Caught between entrepreneurship and small business, self-employed people often feel overlooked and left out. Host of the The Self-Employed Life podcast, Jeffrey Shaw believes that as we develop ourselves, we raise the bar - we're capable of even more success. This book is all about creating the environment, the Self-Employed Ecosystem, to attract the success you want. Shaw plots a path forward for the solopreneur who knows that small is better. He shows you how you can set up your environment to create the success you want.

This is a book for people like us, and we all know who we are. We make our own hours, keep our own profits, chart our own way. We have things like gigs, contracts, clients, and assignments. All of us are working toward our dreams: doing our own work, on our own time, on our own terms. We have no real boss, no corporate nameplate, no cubicle of our very own. Unfortunately, we also have no 401(k)s and no one matching them, no benefits package, and no one collecting our taxes until April 15th. It’s time to take stock of where you are and where you want to be. Ask yourself: Who is planning for your retirement? Who covers your expenses when clients flake out and checks are late? Who is setting money aside for your taxes? Who is responsible for your health insurance? Take a good look in the mirror: You are. The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed describes a completely new, comprehensive system for earning, spending, saving, and surviving as an independent worker. From interviews with financial experts to anecdotes from real-life freelancers, plus handy charts and graphs to help you visualize key concepts, you’ll learn about topics including: • Managing Cash Flow When the Cash Isn’t Flowing Your Way • Getting Real About What You’re Really Earning • Tools for Getting Out of Debt and Into Financial Security • Saving Consistently When You Earn Irregularly • What To Do When a Client’s Check Doesn’t Come In • Health Savings Accounts and How To Use Them • Planning for Retirement, Taxes and Dreams—All On Your Own

Two successful entrepreneurs offer a no-nonsense guide to the qualities that make people suited to starting their own businesses. In today’s world of startup companies, entrepreneurs are disrupting industries and fueling the economy like never before. It’s an exciting life where no day is quite like the next. But along with the adventure comes a lot of uncertainty, and not everyone is suited to the entrepreneurial life. So, what does it take? In Self Employed, Joel Comm and John Rampton detail 50 different qualities found in people who could do well as entrepreneurs. Having started, managed, and sold several multimillion-dollar businesses, Comm and Rampton understand what it takes to succeed in this highly competitive realm. The 50 qualities they outline provide a framework for anyone to decide if they might make it in business on their own. If you’re wondering whether the entrepreneurial lifestyle is right for you, or you want to know for sure that the business you’ve already started is suited to your temperament, this book is for you!

Collective Bargaining for Self-Employed Workers in Europe Approaches to Reconcile Competition Law and Labour Rights Founding Editor: Roger Blanpain General Editor: Frank Hendrickx Edited by Bernd Waas & Christina Hießl The increase in the number of self-employed workers, partially in response to the advent of the platform economy, has raised the spectre of horizontal price-fixing by self-employed members of a profession. This perception, however, is at odds with international labour standards, under which self-employed persons should also be able to conclude collective agreements to some extent. It is now commonplace for companies to offer various forms of non-standard employment that shift risk from the labour engager to the labour provider – which may increase the likelihood of those workers to fall outside the legal concept of ‘employee’ and because of that affects their legal protection. Legal practitioners may then face a dilemma: what may be required under labour law may be prohibited under antitrust law. In the first comprehensive analysis of these intensely debated issues, the authors argue that there is an urgent need to address the current legal puzzle, including through regulatory measures. This must include, in particular, the existing regulation at the level of the European Union (EU), which dominates competition law in the Member States. The book combines an analysis of the supranational framework by experts in labour law as well as competition law with in-depth country reports from Member States of the EU in which regulations and/or practices of collective bargaining for the self-employed exist. Among the many issues discussed in this book are the following: collective bargaining and international labour rights; self-employed individuals and the concept of undertaking in EU competition law; the concept of ‘social dumping’; the importance of the case law of the European Court of Justice; the concept of ‘vulnerability’; competition authorities’ enforcement strategies and priorities; the concept of ‘false self-employed’; and the possible introduction of exemptions, presumptions, safe harbours, or smart regulation solutions in competition law. The book gives an insight into the legal situation in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. These reports discuss the current practice of collective bargaining and how the current law is reflected in the academic discourse on the right of self-employed people to bargain collectively. This important book, in its presentation of legally sound and effective ways to shape the application of the right to bargain collectively that are attuned to the business and technological realities of the twenty-first century, promotes an understanding of the consequences for current law and practice and offers a basis for a discussion of regulatory measures addressing existing challenges. Practitioners of labour law and competition law, national competition authorities, and other interested parties will benefit from the detailed analysis and extensive findings.

Stop working for the man – break free and make sure you’re getting paid what you’re worth Stop slogging away 9 – 5 for a set salary (plus the overtime you inevitably do and don’t get any credit for). Abandon the day job and go it alone. Start doing what you want to do, when you want to do it. There are currently 4 million self-employed people in the UK –be one of them, join them, set yourself free. It’s not about becoming an entrepreneurial whiz-kid, it’s about working the way you want to work, on the things you want to work on, and in the location you want to do it from. Remember, you don’t have to sit in an office to get a job done. Self-Made Me shows you how to work how and where you want and earn exactly what you’re worth – not what an employer wants to get away with giving you. Be your own boss and increase your value. It’s never been easier to be self-employed than it is today, with increased communications, mobile working and outsourcing This straight-forward and engaging guide will help you make being self-employed a success Shows you how to get paid what you are actually worth, and how to work as hard or as little required to create the lifestyle you choose Self Made Me is for a new breed of people, and will show you how to make self-employment work for you.

Publisher Description

Legal advice for independent contractors, freelancers, consultants, and those thinking about working for themselves.

Since the 1970s the long term decline in self-employment has slowed – and even reversed in some countries – and the prospect of ‘being your own boss’ is increasingly topical in the discourse of both the general public and within academia. Traditionally, self-employment has been associated with independent entrepreneurship, but increasingly it has become a form of precarious work. This book utilises evidence-based information to address both the current and future challenges of this trend as the nature of self-employment changes, as well as to demonstrate where, when and why self-employment has emerged as precarious work in Europe.