Do you have your own business?

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I quit my job a month ago and am just trying to survive the 3-month notice period then I will be free!

I do want to work, but I can't cope with office life. I am thinking of starting my own business, maybe doing freelance editing work or something similar.

Does anyone here have their own business? What do you do? Do you like it? I'd love to hear.

If you like office type work there are many freelance opportunities. It takes a while to build up a good reputation though so the money won't roll in overnight. I've been able to reduce my hours doing paid transcription work with companies like Tigerfish. It's competitive but it seems like there is a lot of work so persevere! (we do this best!)

As far as growing your own business, others have experience with that here, as I do not. I would like to open my own bakery/cafe one day, however.

I couldn't work for myself full time, as I hate dredging up clients, and doing the invoicing thing, and I'm useless without someone giving me a strict deadline.

Of course, being willing to work to a hasty deadline is what got me me first writing gig and what helped me branch out and 'steal' work out from under others who moved more slowly.

I write in a niche (engineering and post-construction software), so, it's hard to break in, but, once you have a reputation, it can lead to other work (sometimes from publishers, other times from other writers/editors who are overbooked and pass on the work). Some of it doesn't pay that great (crazy word-counts expected from a publisher, so you spend hours researching to fill in some fluff to reach the required length... or specific software, so you spend hours downloading/installing/familiarizing/uninstalling).

Find a niche. Network.

Best of luck!

i lost my job too now planning to start craft business but first have to learn the crafts
after a year will start the business

Got a law degree, sent out 400 resumes, everyone wanted experience, started my own business, best thing I ever could have had happen.

I can set my own hours. i learned what kinds of law I liked - some I knew I would, some I learned I didn't - and was able to decide what clients to take without being forced to bill so many hours and also I can charge less for the elderly on very fixed incomes. Sometiems I feel like I dont' deserve to charge as much as most lawyers charge but I manage - people love how personable I am and how I answer my own phone and I accept payments if they can't pay everything right way.

The worst part is having people say they need me to do stuff for them but not knowing if they really will; NT lawyers can probably read better who really *will* - but it's slow enough I've been able to write some Print On demand books and sell a few, so I can make a bit extra there. Not enough to pay the bills, but so much in the world today seems to be about taking advantage of others and i do the opposite, I want to help others. I wouldn't fit in in the madhouse that's out there in a lot of places. In fact, if I had the money I'd probably start a church; I do a lot of volunteer work in ministry.

So, find wht you like and go for it; not all self-owned businesses succeed but it'll be a great experience anyway.

I'm in the process of starting up my own fashion label. Still in the planning stages, though, of course, I'm also running my own fashion blog that I hope to someday move to wordpress.org so I can start profiting from blogging. I'm backed up due to my laptop no longer working and my own damn laziness, so I'm figuring out how to rectify this. I'm thinking I could put aside some time each day to write three reviews from three fashion designers in one season, maybe more.

I have my own. I sell my artwork, or at least I did. I do vinyl graphics and sinage. I have my own vinyl plotter and a bunch of vinyl in stock. For a while I was working at a tattoo shop doing their store front graphics, making stickers and vehicle graphics. It wa so strange, it was a chicano tattoo shop run by all gangster-ish Mexicans and I am an aspie white boy, but they were excepting of me and understood me in a way, gave me a lot of slack. The two main guys I was working with are both in jail now Its to bad because they were cool dudes. Sometimes they paid me in money, some times in other ways Among one of the other ways was my first tat.

I have sold vinyl graphics on the internet, sickers and reproductions of old world art from China, Japan and other places. Now I am getting back into doing vinyl graphics and selling it for my self. I also do shirts and air brush. I have created some of my own unique ways of doing art. I working on starting a brand new online store and setting up some oportunites to do some vending at festivals over the summer and maybe some flea markets as well as selling online. Back in the day I was doing pretty well just selling vinyl decals online but since then vinyl plotters started being made cheap in China and now the market is kind of flooded. I have a high end expensive Japanese professional vinyl plotter that was to expensive for everyone to own before. I got it right at about the same time China started making them cheap


That was a really bad half asleep poor explanation of that part of self employment, it will have to do for now. I am also a photographer, I work for a little magazine out here as well as a website. They pay is almost noting right now but we are working on that.


I love working for my self and working with other peoples small buiz. Its suuuuuper hard, dont expect to make good money unless you are dedicating 80 hours of your week to your work. If your work is your passion this wont be a problem for you. It is super rewarding, on a horrible day of self employment you feel better about your self as a person than you do on a good day being employed by some one else!

I posted a thread similar to subject a while ago.

I have decided that I am unemployable and being self-employed is the right fit for me. I am currently trying to seek funding for my business. I am opening an online toy store later this year.

I believe in some ways starting your own business is actually easier than trying to get a job nowadays. The internet provides us with so many new opportunities and tools. Just be creative and do your homework.

OP, I you need any assistance in starting your own business venture, I can help get you started and point you in the right direction.