under the light of this fact, one can easily presume that there will be more Graphic Designing work opportunities in near future and with my exceptional skills; I will certainly be able to earn my livelihood, way better than conventional jobs. In addition, my grossly unconventional and innovative ideas, distinguishes me from my peers and will help me to get more customers. I will market my services over the internet with the help of SEO/SEM. I believe that customer satisfaction is what I need and this will bring my customers back to me again and again, every time they need a graphic designer. My Future No one knows what exactly will happen in future. However, prognostication is what all, we can do. Therefore, on the basis of my current standings, I assume that I may possibly end up being an expert graphic designer. After completing my current graphic designing courses, I will be able to compete in the market of professionals. I have exceptional skills and creativity which will help me to perform better than others. I assume that in future I may be serving in a reputed organization or may become a self-employed person but whatever I will do, will be good for me. My first consideration will be to do a job, to get some relevant industry experience and to make myself capable enough to start my own business and then I will try to establish my own business in the Graphic Designing niche. As I said that I believe a person makes his own way, thus, I will certainly pave my own paths towards success and in future I will appear as a successful graphic designer carrying reputable name in the industry. I know that I will be facing difficulties and problems while starting my own business. However, on the basis of my motivation and dedication, I am certain that I will be able to achieve the pinnacles of success. I believe in hard work and I believe that one day, my abilities, hard work and dedication will make my dream of being a successful graphic designer, come true. References: Isidro, M. Isabel. Ten Ways to Get Started on your Home Business, 2007, [online], [available at] http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol14/eightways.htm Odesk.com. Graphic Designing Jobs, 2011, [online], [available at] http://www.odesk.com/jobs/?clear_button=1 Guru.com. Jobs Page, 2011, [online], [available at] http://www.guru.com/pro/search.aspx#&&page=1 Read More