by Gary Maclean

Created on: April 04, 2008   Last Updated: October 03, 2011

There is a lot of talk about working for yourself, starting your own business, benefits of a home business and other at home ventures. For the most part they seem to appear with a positive slant. I have been in both positions; working for someone else and working for myself. I agree; there are many benefits to be had working for yourself; however, there are many benefits when you work for an established organization also.

I seriously think every single worker in America ought to have the opportunity to work in their own home business at least for one year. I think we all need that experience. Were that to be possible we would all gain a certain respect for the people running the big businesses. At the least we would discover what they really pay when they employ us.

I like using the top ten list approach with discussions like this one. I first set about making my own list of items then I pick what I think to be the top ten and write about them. Well, for this topic my hand-written list surpassed 30 benefits. It was very difficult to stick to my top ten rule, but I did. Just remember though, working for yourself is indeed an experience not to forget, but you never know what that company you are working for really does for you until you venture out into the world of self-employment.

So many companies have so many different benefits, that I had to work from a "typical" company. I don't even know what is typical, but I have worked in ten different companies, so I averaged them out and present those top ten benefits. My choice for the top ten benefits of working for a typical first line employer includes;

10) Pre-tax deductions: Many employers today offer a process whereby they will deduct funds from your paycheck for things like medical co-pays, child care and other non-covered expenses. They deduct these funds before taxes are taken out. This makes the taxable amount smaller and your tax payment smaller. You could make $10 available for non-covered medical expenses and only drop your take home pay by $7.

9) 40 hours: Please don't ever think that working for yourself you will ever see a 40 hour week again. They are almost non-existent for those who work for themselves. The rewards are there but so are the labors. Working for a company you will work 40 hours and go home. If you work more, then you most often get paid overtime for it.

8) Steady check: When you work for yourself you are working in feast or famine. Working for someone else you know exactly what you

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>