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Endangered Species: The Self-Employed Middle Class

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

Including the professional class, perhaps 3% of the workforce is truly independent.

Being self-employed (i.e. owning your own small business that does not require employees) is an integral part of the American Dream. Many start out dreaming of a corner office in Corporate America, but as they move up the ladder, many become disillusioned by the process and the goal: do I really want to spend my life making big-shots even wealthier?
Bureaucracies (government and corporate) are safe sources of employment, but at a cost: they're often soul-deadening.
Many dream of making a living doing something they actually care about, and that often means striking out on your own, i.e. self-employment.

This raises an interesting question: how many self-employed people in the U.S. actually earn a middle class income? Since all the government statistics have a line at $50,000, and $50,000 might support a minimal middle class lifestyle in areas with a low cost of living, let's use $50,000 in annual income as our minimum.

As you might expect, government agencies count jobs and self-employment in different ways, which makes sorting out the numbers difficult. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), for example, counts two types of self-employed, the unincorporated and the incorporated. The unincorporated may have employees, but typically do not, i.e. they are sole proprietors. The incorporated have employees, starting with the owner, as the BLS counts the incorporated self-employed as employees of their own corporation.
The analysts at Docstoc.com assembled a chart that counts only those sole proprietors, partnerships and corporations with no employees, i.e. the self-employed:The State of US Small Businesses.
They came up with a total number of all self-employed that earned at least $1,000 annually of 22.5 million, of which 3 million were partnerships or corporations. These are overwhelmingly professionals such as attorneys, accountants, physicians, consultants, entertainers, etc.
If we subtract the partnerships and corporations, there are 19.4 million sole proprietors.
For context: there are about 141 million people in the U.S. with some sort of employment according to the BLS: total nonfarm employment.
But this number includes tens of millions of part-time jobs and self-employed earning very little money. According to the BLS, there are about 121 million full-time jobs and 27.3 million part-time jobs.
But how many of these jobs are marginal, i.e. earn less than $10,000 a year? For that, we turn to the IRS data from tax returns (The Social Security Administration also compiles income statistics.)
I prefer the statistics compiled by tax returns, as these numbers are verifiable and precise. There is no seasonal adjustment of tax returns; there is an exact known number of tax returns with taxable income, i.e. net income after credits and deductions.
The IRS site Individual Statistical Tables by Size of Adjusted Gross Income offers a wealth of information that can be downloaded into Excel spreadsheets.
I am referring here to Table 1.1, All Returns: Selected Income and Tax Items for tax year 2012, (the most recent data available) and Table 1.4, All Returns: Adjusted Gross Income, Exemptions, Deductions, and Tax Items for tax year 2012.
If we examine Table 1.1, we find there were about 145 million returns filed, and 93 million had taxable income after credits and deductions. Roughly 46 million earned less than $20,000: 22 million workers earned less than $10,000, 35 million earned less than $15,000, and 46.5 million earned less than $20,000.
While 19.4 million sole proprietors is a big number, it turns out most are side businesses that earn relatively little income. 5.5 million earn less than $5,000 annually, 3.8 million net between $5,000 and $10,000, 5.7 million earn between $10,000 and $25,000, and another 3 million net between $25,000 and $50,000.
Only 4.48 million self-employed earn $50,000 or more, and 3 million of those are partnerships or corporations, i.e. professionals such as CPAs, attorneys, etc. That leaves leaves about 1.5 million people who aren't in the professional class (those with advanced degrees and professional licenses and credentials) who earn a middle class living as sole proprietors.
This is roughly 1% of the workforce of 145 million. It turns out the non-professional self-employed that make enough to maintain a minimally middle class lifestyle are a razor-thin slice of the workforce.
 
