Comments on: The Self Employment Test

By: Kelly P

Kelly P — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:26:33 +0000

Scored a 6 and excited about the future.

Also, I wouldn’t necessarily include creativity as an important element – or perhaps, I’d redefine it.

I am *not* creative, and I don’t think outside the box well at all. If I am given any task or assignment that does not have clear guidelines and expectations, I’m at a loss. In 5th grade, I was required to take art and “make” things – and cried.

What I *am* good at is RESEARCHING outside the box. I understand that if you do what the masses do, you’ll be like the masses. So rather than come up with business ideas, I research business ideas. Rather than come up with creative solutions, I mimic other successful solutions, tailoring them to my own situation. I seek out those who can think outside the box, and learn from them.

This might be considered creativity, but I don’t think so. And it has effectively substituted it for me.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:41:08 +0000

Owning a franchise can entrepreneurial, because when you do so, you take on a certain degree of risk. Then again, I have a different definition for “entrepreneur” and “self-employed”

Entrepreneurs are ground-breakers in some way. They start businesses. They come up with amazing ideas and profit from them, creating something that (hopefully) gives benefit to others as well.

Self-Employed people, in contrast, create their own income. They might do it any number of ways, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be “blazing a new trail.”

So to answer your question – franchising is really neither of these things – it’s a separate entity, because a franchiser will take something that already exists and simply run it. In this way, it’s almost more like being an employee!

By: Victoria

Victoria — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 04:42:35 +0000

I can understand that mentality. I sometimes find myself on the fringe of the group mentality – being an ideas person, being “creative”, seeing possibilities in nearly anything I experience; sometimes it’s a lonely road.

I do pose a question to you:

If you own a franchise are you really an entrepreneur?

If yes – then perhaps anyone can be an entrepreneur… which might make the purpose of your test obsolete! ;-P

If no – perhaps having too much creativity can be a detriment.

I await your reply.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 01:39:28 +0000

Very true, and actually an interesting point. The one area where creativity is not a requisite for entrepreneurship, however is franchising. In fact, when you buy a “share” of the company through this method you actually have to run the branch exactly how they tell you… if you get too creative with their business model you could find yourself in some hot water!

I prefer “creative entrepreneurship” myself!

By: Victoria

Victoria — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 06:08:11 +0000

I am by no means an expert in this domain, but I think you may be missing one important element to be successfully self-employed – creativity.

Inherent in being self-employed is the ability to see things outside the box. Like that diaper example you gave – a successful entrepreneur would need to see that opportunity. I can think of many people who would score high on your test, but out in the real world may lack that essential ingredient. Food for thought…