I write a lot about personal finance. I hear a lot about how different employers are handling the current economic crunch and, lately, what I’ve been hearing makes me pretty uncomfortable about working for a long list of companies. Some employers are slashing benefits — effectively cutting their employees’ salaries while inflation reduces their buying power.

I want to suggest entrepreneurship as an alternative, but I realize that it isn’t a great option for everyone. I’ve been putting together a list of pros and cons in an effort to decide whether starting up a business is really a good idea for some people, especially in the middle of ongoing financial problems. I’ve tried to stick to financial

and business issues while it’s nice that many small business owners can spend more time with their families, I don’t think that’s the biggest issue for many folks considering entrepreneurship right now.

The Pros

1. If your employer is letting you go, offering early retirement or using another euphemism for firing you, it may be hard to find another job immediately. Being in business for yourself allows you to immediately start working on making money, rather than proofreading your resume.

2. Without the middleman (a.k.a. your employer) you can charge significantly more for your services — along the lines of what your employer was charging for your work.

3. You don’t have to go whole hog into running your own business. You can try out your business on a part-time, evenings and weekends, basis while still working your current job.

4. It can be easier to pick up overtime if you no longer have to get your manager to sign off on it. If you run your own business, overtime is a matter of finding another client or customer.

5. The cost of working at home is much lower than for your employer: you don’t have to pay to commute, you can eat inexpensively in your own kitchen and you only have to meet a dress code when you’ll actually be seeing a client. And, while this isn’t particularly noble, you can avoid the constant birthday parties, baby showers and other office events that constantly drain your time and your wallet.

6. Just about all of the expenses associated with your business are tax deductible. Running your own business can make your tax burden significantly lower — and a surprising number of things are considered business expenses, like conference registrations.

The Cons

1. While getting health insurance without an employer providing it isn’t impossible, it can be pretty difficult — especially if you actually need. Pre-existing conditions can make it absolutely impossible to get health insurance on your own.

2. With a job, if you aren’t quite on the ball one week, you still get paid. But if you fumble on your own business, you can wind up losing money. Even if you have a contract, sometimes things can go very wrong. An employer absorbs those problems, but can you do that if you’re on your own?

3. There are some great jobs that simply aren’t possible to do in a small business that you’re just starting yourself. If you have one of those jobs and you like it, why mess with a good thing?

4. It’s all well and good to jump off the deep end if no one’s depending on your earnings. But if you have a family or other dependents, you have to be absolutely sure before you strike out on your own.

5. You have to buy your own equipment when you run your own business: no more company laptop — or printing out your personal stuff at work. A computer, a printer, maybe even a fax machine: you’ll have to buy what ever you need for your home office.

6. There’s no such thing as vacation time or sick leave when you run your own business. You can certainly take time off when you need to — after all, you’re the boss — but you just don’t get paid when you’re not working.

7. While the flexibility of working for yourself can be nice, more and more employers are offering flex time and telecommuting options. You can have a lot of the benefits of working for yourself without having to give up a regular salary.

My Conclusion

Freelancing, consulting, and running your own business isn’t for everyone. There’s a certain amount of security in working for an employer, even if that employer is considering cutting costs with little tricks like suspending 401(k) benefits. That said, if you’re comfortable with the risks, I think there are a lot of opportunities right now: even big companies are turning to freelancers and consultants to handle the workloads of those employees who suffered under a cost-saving measure. Either choice requires a lot of careful consideration and shouldn’t be made lightly.

There are plenty of situations that can negate the cons I listed, as well as the pros. I mentioned that there’s no such thing as paid vacation if you run your own business — you can get around that negative fairly easily if you concentrate on building passive income. A lot depends on your field, as well as whether you have the self-discipline to run your own company. Before you make your decision, research all your options. You might even consider doing a test run: with a lot of businesses, you can get a head start on things even while you’re still gainfully employed.

