It feels pretty amazing to be in control of my own destiny. I'm self employed and loving it.
I have lots of company. A new Census reportshows a big boost in the number of people who are self employed (loving it is optional!). People formed more than 1 million nonemployer businesses between 2006 and 2007, representing a growth rate of 4.5 percent.
It turns out I live in one of the hotest states for self employment. California (2.8 million), Texas (1.8 million) and Florida (1.6 million) had the most nonemployer businesses in the country.
The three largest economic sectors for the self employed are real estate services; professional, technical and scientific services; and specialty trade contractors ($97 billion).
Industries that saw growth: The plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors industry added 11,000 businesses nationwide. Among counties, Los Angeles, Calif. (4,596), Harris, Texas (2,898) and Miami-Dade, Fla. (2,480), had the most nonemployer plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractor locations.
The florists industry reported an increase of nearly 1,400 nonemployer businesses in 2007. The child day care services industry reported 691,289 nonemployer businesses in 2007.
Another trend: becoming self employed to supplement your income (also known as moonlighting). According to a January survey conducted by The Daily Beast, 23 percent of those polled have more than one paying job. Some said their second job was a hobby that had morphed into a money-making operation. Others said they needed the extra income.
The Anti 9 to 5 blogger raises the question: If you moonlight or are self-employed on the side, should you fess up to your boss? Good question. I would answer by saying, proceed with caution. There is no good answer but if you think there's a way your boss would find out, it seems like you'd be better off being upfront about it.
Now, I want to toss out my own question: If you are one of the recently self employed, are you loving it or wishing you could work for an employer?