44% of 2500 unemployed
people said that they considered starting their own businesses.
Yet only about 4% actually did.
How many times have you thought about striking out on your own and working for yourself? What's held you back? Fear? Not sure you can do it? I can help.
This is NOT a "get rich quick" book, but rather a practical 250+ pages, 55,000+ word guide
to working for yourself, especially as a consultant or other service
based business.
Covers everything you want to know about self-employment, from what to do about health insurance to how to best use a website.
The only true job security you can have today is from working for
yourself. Only self employment can make you immune to down-sizing, layoffs
and corporate restructuring.
Self employment is also the best path to personal happiness - controlling
your own destiny, setting your own goals, working at your choice of
times and at your level of effort - these are the things that will
truly bring happiness.
Why should someone you may not even know determine if you get
a paycheck next week? Why should the needs of a faceless corporation
determine the happiness of you and your family?
Take control. You are the master of your life - don't let
someone take that away from you!
I have over 30 years of experience working for myself, mostly as a self employed
computer consultant. Note that this is not about "contracting", is not about
finding venture capital or becoming the next Google. It's about how to
work for yourself and be successful at it.
Now available in a Kindle version for just $2.99: Psst - wanna work for yourself? [Kindle Edition]
Don't have a Kindle? You can download a free Kindle Reader.
I sold hundreds of these books at $14.95, but times are tough and not everyone can afford that much now. Take advantage of low prices!
![]() | or | ![]() |
You may also be interested in The Hard Truth about Easy Money on the Internet or my Linux and Unix Troubleshooting E-Book.
Read Sample Pages here(requires PDF reader).
(See this special offer if you want to buy more than one of my E-Books)
This definitely is not just for computer consultants. I've owned
a retail store and sold rare coins at hobby shows. I've sold industrial
equipment and heat exchangers - whatever your business plan is, I can help.
Click "Add to Cart" button to buy and download complete "Psst - wanna work for yourself" book.
By the way, all the "experts" tell me that I need fancy graphics on this page - and that I can pad my page count with lots of pictures and charts. They also say I need lots of RED STUFF.
I don't think either of us needs more red stuff. As to padding page
counts with silly filler, no I didn't do that either. No fluff!
There are no "secrets" here. No "magic formulas". The book isn't "packed
with wealth building knowledge". You can read the table of contents
below - it's just practical advice that came from decades of experience working for myself.
If you want somebody screaming "You need to buy this NOW" in flashing
red headlines, you need to go elsewhere. Sorry - I don't like hard sells
and I'm just not going to do it.
If you want to pay $20, $30 or more for a 20 page piece of fluff -
and it only reached that many pages because the type is big and they
threw in illustrations - go ahead. This is more than 250 pages of
real information for just $4.99!
Why did I write this? Because I've been helping people start their businesses for years. All I usually ask is that we go to lunch - they pay for my food and I let them pick my brain. Here's your chance to "take me to lunch" - for just $4.99.
You'll learn the most common reasons for failure - and why failure rates are grossly overstated! You'll learn why worrying about health insurance is a silly thing to do. You'll understand why some large companies may be afraid to hire you - and what you can do about that!
Learn why your lawyer or accountant might not give you the best advice. Find out the advantages and disadvantages of having a home office. Learn the power of retainers and automatic discounts. Should you have employees? How do you set your rates? How can you best use the Internet? How can you raise your rates without upsetting customers?
Learn all this and much more from someone who has
been doing it for decades.
Still not sure this book will help you? OK, I understand and of course
I will refund your money if you are not happy. But what if you are happy
enough - you got your money's worth - but you still have questions about
working for yourself? Just
send me email at the special address at the end of the book. Ask me
anything about this and I will answer you for free. How's that
for a bonus?
iPhone readers and others: This book is formatted for computer reading. I'm working on offering it in other formats, but for now, just buy this and then write to me telling me what you need and I will get it to you asap.
Review Copies: If you would like to review this e-book, just send me an email showing where you have done similar reviews and I'll be happy to send you a free copy.
Highly enjoyable reading! - Andrew
Regards & thanks for a great read. It's been over 3 years since I made the jump from the big corporation to self employed and it's really a pleasure to read someone else's experiences which have been very similar to my own. For me it's allowed me 3 wonderful years seeing my kids arrive into the world and I'm just very lucky that I work 50% of what I used to and the bills are still being easily paid! - Donal
The best part about your book, is it helps me realize I am not nuts and heading in the right direction - Steve
Very helpful and insightful - Eric
Thanks. Good read - Paul
Incredible resource and very complete - John
This book is definitely worth your time and considering the price, one of the best investiments you can make. Review by Jimmo at Linux Tutorial
![]() | or | ![]() |
As of October 2011, I'm using the proceeds from these books to fund Kiva loans.
