Can self employment save the middle class?

Can self employment save the middle class?.

Have you lost your job?!

As an employee, you reported to someone, you knew what was expected, might of had insurance an a scheduled pay day. You liked that secure feeling-and wished it had lasted.  Like most people didn't you think about becoming your own boss?, but leaving your “secure” full-time job seemed too risky.
Does this economy have you down? This recession combined with the worst job market in decades has eliminated a significant portion of the American middle class. Does this describe where you are today? Are the downsizing rumors spreading, are you unemployed, have you only found a part time job?

Have you thought about joining the self employed but think you have no salable skills? Few of those who join the ranks of the self employed will succeed if all they think they have to do is offer the skills they developed over their career.  Those most likely to succeed, are those who understand that it doesn’t matter what business, function, lawn service, or copywriting service you offer, in order for it to succeed as a true self employment path to success, you'll have to become a salesman. That’s right all self employed people are first and foremost sales people.

There is an article in Bloomberg Business Week  that lays out 20 Steps to Self Employment.
Only the first step (Vet the Idea) brings up the uncomfortable question of whether or not you have a salable set of skills.  Licensed plumbers have salable skills, if you are an accountant you may have salable skills, however, a department manager may have spend his entire career and never acquired a salable skill. 

It wasn't till the fourteenth step that they even mention anything about, sell your service.

We believe that self employment is the only way to recreate the American Middle Class in a sustainable fashion.  The frightening thing is, the vast majority of unemployed people or those who will lose their jobs soon do not have a skill set that easily marketable. We can all agree craigs list, and all the other job sites will be around for a long time.

What are the options?

• Is retraining a viable possibility?
• Can a hobby (something you love doing) really provide a potential business?
• Can you actually make money in the MLM world?
• When you google self employment 18 million page show up. Are there real opportunites out there? 
• You need to realize that there are literally thousands of possibilites being marketed online. You can find hundreds of internet marketing programs with prices ranging from $19.97 to hundreds of dollars; tons of video/dvd kios businesses.
• There are innumerable ways to spend money on one get rich quick scheme after another.  But, do any of them work?

To help you pick through the rising tide of business/self employment opportunities you can find, we wanted to give you a few realistic questions to ask before looking deeply into someone’s self employment opportunity.

The top 10 questions to ask?

Does it pass the smell test? Can you see it working?

1. Are your potential customers where you can find them and get to them easily?
2. Do you have any significant long-term investment in either real estate or an expensive truck?
3. Is the compensation plan realistic and easy to understand?
4. Are there significant restrictions on what you’re allowed to do?
5. Are the company representatives trustworthy?
6. Will the company allow or better still encourage you to talk to other self employed individuals using the business model?
7. Is this something you could really be passionate about?
8. Do you have people in your life that will encourage you when things get tough?
9. Do you want to work for the person you see in the mirror every morning?

A viable and real self employment opportunity should allow you to do the following.

• Work from home. Not necessarily in your home but from home so you don’t need to invest in real estate.
• Provide a consumable service. Can you get your customers on your schedule.
• Have a service that is not just needed but actually desired by your customers.
• Easy access to your potential customers they should be in locations that are easy to get to.
• The business model has got to make sense.
• The company provides a set of products that you can offer that are complimentary to the service you’re delivering.
• The corporation has a finance plan available for your customers should be easy to use and understand.

The best self employment option I've found can be seen at Unemployment Remedy . Go there to see at least one way to get back into the middle class.