Reporting to Yourself

It’s no secret that millions of Americans are without jobs. It’s no secret that 13.1 % of residents in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area are unemployed. Since it is difficult to find a well paying job during these hard economic times, people are starting to turn their shoulder on the idea of working up a company ladder and instead, work for themselves. According to the US census, there are about 10.4 million self-employed workers in the United States which is a 300,000 person increase since 2001.


Hillsborough County had one of the highest self-employment rate increases in the country. According to the census, the amount of people who worked at non-employer establishments in Hillsborough County jumped up 8.3 percent from 2004 to 2005. Out of the nearly 1,180,000 residents in Hillsborough County, approximately 59,000 of them were self-employed as of 2008, according to city-data.com.

There are many reasons that can explain why people are stepping away from big companies to work for themselves. One example could be the older generation of professionals that are fired daily because their salary is too big. In a company’s eyes, why pay the old guy a fat pay check when we can get a brand new college graduate and pay him close to nothing? Once that ‘old guy’ is fired, he’ll have to search for a new job and probably settle for a significantly reduced pay cut. Why bother? This is why many people start their own business and use the skills they’ve gained over their career to make a legitimate amount of income. Whether they do freelance work or open up their own company, self-employment is becoming a popular trend this day in age. In some cases, people who start their own business and find success may be better off as opposed to working for a big corporation.

25 year old Cameron Fulks, a part-time University of Tampa student and full-time self-employee, realized that working a part time job for a bar-and-club promotion company wouldn’t pay off his bills and support the life style he lives. In 2008, Fulks decided to leave his part-time job and start his own promotion company. “Starting Edge Entertainment was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I make great money, I don’t have to report to anyone, and I love my work,” said Fulks.

Working for yourself and starting your own business isn’t an easy thing to do. In many cases, people fail and end up in a worst place then where they started. Some call it an investment; others will call it a gamble. Some have found great success with starting their own business and other have not. The only thing certain these days is that if you don’t pay taxes, you’re going to jail.