Psst wanna work for yourself? 11
Dreams of self employment 13
Reality 14
Freedom and happiness 17
Details, details 19
Get your own ball 19
Failure 20
Micro Business 21
The Lone Wolf 21
The Joy of Self Employment 25
The Pain of Self Employment 27
My story 31
Nice work if you can get it 35
The time is right 39
Websites and Broadband 41
Health Care 43
Contracting vs. self employment 47
Attitudes toward self employment 49
Self Discipline for the Self-Employed 51
Autodidacts and Self Employment 53
Accidental Entrepreneurs 57
Are we happy? 59
Happiness is more than money 59
Money is not Success 61
It's not luck 63
Cake and ice cream 65
What's your ideal life? 67
Flexibility 69
The secrets of success 71
Arrogance or confidence? 72
What if you aren't all that confident? 73
Oh, you are hot stuff, aren't you? 76
It's not for everyone 76
Communication Skills 77
But your skills aren't enough 78
Image 79
The fake "consultant" 80
Part time 81
Take this job and shove it 81
They'll miss you when you are gone 82
Raising money for your business 87
Licenses and what-not 89
Costs of starting up a business 91
Choosing a name for your business 93
Business Cards 97
Sole proprietor or Corporation? 99
Partnerships 103
Networking 105
Home office? 107
Accounting 111
Taxes 113
Reporting Income 115
Separate Bank Account? 117
Setting hourly rates 119
Scheduling time loosely 122
Charging for travel? 123
Minimum billing 123
Raising your rates 125
Employees 127
Employee Classification 129
Outsourcing and sub-contracting 133
Coaches and Mentors 137
Gigs, the long and the short of it 139
Small things 143
Email and websites 143
Phone and fax 143
Know your limitations 144
Some projects are too big for you to handle 144
Be happy 145
Don't hate what you do 146
Failure is possible 146
Remember that you have to get paid 147
Who said anything about selling? 149
Opportunities really are everywhere 151
Eyes wide open 151
Look for the itch 152
Know your customer 154
Overselling 155
Don't make assumptions 156
Friends and family members 157
Low end clients 158
Prospecting 161
Sales Calls for Tech folk 163
Customer Service 165
An old customer is better than a new customer 166
Don't be cheap with your business 169
You sounded annoyed 173
Don't make it hard for your customers 175
Where can you get the boxes? 179
Firing Customers 181
The customer who buys too much 181
All your eggs 182
The customer who sucks your soul dry 184
Too much of a stretch 184
Ignore the "potential dance" 185
No spec work 186
Pro-bono is good for whom? 186
Time and billing 187
Tracking time 187
Billing 188
Bill Early, Bill Often 190
Your Invoices Should Look Professional 191
Follow Up 192
Emailing Invoices 193
Retainers 195
Prepaid hours 198
Combine prepaid hours with retainers 199
Email and Phone Support 201
Are you afraid of your competitors? 205
Customer Relations 207
Small Business Advertising Advice 209
You have to ask 209
You have to sell 210
Saving money isn't the goal 210
Stand out from the crowd 211
Let the pros help 212
Trade Shows 212
Websites 213
Podcasting 213
The "R" Word 214
Fluctuating income 217
Life is not Fair 219
If it's really bad right now 220
Tired and stressed 223
Getting more done 227
Reading speed 228
Exercise 229
Perfection takes time 229
Too many important things 230
Systems 234
Keeping sharp 237
Embracing the unfamiliar 238
Sick Days 241
Coasting 243
Disaster Plans 245
Backups 246
Websites for the self employed 249
Creating a website 249
The Brochure Site 250
The store front 250
The Article site 251
Copycats 252
The Ideal Site 252
Niche Websites 252
E-Commerce Web Sites 255
Your site or sites 256
Selling your Products 256
Building Community 257
E-books for business promotion 259
Grow or die? 263
What's your business worth to you? 265
You don't have to own the world 267
Selling out 269
Internet Links 273
![]() | or | ![]() |
See this special offer if you want to buy more than one of my E-Books.
Have a website? Want to resell this book and make some money?
(You will be sent an email for each sale originating from your website. Each month's earnings will be paid via PayPal within 15 days of month end.)
More Articles by Anthony Lawrence - Find me on Google+
Have you tried Searching this site?
Unix/Linux/Mac OS X support by phone, email or on-site: Support Rates
This is a Unix/Linux resource website. It contains technical articles about Unix, Linux and general computing related subjects, opinion, news, help files, how-to's, tutorials and more. We appreciate comments and article submissions.
Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them. I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. I also may own stock in companies mentioned here. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.
Specific links that take you to pages that allow you to purchase the item I reviewed are very likely to pay me a commission. Many of the books I review were given to me by the publishers specifically for the purpose of writing a review. These gifts and referral fees do not affect my opinions; I often give bad reviews anyway.
We use Google third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.

Click here to add your comments
Sun Jul 12 19:02:55 2009: 6631 TonyLawrence
Great related post by The Deep Frar: http://tinyurl.com/m4zxra
Don't miss responses! Subscribe to Comments by RSS or by Email
Click here to add your comments
If you want a picture to show with your comment, go get a Gravatar