04/04/2019
Self-Employment = Self-Sacrifice, this has been with me ever since I made the decision to venture into the entrepreneur mindset. This path is not for everyone, many are content with the direction they follow or choose to follow the direction that points to them…I chose my own path. We all have our own desire to want more, to be more, nobody ever imagines less. As early as the age of 13, I knew I was never going to stick around for the standard “Monday through Friday 9 – 5 daily grind.” Knowing what I wanted to do at a young age, my passion was to become an actor. Through several years of jobs I did not want to take, jobs I never saw myself as a career, jobs that helped me grow ethically and some that were merely for the fun of it, they were my stepping stones to Self-Employment.
After I came to the realization that there is no such thing as “Job Security,” I opened my own business in 2008 and never looked back. There are many reasons as to why I chose this direction, ultimately becoming your own boss takes on all of them. By creating your own schedule, work space, hours of operation, hourly rates, salaries, etc., gives you the freedom to answer to one person…you! With that being said, you are also responsible for your success as well as your failures. It was not easy by any means. This venture has given me the freedom to spend time with my family on any given day and continued pursuit of my passion for acting, martial arts, and various hobbies incorporated within my life. A typical job would not allow this to be possible. You would have to build up vacation days, plan time off accordingly, requesting special leave, answer to a boss whom will tell you when and where you work…this is not how I chose to run my life. On the other side of the coin, I’ve spent long hours on the business, late nights on reports, countless meetings throughout the day, and no paid leave, vacation, holidays or sick days to utilize. This is time away from our families, away from our sons and daughters, away from husbands and wives...time away from our loved ones that is absolutely necessary in order to provide for the family.
My business, now known as “Faucher’s Home Improvement” is based on home renovation and remodeling. Carpentry has always been a trade I could rely on and the work is steady, since 100% of the people I know have homes. Therefore, there will always be a potential source of income. To me, I consider that a high success rate of potential income with of course the uncertainty for the next project. In this case, the pros outweigh the cons 10 to 1. Far too often I have asked the people I meet in all aspects of work (normally while I’m getting my morning cup of coffee), do you find yourself as the next CEO or President of the company you work for? Not one person has said yes to date, my follow up question is always “why are you settling for a job when there is much more than a paycheck at the end of the week?” A few common answers I hear are “there just isn’t much out there for jobs right now,” or “the benefits are good enough to stay.” I understand the reasoning behind those answers, I call them excuses rather than reasons. There are many individuals who are happy to take on a typical job, company pension, sales, retail, consumer, etc. but if your reasons are actually excuses, that is not good enough. The only person that is getting in the way of you is YOU! There are plenty of jobs available, you just need to find out which of these jobs best suits your skill set, abilities and passion, everything else will come into focus. If you find that there are none that suit you, then you create the position, make it available and fill it.
To better understand this line of work, you need to take a closer look into the life of a contractors business (like myself), electricians, plumbers, mechanics, any trade and or sole proprietary business, we all share the common interest for our success. We also share the large amount of responsibility and accountability for our businesses. Each of us have a family to come home to, mouths to feed, and bills to pay. How we price our jobs, hourly rates and salaries are based on what it takes to pay those said bills and turn a profit. On occasion, a client and or customer would question a trade worker, why we get “paid so much” or “that price is too high,” my immediate response is always “we don’t get paid enough” and “the price is too low.” You have to understand that we are held in a much higher tax bracket, unlike typical jobs we do not have our taxes withheld from our paychecks. We are responsible for our own estimated income tax, self-employment tax, F**A, federal, state, unemployment, healthcare, social security and Medicare and or payroll. As of 2016, we pay taxes on annual net profits of over $400. If our income reaches a certain level, we must make quarterly estimated income tax payments. Employees pay only half of their social security and Medicare taxes while their employers pay the other half. Self-employed people must pay both the employer and employee portions of these taxes. Have in mind, this is not all of our expenses but the majority in most cases. All in all, this takes down roughly 65% of our paycheck every time we receive income. So the next time you think we get paid $55 - $75 per hr for our services, we are really getting $18 – $25 per hr for our expertise in the field we specialize. This is precisely why the rates will continue to increase, so we may provide for our family’s well-being and keep up with the rising cost to live in our society as we know it. The answer will always be, “we don’t get paid enough” and the “price is too low.” Ever since I’ve ventured into the entrepreneur mindset, you will find me supporting our local farmers, buying local produce, seeking out family owned businesses, local restaurants that have been around for generations and creating those bonds between local businessmen and women. Self-Employment = Self-Sacrifice.
- Troy Faucher
