Yee-Hah Pizza, Slice of New York Pizza, or Neither? A fictional short-sh...

A Garden-Variety Guitar Player: A short-short story

Self-Employment Choices

My Self-Employment Secrets

"Should I Try Being Self-Employed?"

Stories About Work

To Market? A short-short story

Should You Be Self-Employed, and how to boost your chances of success

Even before the economy slowed because of COVID, the shortage of decent-paying, ethical, reasonably secure jobs made people eager to try being their own boss. But should you be self-employed, and what will be key for you in boosting your chances of success.  I tackle that in my Psychology Today article today.

A Tormented Liberal and a Tormented Conservative Job Seeker

My career counseling practice isn’t immune from today’s political polarization. While many of my clients are politically moderate or apolitical, I have clients on both political poles, and they tend to be angst-filled.

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers composite letters from a tormented liberal and from a tormented conservative, followed by my responses

The Simple Business Plan

Amid the COVID economic shutdown, many people have lost their job and are pessimistic they can land another. So they're starting businesses. Often they can avoid the 100-page business plans often recommended in business schools. I describe such a mini-business plan with an example in my Psychology Today article today.

Self-Employment Ideas in the Time of COVID

With 42 million Americans having lost their job because of the COVID pandemic, the competition for the small number of good job openings is fierce. 
So, many people are deciding to try their hand at self-employment. 

The self-employment ideas I offer in my Psychology Today article today cost little to start and run, and so entail less risk of running out of money before you succeed. Also, these self-employment ideas are COVID-compatible, that is, they can be done remotely. Plus, many of these ideas serve people who will be under COVID restrictions, which may tighten again if the predicted second wave occurs this fall.

Low-Risk Business to Start in the Time of Coronavirus

In just the past four weeks, 22 million people have filed for unemployment, and a good number of them are considering self-employment.

The obvious ideas including selling corona-related products like masks and sanitizers are too obvious and so the market may already be overcrowded. 

The ideas I offer in my Psychology Today article today are less-so and, because they’re service businesses, they require little money to start and run. Might you have the expertise and desire to try one of them?

"Should I Be Self-Employed?" A mock career counseling session

Many people struggle with this dilemma: Should I be self-employed or work for someone else? My PsychologyToday.com article today presents a mock career counseling session with a person facing this dilemma.

Simple Self-Employment: Tips provided in the context of a story

I’ve written previously on simple self-employment, for example, Low-Risk, High-Payoff Self-Employment. But those articles were in standard form: an annotated list. Some people learn better when advice is embedded in a context, hence my PsychologyToday.com article today offers a composite story.

Starting and Succeeding in Private Practice

Even though the unemployment rate is the lowest in 50 years, many people are attracted to self-employment. 

A particularly intriguing type of self-employment is a private practice. Whether you’re a mental health professional or a doctor, lawyer, architect, etc., many people prefer the autonomy and control of private practice over having to play by the rules and politics inherent in organizations. 

But starting and succeeding in a private practice can feel daunting. I hope my PsychologyToday.com article today will help.

Developing a Business Idea Worthy of Shark Tank

Seeking to control their destiny, many people would love to come up with an idea and business plan that has a good chance of success without incurring much risk, the kind of business plan that would make even the toughest Shark, Kevin O’Leary on the TV show, Shark Tank, invest, or should I say bite?

My PsychologyToday.com article today shows how I help my clients develop such a plan.

Low-Risk, High-Payoff Self-Employment

 Drawn from my new book, Careers for Dummies, my PsychologyToday.com article today is an Un-MBA for would-be self-employed people. So much of what's taught in MBA programs about entrepreneurship is aimed at the corporate employee who wants to be intrapreneurial. But most people who want to be self-employed don't have deep pockets and so the best advice is pretty much the opposite of what they'd teach in an MBA program. 

My PsychologyToday.com articles have now had 5 million page views. Thank you for reading my work. That adds much meaning to my life.

Senior Self-Employment

Voluntarily or not, many people 50+ are thrust into retirement but feel they still have job juice and so turn to self-employment.

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers seven simple, low-risk businesses well-suited to older people.

Short Answers to Common Career Questions: Change Careers? Be Self-Employed?

As the second in my PsychologyToday.com series:  Short Answers, I offer short-form thoughts on figuring out if you should change careers and if you should be self-employed.

Need an Idea for a Business to Start?

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer a few of my favorite ideas for businesses to start.