Table 1.4, All Returns: Adjusted Gross Income, Exemptions, Deductions, and Tax Items is a treasure trove of telling statistics. Information junkies will be in hog-heaven as soon as they open the spreadsheet, because these numbers cut through the fog of employment and income.
As many of you know from previous entries on jobs, work, etc., I am self-employed and have no employees. I am one of the 1% who earns more than $50,000 annually via self-employment who is not a licensed professional or equivalent. Since I have to file Schedule C tax returns, I am keenly aware of the deductions that are only available to sole proprietors/self-employed taxpayers.
Only self-employed taxpayers get to deduct half of their healthcare insurance premiums. You have to earn a fair sum to actually afford the sky-high costs of health insurance. We pay $15,300 per year for stripped-down healthcare coverage, which is more than the annual earnings of the bottom 35 million workers in the nation.
Only 3.9 million taxpayers took the self-employed health insurance deduction.That's a pretty good indicator of how many taxpayers are actually living solely on their income, that is, they don't have a spouse who has family healthcare coverage via being an employee for the government or a corporation.
The number of taxpayers who took the deductible part of self-employment tax was 18.6 million. This includes everyone with a net income from a business. According to the IRS tax data, 7.39 million taxpayers reported self-employment of $50,000 or more.
This is almost 3 million more people than counted in the infographic, which shows that it takes cross-checking various agency statistics to sort through all the data.
This means roughly 5% of the workforce is self-employed and earns $50,000 or more annually.
According to the Federal Reserve of St. Louis (FRED) data shown in The Decline of Self-Employment and Small Business (April 22, 2013), there are 5.5 million incorporated self-employed and 9.2 million unincorporated self-employed.
If we assume most of the incorporated self-employed are professionals, this leaves roughly 1.9 million non-professional self-employed who earn more than $50,000 annually (7.39 million - 5.5 million).
However you figure it, there are less than 2 million non-professionals making a middle class living via self-employment. That is roughly 1.5% of the 121 million full-time workers in the nation.
I confess to being astonished at the tiny number of truly independent self-employed people in the U.S. Only 3.9 million of us deduct our healthcare insurance, and only 7 million out of 145 million earn $50,000 or more--and on the left and right coasts, $50,000 is not a middle-class income--it is borderline poverty.
If we only counted the self-employed who earn enough to afford a minimally middle class lifestyle in high-cost urban zones such as greater New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, etc., the number declines to an even thinner slice of the workforce--no more than 4 or 5 million, depending on where you draw the line.
It isn't easy to earn enough to afford a middle class life via self-employment. Including the professional class, perhaps 3% of the workforce is truly independent.
 

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Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:11 | 6059133 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

I resemble that remark!

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:13 | 6059139 CH1
CH1's picture

Stay under the radar, my friends.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:16 | 6059153 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

LOL.  Cloaking Shield On.  Warp Drive in Standby -- in case Cloaking fails.

;-)

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:22 | 6059167 Haus-Targaryen
Haus-Targaryen's picture

Wait -- about 2/3rds of small business generate cash flows of less than $2k per month?! 

How in God's name do these people eat?  

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:24 | 6059180 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

EBT, SNAP, Welfare.... take your pick.

The new middle class is a lower class part time job plus government bennies.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:27 | 6059190 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Oh hell, Charles.

Drug dealers, pimps, and 'Hoes, are way more than 3%.

Watchu smokin' Homie?

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:32 | 6059203 Stackers
Stackers's picture

Being in business for yourself is great !

You get to pick whatever 12-14 hours out of the day you want to work and whatever 6 days out of the week.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:46 | 6059248 Gaius Frakkin' ...
Gaius Frakkin' Baltar's picture

Everybody will be an enemy before anybody is a hero. ~Gaius Frakkin' Baltar

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:50 | 6059265 Took Red Pill
Took Red Pill's picture

"owning your own small business that does not require employees"

That's me! It ain't easy but at least I have zero debt!

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:53 | 6059278 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

We have large numbers of "self-employed" around here.  They wear rags, are all dirty, and stand on street corners asking for handouts.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:51 | 6059774 Never One Roach
Never One Roach's picture

One of the bright spots about being a self-emnployed small business person is if you don't work, you don't eat.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 19:27 | 6060281 Rubbish
Rubbish's picture

I just can't get ahead being self employed 35+ years, those dang boating accidents cause me casualty loses every year.

 

Gold Bitchez....I pick up pennies

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:56 | 6059546 Fox-Scully
Fox-Scully's picture

I am one and by the way there are 7 days in a week.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:58 | 6059566 duo
duo's picture

My business was going great until the Beanie Baby market went to shit.  Paypal fees ate half my profit margin.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:32 | 6059202 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

It helps to have a nest egg to supplement income while you're growing the business.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:16 | 6059348 live free
live free's picture

Best way to do it, if possible is to start part time on your off hours.  I didn't have the nest egg and that's how I got started.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:06 | 6059310 Urban Redneck
Urban Redneck's picture

They don't shop in European grocery stores or eat in European restaurants.  So $2K per month goes a lot farther than it does here.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:09 | 6059613 Haus-Targaryen
Haus-Targaryen's picture

Sorry brosef, lots of stuff is stupid expensive here.  Food isn't one of them.  

