Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-12-2015, 11:33 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles (Native)
25,303 posts, read 21,377,184 times
Reputation: 12318

Advertisements

I remember some years back the terms self employed or freelance used to be used more nowadays.

It would be common for young people especially to say they 'freelance' basically doing different jobs or gigs such as graphic design,etc.

Nowadays it seems with the barrier to entry to 'start a business' being so low mostly because of technology costs coming down, it seems more of these people that would of freelanced for others in the past are now calling themselves business owners or entrepreneurs. Has anyone else noticed this trend?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-12-2015, 11:44 AM
 
Location: Boise, ID
8,046 posts, read 28,413,711 times
Reputation: 9470
"Self employed" is still used a lot. I see it on rental applications several times a month, at least.

All of the real estate agents in our office are self employed, and all of the subcontractors who do work for us (electricians, plumbers, etc) are either self employed. That's what they all call themselves, too.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-12-2015, 11:50 AM
 
10,075 posts, read 7,503,683 times
Reputation: 15500
They think calling themselves ceo or owner makes it easier to get a job
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-12-2015, 12:16 PM
 
41,111 posts, read 25,655,465 times
Reputation: 13868
They are called Independent Contractors who should be sent a 1099 each year to report as income and pay taxes on otherwise you are working under the table and not paying your required share.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-12-2015, 12:21 PM
 
41,111 posts, read 25,655,465 times
Reputation: 13868
Quote:
Originally Posted by eyeb View Post
They think calling themselves ceo or owner makes it easier to get a job
Did they complete and send all the required paperwork to the government to form a company.

Did they register a DBA?
Are they a sole proprietor, an S-Corp?
Are they an LLC.
Do they operate as a business keeping business transactions separate from personal?
Do they invoice work and give receipts for work done?
Do they keep all required records as required by government?
How do they report their income on their taxes?
Do they even report their income at the end of the year.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-12-2015, 01:49 PM
 
Location: TOVCCA
8,452 posts, read 14,994,692 times
Reputation: 12529
"Freelance" is still used in the art/graphics world
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-12-2015, 02:05 PM
 
28,896 posts, read 54,038,280 times
Reputation: 46669
Quote:
Originally Posted by jm1982 View Post
I remember some years back the terms self employed or freelance used to be used more nowadays.

It would be common for young people especially to say they 'freelance' basically doing different jobs or gigs such as graphic design,etc.

Nowadays it seems with the barrier to entry to 'start a business' being so low mostly because of technology costs coming down, it seems more of these people that would of freelanced for others in the past are now calling themselves business owners or entrepreneurs. Has anyone else noticed this trend?

I guess my thought on that is that your putting 'start a business' in quotes means that you don't really think of it as a business. Well, if someone operates out of his house rather than rent office space, is it really any different?

In truth, my operation consists of two computers, two mobile phones, a half-full four-drawer filing cabinet, a PO Box, a backup to the cloud, and a company car. Everything else is subcontracted out. My job is to define client needs in very strategic ways, find the people to do it, and lead the team through the conclusion of the project. And I've been doing this for 22 years.

As someone who owns his own company with no employees, I don't think of myself as a freelancer or self-employed. Instead, I bring in teams of people for short-term assignments, buy and purchase material on behalf of my clients, etc. Yet if my client budgets all remain in force through the end of the year, I'll bill above half a million. Maybe more if one prospect I've been chipping at decides to move forward this year.

But I'm a piker compared to a guy I know of a few miles from me. A long time ago, he figured out a way to sell excess waste product from refineries and sell it to city utilities. His company bills tens of millions every year, doing so with him, his wife, and two employees. And I know another guy, an engineer, who designs his product, has them mass-produced in China, and sells it to Home Depot and Lowes, letting a distribution company take a cut. It's just him, a computer, and a telephone. Yet this guy is making beaucoup cash. Either one of these guys would constitute a business far more than, say, a local coffee shop that's run on a shoestring.

What I'm trying to say is that the lines between a freelancer and a business are very blurred. A person can run a highly profitable company out of his house all by himself, or run a money-loser out of swank offices with scads of employees. This is especially true of companies that are based on the owner's brain power rather than a storefront or a factory.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-12-2015, 06:52 PM
 
Location: Buckeye, AZ
38,936 posts, read 23,809,984 times
Reputation: 14125
Quote:
Originally Posted by petch751 View Post
Did they complete and send all the required paperwork to the government to form a company.

Did they register a DBA?
Are they a sole proprietor, an S-Corp?
Are they an LLC.
Do they operate as a business keeping business transactions separate from personal?
Do they invoice work and give receipts for work done?
Do they keep all required records as required by government?
How do they report their income on their taxes?
Do they even report their income at the end of the year.
I agree that it would need to the case but perhaps they are trying to impress people. That and most times companies promote that as being your own boss.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-12-2015, 07:12 PM
 
Location: Paranoid State
13,044 posts, read 13,822,556 times
Reputation: 15839
Mostly they seem to be self-unemployed.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-12-2015, 10:16 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles (Native)
25,303 posts, read 21,377,184 times
Reputation: 12318
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpg35223 View Post
I guess my thought on that is that your putting 'start a business' in quotes means that you don't really think of it as a business. Well, if someone operates out of his house rather than rent office space, is it really any different?

In truth, my operation consists of two computers, two mobile phones, a half-full four-drawer filing cabinet, a PO Box, a backup to the cloud, and a company car. Everything else is subcontracted out. My job is to define client needs in very strategic ways, find the people to do it, and lead the team through the conclusion of the project. And I've been doing this for 22 years.

As someone who owns his own company with no employees, I don't think of myself as a freelancer or self-employed. Instead, I bring in teams of people for short-term assignments, buy and purchase material on behalf of my clients, etc. Yet if my client budgets all remain in force through the end of the year, I'll bill above half a million. Maybe more if one prospect I've been chipping at decides to move forward this year.

But I'm a piker compared to a guy I know of a few miles from me. A long time ago, he figured out a way to sell excess waste product from refineries and sell it to city utilities. His company bills tens of millions every year, doing so with him, his wife, and two employees. And I know another guy, an engineer, who designs his product, has them mass-produced in China, and sells it to Home Depot and Lowes, letting a distribution company take a cut. It's just him, a computer, and a telephone. Yet this guy is making beaucoup cash. Either one of these guys would constitute a business far more than, say, a local coffee shop that's run on a shoestring.

What I'm trying to say is that the lines between a freelancer and a business are very blurred. A person can run a highly profitable company out of his house all by himself, or run a money-loser out of swank offices with scads of employees. This is especially true of companies that are based on the owner's brain power rather than a storefront or a factory.
I definitely do agree that those situations would be considered a business. Perhaps I should not have placed start a business in quotes. Technology has come quite a ways for sure though. Another thing is that internet business has become legitimized so to speak. In the earlier .com days I think that many didn't view internet businesses as being serious businesses. There was a time after the .com bomb when many people looked down on internet businesses, just like people kind of looked down on real estate after the real estate crash.

Very interesting stories about the guy who sells excess waste product to city utilities and the one that sell products to Home Depot and Lowes.

Especially amazing that all this is done without employees. I think many would find it hard to believe, but that's because many people have a narrow view of what a business is.

Good point for sure that what is important isn't sales , but the actual profit coming in. Many large organizations are not that efficient and their profit margins are slim because of all the overhead and expenses.

People like to throw out large sales numbers to impress people..but what is important at the end of the day is the profit.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top