我寫了一些個人理財方面的文章，聽到很多關于雇主是如何處理當前資金困難的事情。最近聽到的一些，令我感到為一個又一個的公司工作很讓人難受。許多雇主大幅度削減利潤——實際上是在通貨膨脹降低了購買力的時候，削減雇員工資。

我想建議把做企業主當做一個選擇，不過，我知道這不是所有人的最佳選擇。我已經列出利與弊的清單，盡力確定做生意對某些人來說是否真是個好主意，特別是在金融問題繼續發展之時。我一直堅持研究金融和商業問題，既然那些小生意人能有更多的時間和家人共度，我認為對許多人來說馬上考慮做企業主不是最大的問題。

利

1. 如果雇主正要解雇你，提出讓你提前退休，或用其它委婉的說法解雇你，你可能很難馬上找到其它工作。自己做生意能讓你立即開始工作賺錢，而不必一遍遍地給人看簡歷。

2. 沒有了中間人（也稱為雇主）你可以從自己的服務中獲取更可觀的效益——包括雇主從你的工作中獲取的利潤。

3. 你不必須一心撲在自己的生意上，可以花部分時間，晚上或者周末試著做做生意，而主要精力還放在當前的工作上。

4. 如果加班不必非要經理簽字了，就能更容易得到加班費。如果自己做生意，加班是尋找新客戶和聯系老主顧的重要環節。

5. 在家工作比為雇主工作費用低得多：你不必付交通費，還可以花很少的錢在家做飯吃，而且只有當你確實要去見客戶的時候，才需要穿正裝。即使這些都不特別重要，你還能逃避接連不斷的生日宴會、新生兒喜宴，以及其它不斷消耗你的時間和金錢的辦公室活動。

6. 和你的生意有關系的一切費用就只是扣除營業稅了。經營自己的生意能讓你的稅務負擔大大降低——像會議注冊這樣被視為業務費用的事情多得驚人。

弊

1. 然而，雖然沒有雇主為你投保,也不是絕對上不了醫保，但可能會非常困難——尤其是已經患病的人,根據預定的參保條件，要想靠自己得到健康保險是完全不可能的。

2. 如果有一天你已不那么能干了，有份工作還能得到報酬。而你如果處理不好自己的生意，就可能損失錢財。盡管有合同，有時情況還是會很糟糕。雇主承擔了一切問題，但是，如果是你，你能做到嗎？

3. 有些很好的工作，你剛開始做的小生意是不可能做的。如果你有一個這樣的工作，而且很喜歡，為什么要毀掉它呢？

4. 如果沒人靠你的收入生活，能跳出困境當然好，但是，如果你有家庭或其他依賴你的人，那你就必須在自主創業之前絕對有把握。

5. 經營自己的生意時，你必須置辦自己的設備：不再有公司的便攜式電腦可用——也不再可能在上班時打印自己的東西。電腦、打字機，也許甚至傳真機：你不得不買所有家庭辦公所需的物品。

6. 經營自己的生意時，沒有休假或請病假這樣的事情。當然了，如果需要，你可以抽出一部分時間——畢竟，你是老板——但是，你不工作就得不到錢。

7. 由于為自己工作的靈活性很受歡迎，越來越多的雇主提供了彈性工作時間和遠程工作的選擇。你可以享受到為自己工作的很多好處，又不必放棄定期獲得的薪水。

我的結論

做自由職業者，顧問，經營自己的生意并不適合所有的人。盡管雇主為降低成本耍些像暫停為你的401(k) 帳戶充值這樣的小花招，為雇主工作還是有些安全保證的。也就是說，如果你對這些保證感到滿意，我想現在就有很多機會：就連大公司也在求助于自由職業者和顧問醫生，討論因節約成本而深受其害的雇員們的工作量問題。哪種選擇都需要認真仔細的考慮，不能輕率地做出決定。

在很多情況下，我列舉的利與弊會起反作用。我提到，如果你自己經營生意，就不會有帶薪休假這樣的事——如果你專心地創造被動收入，就能輕而易舉地避免受到負面影響。這主要看你的專業，還有你在經營自己的公司時是否能自我約束。做出決定之前，研究一下你所有的選擇。甚至你可能要考慮做做試運行：有很多行業，即使你還在打工掙錢，也可以先行試做。