Its actually way cheaper here than in the US.  

That, cell phone bills, health insurance (now fuck you Obama), little stuff like that.  Savings are eaten alive via higher gas and electricity prices, but here you learn to be happy with less.  It sounds like a weird concept, but I do not need (at the age of 28) to rent an apartment with granite counter tops and Viking appliances.  

I feel like many people in the US consume (now that I have been outside of it for a while) for the sake of consumption.  If people put that into cash flow generating assets,  I think the US would be a lot less fucked.  

Its why Germany I think will survive the next financial apocalypse pretty well, while the US will turn into a shitstorm.  

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:52 | 6059777 zuuma
zuuma's picture

Hmmmm... so less is more, then?

If I...

use it up

Wear it out.

Make it do.

Or do without.

 

... I'm there!

Tue, 05/05/2015 - 09:35 | 6061597 11b40
11b40's picture

That was the family motto I grew up with.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 17:03 | 6059804 Urban Redneck
Urban Redneck's picture

Then your countrymen in the south are getting royally screwed over for some reason (gas for transit from Hamburg isn't that expensive).  I occasionally invade your country to plunder an Aldi or Lidl in Waldshut where the prices are more reasonable than in my neighborhood, but it's still a lot more expensive for produce and meats than the local Kroger near my US place, and if I was willing to set foot in Wally Word... I could save even more (at the cost of my soul).  I have no idea about the Whole Foods crowd, but I don't think the $2k/month-ers in America do either.

On the appliance side I can certainly do without Viking and granite counter tops, but for CHF 4000 the Miele dryers that you all export to us do a really crappy job of drying clothes.  Too bad they never break, or I would be sorely tempted to import a real Chicom dryer for 1/5th the price of "German engineering".

But yeah, the consumption (or transition to more realistic consumption) will kill America.  Germany is also well situated for trade and trans-shipment to other countries, which America isn't.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:27 | 6059414 seek
seek's picture

If they're not carrying debt (e.g. own their home or rent in a very low rent area, have roommates, etc) it's not too bad. Both my brother and I are self-employed, and he's definitely below the 2K per month level at this point as his business slowly dies. When your only expenses are utilities and health insurance, it can be done. It's ain't pretty, but it's doable.

While not self-employed, my daughter is living (pretty comfortably, in one of the more wealthy zip codes in my state) on about $1K/mo. Apartment with rent and utilities split 3 ways costs her about $400/mo, cell phone about $40 (switched to Walmart's straight talk, literally saved her $1K a year), car/health insurance and gas money and the balnce food.

Neither of them take any benefits (though daughter does get Pell grants for school.) If you don't have an insane lifestyle (and aren't getting hosed on health insurance) you can live pretty nicely on under 2K a month.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:15 | 6059632 HedgeHammer
HedgeHammer's picture

It's called intelligence

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 18:53 | 6060162 AGuy
AGuy's picture

"Wait -- about 2/3rds of small business generate cash flows of less than $2k per month?!"

Simple:

1. The keep most of their earns off the books (don't report all of there income)

2. Side-business. People have another job and run a small part time business. In may cases, people keep their dayjob and start a small business. If they are successful they quit there dayjob and go self-employeed full time.

3. Spouse provides income. Lots of "Trophy spouses" have side business, that are financed by the breadwinner. Former co-worker had a wife that openned a nail-salon. Never made any money and the salon losses about $15K a year, but the wife is happy.

4. Some businesses may be LLC that are set up for asset protection. They have no income, but they are used to seperate the assets from potential liability. This might be real estate, that is rented to out for $1 a year.

 

 

 

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:19 | 6059158 stant
stant's picture

Wize advice

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:28 | 6059192 laomei
laomei's picture

What are you implying? That one should refuse to report on oneself and pay taxes on income which is otherwise unreported and unknown with zero actual consequence? That would just be silly now.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:25 | 6059183 live free
live free's picture

That's me bitches.  Cut the corporate cord and couldn't be happier. 

