Technical Self-Employment Is A Fat Paycheck Waiting to Be Pocketed

World New York ^ | Grant Barrett

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"A good deal of the whining I read concerning disappearing tech jobs claims they are headed for China and India. Sure they are: the numbers are irrefutable. But only certain kinds of jobs, and they’re almost all jobs at large corporations."

Big companies only provide a minor fraction of US employment.

Small businesses employ the most people, and they aren't moving to India.

[The Duke]

Small businesses employ the most people, and they aren't moving to India.

I own a small programming business - and you'd better believe we're "moving to India"! (or, in my case, Argentina).

With regard to the validity of the point this article seeks to make, all I can say is that the validity of a point seems to be inversely proportional to the number of words required to make it.

[Utah Girl]

I was laid off from my job in June. I've been doing small jobs for my neighbors since and have charged them $25 an hour. I've shown people how to use their email, basic printer troubleshooting, and how to use digital cameras and get their pictures from the camera to their hard drives. Stuff that is easy for me, but baffling to most casual computer users. I start another job tomorrow, but will continue to free lance on the side.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I own a small programming business - and you'd better believe we're "moving to India"!

Believe it or not, most small business are not programming businesses.

[BushCountry]

Bump to read the responses later.

[Joe_October]

Bump for reference. I've been telling my buddies in ITS to stop complaining and prepare for the day when they don't have to re-write the same code over and over again.

[Utah Girl]

I think that's the biggest thing I learned during my enforced time off from work: I have really good skills in getting computers to work properly and I can teach people technical skills on their level. There's a lot of money out there and people are willing to pay to learn to use their computers.

[OldCorps]

bump to read later

[old-ager]

> I own a small programming business - and you'd better believe we're "moving to India"! (or, in my case, Argentina).

Please explain. Do you mean you own a software shop? ISV? Consultant? What? And what are you moving? Yourself, or are you just using Argentine programmers?

[Alas Babylon!]

This is interesting. BFL!

[vote_quimby]

Bump to read later.

[lewislynn]

I've been doing small jobs for my neighbors since and have charged them $25 an hour.

----

I start another job tomorrow, but will continue to free lance on the side.

Don't forget to declare your self employment income...

[Utah Girl]

I'm not. I've been keeping track of the income, I've already hired an accountant.

[gaijin]

good post.

Marking.

[FairOpinion]

Great article. A lot of good advice, much of which is also applicable to other areas.

[lewislynn]

I was actually joking but if you do file spend as much money as you can on your new business...take your neighbors(s) clients to lunch, buy some tool/supplies etc.

You really shouldn't need an accountant it's very simple to do by following the instructions or you can just use a tax program.

[Utah Girl]

I just want to make sure I am obeying the law. I'll have a complicated tax return next year, I used to work with my accountant's wife, so he is just giving me advice and will do my taxes. I did purchase some books and computer programs, I didn't even think of writing them off...Thanks!

[ChocChipCookie]

Bump for later read.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Interesting read.

[Keith in Iowa]

>>I've been keeping track of the income, I've already hired an accountant.

It's good you're doing that...because, if you ever did work for a business, they'd of course want an invoice, so they had a paper trail for their own accounting purposes, and, in the event the client got audited - they might come across your invoce, and, just for fun, peek and see if you reported any income from a self-employment source. If you didn't, you'd be next on the list for an audit.