10 Good reasons why you should work for yourself and NOT a Corporation 1. Unemployment is rising in most industrialized countries. In Singapore, the jobs that are added are of low value (construction, cleaners, security etc.) to inflate numbers. The painful truth here is that there are more people looking for a Managers (high value) job then there are vacancies available. 2. With technology surging ahead, coupled with a shorter product life cycle, the number of redundancies is expected to increase, as companies downsize and machinery replaces more and more jobs. As machines get better, the number of people needed will decrease. 3. Technology has made outsourcing very accessible to all, which means that even the self-employed (like me) can enjoy technical support that previously was only available to big companies. The downside is that organizations can also find very experienced professionals at a fraction of the cost of what they are paying you now as a salaried employee. 4. The use of the internet and mobile technology has expanded the marketplace, creating access to a gigantic pool of potential clients. Today you can test an idea and launch a new business with very little seed money. As technology becomes easier and faster, this will become much more broadly available (to the masses), and better. 5. People are tired of the same old stuff and are looking out for more specialized and distinctive products and services, but organisations are stuck with their bureaucracy and long winded decision process. This will weaken their position in the market, giving smaller and more flexible companies a competitive edge. This I can attest to, as I am that smaller company. 6. The retirement age keeps going up, so job satisfaction is becoming more important than ever. If you’re going to need to carry on working till 67 or longer, isn’t it worth doing something you love? 7. The impact on the health of those working in huge organization is beyond belief, with incidence of stress and depression on the rise, not to mention suicides. Pharmaceutical companies will be poised to benefit from all this, as they see the business, not the people. Companies are attempting to work with less people to produce more, would likely lead to greater stress and depression amongst the workers. Considering that there will be fewer people due to redundancies and improved technologies, and robots to come……think about it. This is not rocket science. Look at car manufacturing and see how robots have replaced human workers. 8. Today, it is easier than ever before to get together with a group of people to source for different skills and create something new. This means that your skills can be leveraged much faster, and in a way that is not possible inside the corporate world due to internal politics, slow decision making process, rigid structures and policies. So you can spend the rest of your life killing yourself (with stress) trying to climb up that corporate ladder, OR you can create your own ladder for yourself and go up that ladder at your own pace in your own way, and best of all, at your own terms. You may do this with like-minded professionals. I know this because I speak from experience. I lead a group of HR professionals at HRmatters21. 9. Corporations are older and heavier than dinosaurs. They carry a lot of old baggage with old ideas, rigidity and narrow mindedness and offer 20th century solutions to a 21st century problems. Creativity and innovations are much more likely to come from small businesses that are more entrepreneurial, faster and more agile. Small companies may look weak today, but they will become stronger and bigger in time to come. The existing model of the big organisations is in decline, and it’s just a matter of time before they become extinct if they are too slow in changing. Just look at what happened to Kodak. 10. Organisations think they own you, and with today’s technology currently available they expect you to be available 24/7. They don’t care about the stress you are under and will treat you as a digit. As for me, I discovered a wonderful fulfillment being an entrepreneur and working for myself. I control my own pace of work and make decisions that impact my own personal life and growth. It is in my own hands, not in the hands of a corporation, and best of all, I work at my own terms. If you like what you just read, do click share and let others benefit from gaining insight into being self-employed. Many are thinking about it, however most are afraid to try. Perhaps these 10 reasons could provide more information and greater insights into their decision making process, so that they can make an informed choice. Cheers!! Martin Gabriel, HRmatters21, hrmatters21.net
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 11:37:35 +0000