Don't forget that tax deductions are huge part of "income" that gets discoutned for the small time guys.  I won't say how much mine are, but deductions make me happy. So, the "income" shown on IRS tax returns can be 25-50% low.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:55 | 6059287 Took Red Pill
Took Red Pill's picture

Yes and if you work from your home, you can deduct the % of your home that's for business and write off utilties, etc.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:05 | 6059311 live free
live free's picture

No doubt - Shop and lab in the basement, large home office makes a man happy at tax time. 

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:35 | 6059458 ncdirtdigger
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And puts a large red flag on your tax returns. The secret to saving on taxes is knowing the parameters of your deductions in accordance with your reported occupation. If your claimed expense for any item falls as much as 5% above the average for your occupation! you may as well write 'fuck you IRS dumbasses' on your return and get prepared to grab your ankles.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:26 | 6059184 live free
live free's picture

dbl post

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:14 | 6059144 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Long black markets and sharecropping then.  All those "uncounted" people didn't dissappear, they are still eating and doing something.  The war on everything by the central planers will be about as successful as a war on gravity, same as it ever was...

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:17 | 6059154 Gone Full Retard
Gone Full Retard's picture

I'm self employed. I'm a ZH commenter.

Ha, belated April fools joke. I really work for DHS.

Ha, fooled you again. No, actually I work for FBI.

Ha!~ Got ya.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:21 | 6059164 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

I'm self employed and my boss is an asshole

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:23 | 6059173 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

When you are your own business, you still exploit your employees.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:11 | 6059328 Duc888
Duc888's picture

Berspankme: I'm self employed and my boss is an asshole.

 

There are advantages to being S.E.  One of the jokes I like to play on people who drive 3-2 States away to have me complete work for them....Is to crack open a beer (gotta have beer breath to pull this off) and when they drive up and drop off parts... throw a complete shit fit , Moherfucking "my boss".  it helps to get all theatrical and throw some shit around....get red in the face etc...

The looks are priceless.  Since they never met me, don't know what my voice sounds like.... the possibilities are absolutely endless for screwing with them,........just when they're ready to leave I crack a smile and let them in on the joke......and no I've never lost a job because of this yet.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:33 | 6059451 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

I'm just hoping they pass a $15.00 min wage so I can give myself a raise

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:22 | 6059166 Gone Full Retard
Gone Full Retard's picture

I'm Chopper level, what are you guys?

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:14 | 6059345 Gone Full Retard
Gone Full Retard's picture

No really I like you guys.

Mr. Force “stole and converted to his own personal use a sizable amount of Bitcoins,” the digital currency that was used by buyers and sellers on the website and which he obtained in his undercover capacity, the complaint said.
“Rather than turning those Bitcoin over to the government, Force deposited them into his own personal accounts,” it added.

Mr. Bridges, meanwhile, who was described as a computer forensics expert, diverted to a personal account more than $800,000 in digital currency that he gained control of during the Silk Road investigation, the authorities said.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:25 | 6059160 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Reason based on government statistics. YeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaa.

Here is the latest Craig Hulet link. It is pretty good. A lot of the same stuff.

http://www.eliasound.biz/hulet/mp3s/2015/04.30.15.mp3

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:24 | 6059178 thunderchief
thunderchief's picture

I bet there are a lot more hookers and dealers out there than these statistics show.

 

 

 

 

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:24 | 6059665 fascismlover
fascismlover's picture

And they are way above 50k if they are good

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:24 | 6059179 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

The freedom this affords is worth giving up a lot of income, in my opinion.

I have never been freer, and would never go back to corporate america for any amount of money.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:26 | 6059186 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Being self-employed all I can add is that you'd have to be nuts to live like this.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:16 | 6059351 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

More nuts is being self employed in Cali.

Miffed

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:10 | 6059618 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Is it true they make you wear a target on your back or is that just a metaphorical target?

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 18:38 | 6060103 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

No actually it is quite distinctive. Our government calls it the Cone of Shame.

Miffed;-)

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:27 | 6059189 1stepcloser
1stepcloser's picture

we feudalized some folks

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:29 | 6059196 appocean
appocean's picture

Count me in.  The left has always hated the self employed for obvious reasons.  No withholding... no unionization... we compete with their cronies.  I suspect it will get worse before it gets better.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:06 | 6059207 cigarEngineer
cigarEngineer's picture

If you can work for yourself, move to a low-income-tax jurisdiction like Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, or Swissyland. Assuming $130k income, your after-tax income is higher in HK by 19%, Singapore 26.5%, Dubai 39%, and Swissyland 23% compared to that income earned in NY or LA. (this is based on calculations from each jurisdiction's tax website)

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:35 | 6059215 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Am I "self employed"?  Do you want the "official" answer or the truth?  It's all a bullshit fucking game with several clubs folks, now that there are blatantly no rules things get interesting...

