by Carole Kanchier, Vancouver Sun
Do you want to be a consultant or contractor? Have you thought of opening a retail establishment or other business? Creating your own career is the key to steady income in today's economy. When you develop a business, you become the employer, controlling your work and lifestyle. Research indicates self-employed people are happy workers. If you've dreamed of being your own boss, don't let fear of losing a steady income stop you. Economic security is not a certainty today. Thousands of people who were looking forward to retirement are laid off. Others who stagnated in boring jobs are finding that inflation is making a nightmare out of their retirement benefits. Statistics Canada reports that adults in the 55-plus age group comprise the greatest number of self-employed, followed by the 45 to 54 age group. However, people of all ages are becoming entrepreneurs, and this trend is increasing. Reports in the Monthly Labor Review and elsewhere indicate that self-employment accounts for most of the net employment growth that took place in Canada in the 1990s. Small business entrepreneurs in both Canada and the U.S. employ more than 50 per cent of the private work force and are the main source of all new jobs.
Ken Miles, Principal of Alpha Quality Assurance, a San Francisco-area consulting firm that assists the medical device industry, planned early retirement to start his own business at 60. Miles uses his experience as a senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration medical investigator to help clients find solutions to industry-wide issues such as complying with FDA regulations. Like Miles, many mature adults who start a consulting business, want to continue working at what they love. Others want to implement postponed dreams. New Canadians comprise another rapidly growing segment of the self-employed. Parisa Pajouhesh, 39, and her husband, Ahmad M. Ranjbar, 48, are principals of APR Consulting, a Vancouver-based social policy consulting and career development firm. Pajouhesh, a social policy analyst, came to Canada from Iran in 2004. She found limited employment opportunities for her skills, but good consulting opportunities. Roxanne Davies, Program Manager of Successful Contracting and Consulting (SCC), a Vancouver-based, federally funded training program, has observed that many foreign trained professionals are often disillusioned with employment opportunities in their fields. "Sometimes it's easier for them to find contract work." There are numerous self-employment opportunities in most industries. Tanis Abramenko, 31, took time off her bookkeeping job at a Calgary financial institution be a full-time mother. Instead of re-entering the financial field, Abramenko established a home cleaning service. Within two months she had a full client list. Abramenko is planning to expand her business by hiring and training others. Why choose self employment? Entrepreneurs cite many advantages to being self-employed including freedom, responsibility and flexibility. Other benefits are variety, challenge and a sense of accomplishment from realizing a dream. "What you do you do for yourself," says Pajouhesh. "I'm building something for my future." Creative business people, who plan well, spend wisely and work hard, do very well.
Do you want to be a consultant or contractor? Have you thought of opening a retail establishment or other business? Creating your own career is the key to steady income in today's economy. When you develop a business, you become the employer, controlling your work and lifestyle. Research indicates self-employed people are happy workers. If you've dreamed of being your own boss, don't let fear of losing a steady income stop you. Economic security is not a certainty today. Thousands of people who were looking forward to retirement are laid off. Others who stagnated in boring jobs are finding that inflation is making a nightmare out of their retirement benefits. Statistics Canada reports that adults in the 55-plus age group comprise the greatest number of self-employed, followed by the 45 to 54 age group. However, people of all ages are becoming entrepreneurs, and this trend is increasing. Reports in the Monthly Labor Review and elsewhere indicate that self-employment accounts for most of the net employment growth that took place in Canada in the 1990s. Small business entrepreneurs in both Canada and the U.S. employ more than 50 per cent of the private work force and are the main source of all new jobs.
Ken Miles, Principal of Alpha Quality Assurance, a San Francisco-area consulting firm that assists the medical device industry, planned early retirement to start his own business at 60. Miles uses his experience as a senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration medical investigator to help clients find solutions to industry-wide issues such as complying with FDA regulations. Like Miles, many mature adults who start a consulting business, want to continue working at what they love. Others want to implement postponed dreams. New Canadians comprise another rapidly growing segment of the self-employed. Parisa Pajouhesh, 39, and her husband, Ahmad M. Ranjbar, 48, are principals of APR Consulting, a Vancouver-based social policy consulting and career development firm. Pajouhesh, a social policy analyst, came to Canada from Iran in 2004. She found limited employment opportunities for her skills, but good consulting opportunities. Roxanne Davies, Program Manager of Successful Contracting and Consulting (SCC), a Vancouver-based, federally funded training program, has observed that many foreign trained professionals are often disillusioned with employment opportunities in their fields. "Sometimes it's easier for them to find contract work." There are numerous self-employment opportunities in most industries. Tanis Abramenko, 31, took time off her bookkeeping job at a Calgary financial institution be a full-time mother. Instead of re-entering the financial field, Abramenko established a home cleaning service. Within two months she had a full client list. Abramenko is planning to expand her business by hiring and training others. Why choose self employment? Entrepreneurs cite many advantages to being self-employed including freedom, responsibility and flexibility. Other benefits are variety, challenge and a sense of accomplishment from realizing a dream. "What you do you do for yourself," says Pajouhesh. "I'm building something for my future." Creative business people, who plan well, spend wisely and work hard, do very well.
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