How hard is it to work for yourself?

[Speedy3]

I'm extremely PC literate, get bored too easily, Don't have a job at the min, how hard would it be to work for yourself? or any suggestions?

I'd love a job IT based, something graphic/web design cause that really relaxes me

but most companys want you to be qualified with this that and the other! so thats out the question.. so what can i do?
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[Sparks!]

I don't intend to sound mean as such, but if you have to ask what to start a company in, then you don't stand much chance of running your own company.

It is tough, very tough and will zap all of your time, resources and money if you want to make a proper go of it.

Doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, just these days you need to be good to succeed, just look at all the shops in your local shopping center that pop up then close down a few weeks later...... etc.. you really need to know your shit if you're going to succeed... so if there is something you know really well and are really good at then it's the obvious choice.

Hope its of some help, don't mean to put a downer on it, only you know what you can potential succeed in.

As for web and graphics design, I'm almost certain you don't need any qualifications what soever.. you just need to be good, VERY good and good at marketing and selling yourself to get work.
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[The Shaggy D.A.]

If you don't want to be arsed with qualifications but you want to be in graphic/web design, then your best bet is to build a portfolio of quality examples to approach companies with.

And bear in mind that there's thousands of others all wanting the same thing; you have to be good enough to stand out.
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[Clanger]

[Stoo]

There's plenty of freelance stuff for design if you're good at graphics. There is a competition based websites where you are given a brief for a clients requirements, you design it and submit it and the winning design gets apid for the work. You then sign over the rights and get paid for it. One of our developers makes a fair whack doing it but she IS good.

Could be worth having a stab at it on the side to guage what it takes. As for setting up your own business it's difficult and in current climate not the best of ideas.

I can ask for details on the comps, or go and search!

[iooi]

[panrider_uk]

There's also a lot of paperwork involved in self-employment.

I hate the accountancy side of my business.

Also bear in mind that you will have no sick pay. If you're too ill to work you don't earn. Your time off is unpaid too.

Mark
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[craigie b]

I think your on an uphill struggle. I'm self employed now as a designer and the market is saturated.

To be honest, your ability to see opportunity and take it is as much a talent as any. You need to be very good at everything to make it work, as there is no such thing as a regular request from a client. Each one is different and your continually being bombarded with requests to do things you've never touched before.

Then you have to fund your projects i.e. spend your hard earned money on doing more work! And at the begging your always skint as your simply moving money from one client to fund another job.

Costing is an issue as well, can you justify a decent amount of cash for your work? Can you justify why they should choose you rather than choose someone else?

If you've no experience in an IT industry then you need to get some prior to going solo.

If you get bored too easily, are you going to be able to do all the mundane repetitive tasks that you'll need to do, tracking receipts, tax returns etc. I spent tonight resizing 300 odd images, spent last week renaming 400 fields in a database, jobs which are not part of my 'job description' but need to be done or I won't get paid!

Its an uphill struggle and anything but relaxing. Rewarding yes, most definitely, but relaxing I think not