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:36 | 6059217 Dixie Flatline
Dixie Flatline's picture

I thought that is what the American electorate wanted to do...destroy the self-employed.  Wasn't that B. Hussein Obama's singular focus?

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:29 | 6059430 ncdirtdigger
ncdirtdigger's picture

you didn't build that!

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:41 | 6059227 CoastalCowboy
CoastalCowboy's picture

I got booted from a corporate job 5 years ago due to my employer being acquired. I was targeted for elimination. That was not exactly a great time to be begging for a job nor is today.

I'm self-employed now, and it's an uphill struggle to say the least. I still make more than some stinking useless $10 an hour job would pay me working 40 hours a week that is if such a unicorn exists anymore due to the ACA.

The funniest part is that I had a side business 10 years ago doing the exact same thing I do now. I gave it up to devote more time to the shithead that tossed me overboard. I often think about my decision to end my side business out of loyalty to that soulless corporatist pig who is now dead and hopefully rotting in hell. The bastard actually made a lot of money on the sale w/o me being on the books.

The global corporations can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. Luckily, I stayed debt free and now do whatever it takes to minimize the money I give to mega-corps.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:44 | 6059243 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

"Luckily, I stayed debt free and now do whatever it takes to minimize the money I give to mega-corps."

Those are two important keys.

Another is being in control of how you spend your time.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 17:06 | 6059820 11b40
11b40's picture

Loyalty!

HaHaHaHaHaHa.  What a primitive concept. 

Seriously, I do feel your pain - more than yuou can imagine.  I have been a Sub-S corp since 1981 as an independent agent for various factories and importers.  As I used to explain to my employees, back in the day when I had employees (we once had over 2K accounts), there is no such thing as loyalty in business anymore.  It is all numbers.

It's like a complex algebra equation.  You either find a way to keep contributing to the equation, or you will be equalled out.  What have you done for me lately?  It's all that matters.  

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 18:32 | 6060090 CoastalCowboy
CoastalCowboy's picture

Only fools are loyal to anything in today's climate.

They still do expect total loyalty from the slaves. I'm a mercenary now. I look only after my interests. It really would not have been nearly as bad if we had a functioning job market like we used to have.

Basically, my fat salary was not on the books when they finalized the deal. I found out later that the owner ordered my firing directly. I was redundant for the acquiring company. That's just the way it goes down sometimes.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 20:58 | 6060514 JuliaS
JuliaS's picture

A job is a job. Money for service. End deal.

When people start bringing relationships, morals into something that's essentially a prostitution arrangement, I cringe. Quit pretending your job or your company is something special. If you work for somebody else, to them you're a number - that number is profit. To you they're income. End deal.

Leave ideas of friendship, love, loyalty devotion for things that don't require a wallet and a social security number.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 14:52 | 6059276 Mike Honcho
Mike Honcho's picture

I am close to ending my stint in the corporate world and moving abroad if all falls in place.  The corp setting will suck the life right out of someone that isnt a lemming.  I've come across some like minded people in multiple compaies but most love their 1.5% raise and do nothing day. 

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:00 | 6059576 duo
duo's picture

If you're over 50, white, male, and hetero, you have a target on your back unless you are at the top of the corporate ladder.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:26 | 6059674 oudinot
oudinot's picture

AMEN

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:04 | 6059308 valley chick
valley chick's picture

OT  Another police shooting in Baltimore...

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:31 | 6059439 scott2si
scott2si's picture

Reminds me of this excellent video:

Why Can't Chuck Get His Business Off The Ground?

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:31 | 6059440 scott2si
scott2si's picture

Reminds me of this excellent video:

Why Can't Chuck Get His Business Off The Ground?

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 20:59 | 6060517 JuliaS
JuliaS's picture

This comment reminds me of your previous comment.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:32 | 6059444 Sages wife
Sages wife's picture

27 years for me. Never had a boss. Free time man; you just can't beat it. Only run the machines enough to support the family. Life is grand. Can't wait for the crash; watch all the corporate roaches scurry. Long live ZH.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:38 | 6059472 ncdirtdigger
ncdirtdigger's picture

Employee suk. Subcontractors from India are the way to go.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:39 | 6059481 cherry picker
cherry picker's picture

When the recession hit in 81-82 I was forced into self employment and never looked back.

