grundyhome.com

This is part four of a series exploring factors in self-employment and traditional employment. For more about this series, read the opening article.

Stress

How stressful the position is

Conclusions

Working for yourself is very satisfying. As stressful and demanding as self-employment may be, your freedom and the reward of a victory are enough to temper the stress. They keep you going, even when business is tough. But a regular job is stressful all the time – and you rarely have the freedom and flexibility to adjust to your own personal work habits. On a Friday afternoon when you’re just not productive, being able to start the weekend early is a huge perk.

Winner: Self-Employment

-373463d5c7982e8f7bdd48bbb6bdd9ff->

I’ve been reading a lot about marketing for non-profits, as one of my major involvements right now is helping Camp Fire USA and Camp Tannadoonah (the summer camp where my wife serves as camp director). I caught this excellent piece:

From Marketing for Charitable Nonprofit Organizations at archrespite.org:

“Here is where many organizations make a serious mistake. They fail to recognize who the potential donor represents. That donor really is paying the bill on behalf of the indigent hospital patient. Yet, when the hospital approaches a foundation, corporation, or individual donor for contributions, it usually couches its request in terms of money for the hospital, not the indigent patient.”

This applies to normal marketing. People don’t want to hear about how their purchase will help your company. They want to hear stories about how it will help them. Benefactors don’t care about your organization, they care about the people who benefit from your organization. Tell them stories – and give them an action that they can use to buy into those stories.

-eff1c513e205861aaeb881de1bdf7252->

This is part three of a series exploring factors in self-employment and traditional employment. For more about this series, read the opening article.

Benefits

What kind of non-financial compensation you receive

Conclusions

As we’ve discussed before, startup mode usually means low budget. An excellent 401k package may be in your future, but most small businesses simply can’t offer the kind of competitive packages that larger companies can. It isn’t impossible, but it’s something where financially stable companies have an advantage. More recently, co-op plans and HSAs have opened the door for small companies to provide some of these benefits.

Winner: Traditional Employment