Quintessential Careers Content Index: Self-Employment

Quintessential Careers Content Index:
Self-Employment

Our comprehensive Content Index enables you to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets related to self-employment topics.

Read summaries of each piece of our content pertaining to self-employment (including consulting, freelancing, entrepreneurship, portfolio careers, franchising, work-at-home) to determine whether you'd like to click on the link and learn more. The Index leads off with the most recent content items at the top, so you know where to find the freshest and most up-to-date content; however, there are also items for which we have no publication date -- and these are located at the end of the list.

Use the pull-down menu at the bottom of this page to find additional topics that interest you -- or return to the main page of the Quintessential Careers Content Index.

15 Quick Tips For Succeeding as a Solopreneur
By: Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2011, Feb. 14
Summary: Taking the plunge from employee to business owner can be many things -- exhilarating, liberating, rewarding, frightening, challenging, time-consuming -- but you can make the experience more positive than negative by following this article's 15 quick tips for succeeding as a solopreneur, entrepreneur, freelancer, consultant, portfolio careerist, Patchworker, or a small-business owner.

Are You Ready to Start and Run Your Own Business? A Quintessential Careers Entrepreneurship Assessment
By: Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2011, Feb. 14
Summary: Are you ready to start and run your own small business? Take our assessment and reflect on the results!

Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Patchworker?
By: Kristin Cardinale, Ph.D.
Published: 2011, Feb. 14
Summary: This article is an excerpt from Kristin Cardinale's new book, The 9-to-5 Cure: Work on Your Own Terms and Reinvent Your Life. For more information about the book, read our full review of The 9-to-5 Cure. The Patchwork Principle is a freelance career strategy based on the simple idea that working for a number of employers simultaneously presents unique business opportunities and insulates you from sudden and total job loss.

Creating Opportunity Through Your Entrepreneurial Spirit
By: Nancy J. Miller
Published: 2010, Nov. 1
Summary: In a previously thriving economy, most people expected financial and job security, although they often worked for years in jobs they didn't enjoy. Now that jobs are getting harder to find, it takes more research and planning to find a fit for your strengths, passions, and values. An entrepreneurial mindset will give you the adaptability and resilience to thrive in a changing workplace. This article explains.

Turning Your Hobby into a Full-Time Business? Answer These Questions First
By: Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2010, Feb. 8
Summary: This article provides you with some questions to answer -- as well as some thoughts and ideas to consider as you make some hard decisions about your future as you consider turning your hobby into a profitable (and sustaining) business.

Turn Unemployment into Self-Employment: 5 Tips on How to Start
By: Suzanne Caplan
Published: 2009, Nov. 2
Summary: This article is about starting with a small idea and growing it into a major force employing many. You do not need a major venture order to earn a living by being self-employed. The article offers five smaller ideas to work on.

Economic Downturn Can Give Birth to Innovation and Entrepreneurship
By: Teena Rose
Published: 2009, Nov. 2
Summary: Economic turmoil brings out entrepreneurial drive, showing job-seekers that when one road ends (job search), there's always another road to be taken (business startup). Whether or not you should hang out your own shingle under current economic conditions depends a great deal upon your particular skill set and your financial situation. This article explains.

Business Plan Tutorial Tools to Help You Launch Your Own Business
By: Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2007, June 25
Summary: This tutorial is all about empowering the entrepreneur inside you and helping you develop a successful business plan that enables you to start your business.

College Offers Fertile Ground for Starting a Business
By: Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2005, July 5
Summary: The stories of three entrepreneurs who started their businesses while attending the same college illustrate not only that colleges campuses provide great launching pads for entrepreneurial pursuits, but also the variety of paths that young entrepreneurs can take.

Examples of Businesses Started by College Entrepreneurs
By: Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2005, July 5
Summary: A list of businesses started by college students, including well-known student-started businesses.

Franchising Pros and Cons: Is Franchising Right for You
By: Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2005, July 5
Summary: Should you start your own business or buy a franchise of an already successful business? This article looks at all the angles.

Making Lemonade: Starting a Business After Ending a Career
By: Liz Sumner
Published: 2005, July 5
Summary: A big upset like job loss can provide a shift of perspective -- an opportunity to take stock. What is really important? What do you want to pursue at this point in your life? Is being your own boss the way to go? The author spoke to mature workers who faced these situations and turned them into success.

Portfolio Careers: Creating a Career of Multiple Part Time Jobs
By: Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2005, Jan. 31
Summary: Portfolio careers are usually built around a collection of skills and interests, though the only consistent theme is one of career self-management. With a portfolio career you no longer have one job, one employer, but multiple jobs and employers within one or more professions. This article explains.

Ten Portfolio Career Tips
By: Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2005, Jan. 31
Summary: How do you go about creating a portfolio career for yourself? This article offers 10 portfolio career tips.

Teen Business Do's and Don'ts
By: Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2003, June 9
Summary: This article is all about providing great tips and suggestions to help younger teens earn some money and get work experience by starting their own neighborhood businesses.

Ten Steps to Escaping the Job World and Creating the Life You Really Want
By: Valerie Young
Published: 2003, Feb. 17
Summary: Approaches for transcending the job world.

Nuts and Bolts of Launching a Career in Freelancing or Consulting
By: Maureen Crawford Hentz
Published: 2002, Sept. 16
Summary: The most important thing to consider is the purpose of freelancing/consulting. Are you looking to fill some free time? Do you want to earn extra money? Are you looking to work for yourself? Want to test the waters in a new career? These are all questions central to the issue of income expectation. This article explains.

Consultant Free Agent Quiz
By: Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2001, Jan. 15
Summary: Thinking about making a career move by becoming a consultant or freelancer? Take our quiz and see what the results say about your tendencies toward consulting.

Word is Out: Becoming a Free Agent is a Hot Career Path
By: Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Published: 2001, Jan. 15
Summary: This article addresses the following questions: What can you expect to do as a consultant? What are the skills and abilities necessary to succeed as a consultant? How does one get started as a consultant? Where does one find clients?

Popular Work-At-Home Options for Job-Seekers
By: The Bizymoms.com Team
Published: n/a
Summary: This article suggests four popular work-at-home jobs. These jobs can be started up on very low investments -- or no investments at all, though they do require a certain type and level of skill sets (which can all be easily learned or enhanced).

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