Yeah, there were some tough time, like making only $200 in a month with a family of four to feed and shelter but there were times I made out real well.

In the end I wouldn't change it.  My bosses are my customers.  If you have more than one customer and they pay on time, the ones you find difficult to deal with can always be replaced.

The system discourages self employment.  Credit is difficult to get, you are treated like scum by bankers and such, but that is all right too as you learn to live without the bullshit, direct deposit and so on.

I work hard and long hours but I feel a lot more free than some poor folol sitting in a cubicle all day waiting for a weekend.

 

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:24 | 6059660 Gusher
Gusher's picture

Cherrypicker, everything you wrote applies to me.   The first ten years were tough, but no problems now.  Oh, except for some sideline dalliances that failed....one in real estate, two marriages.  I'm marrying for money next time!

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:47 | 6059506 GRDguy
GRDguy's picture

What most folks don't appreciate is when you're self-employed, pleasing your customers is much more demanding than pleasing your boss. Taking a sick day is a rarity, and unpaid.  Not complaining, just facts.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 15:47 | 6059508 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

Very interesting exercise: count the health-care deductions to count the really solvent self-employed.

There are a lot of "self-employed" like me, who work mostly W-2 through recruiters, we do NOT get to use that deduction ... hmm, maybe I should go back to 1099.  Hmm.

"Self-employed" has always been a grey category, and it's greyer than ever today, and I don't mean that stupid soft-core S&M stuff neither.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:22 | 6059650 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Try starting a business and see how many "pocket partners" you'll have.

Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.

 

That is what a friend of mine calls them. Says that when he went to start a business it cost him over $850 in fees, fines, and fixes ("The three F's.")

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 16:35 | 6059701 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

Been self-employed for 30 years, it really sucks having free time and no boss. The hours are killer sometimes and the companies I've worked with are clueless how business works most of the time, but, it beats being a rat in the maze. The money isn't as good as it used to be, but we have almost no debt other than the monthlies.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 18:02 | 6059995 stonehands
stonehands's picture

Self- employed Pizza Man

No employees

Cash Only

Keep my guitars in store; friends drop by at nite-we be pickin' n' grinnin'

I DON'T TAP DANCE FOR THE MAN.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 18:31 | 6060085 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Way I read this there are only 15 Million or so Self Employed who can exercise their Free Speech Rights, Say what they want to anyone, put anything on the Internet, and have the Job Security where they aren't afraid of it Hurting their Careers or Income.

I've been saying this for a quite a while now.

- Liberty, Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood... really only come if you are retired, live on fixed income, or are Self Employed.

- Maybe Music is Spiritually Liberating though, so I guess they can't take everything away.

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 19:08 | 6060211 There is nothin...
There is nothing more frightening than ignorance in action's picture

And I honestly don't thing there are many of us 'self-employed' who don't have a corporate shield...can you say Nevada corporation?

Mon, 05/04/2015 - 21:10 | 6060543 falconflight
falconflight's picture

We are now seriously trying to resist this, having supported corporatism for way too long for the usual various factors; price, selection, convenience.  Hardware stores, pharmacies, grocery stores, ect.  It does require commitment.  We could have gone with a big box for a shower door, but we're taking our chances with a local business.  It takes longer, and doesn't have the backing of a big box, although that isn't necessarily depositive of customer satisfaction either.  We also tip better, although I usually tipped at the 15% level anyway, but now easily 20% as long as the service is decent.  I often engage servers and many claim that often people, no matter how large the tab, leave only token tips.  I suppose that could be just self serving, but I do tend to believe them based on observations when going to lunch with coworkers.

Tue, 05/05/2015 - 01:18 | 6060957 scatha
scatha's picture

Truly independent small business and self- employment is dying by design of corporate oligarchic rule. And that's the fact. There is another 0.01% ,these are truly independent of corporate world small businesses and small farmers still alive. US is a mockery of Jeffersonian republic.

Very unique and honest take on faith of small business and diversity in US over last 75 years, under on-slot of corporatism I found at:

https://sostratusworks.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/diversity-of-one/

 

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