Why Being Self-Employed Can Be a Good Career Move

MBO Partners projects that, by 2020, 1 in 2 American workers will either move to independent work or spend at least part of their working hours as self-employed professionals. The study showed some very good reasons why more of us might want to ditch being employees and embrace becoming businesses-of-one.

(MORE: Are You Cut Out for Self-Employment?)

Here are three of them:

3. Seasoned workers can leverage their experience better. The majority of contract workers surveyed were 35+ and had taken the skills they built while working full-time to enable them to market them independently — and at a higher rate.

Tips for Becoming A Successful Independent Contractor

If you'd like to create more career opportunities and income potential as an independent contractor, here are several tips:

• Make networking a priority. In the survey, 82 percent of respondents said that word-of-mouth was the main way they received work income. The women said 57 percent of their contract assignments came from former employers.
• Have a specialty. A striking 90 percent of respondents said that having relevant technical skills and a specialty within the industry help them land more contracts.
• Be very self-motivated. Over 90 percent of respondents said that in order to succeed as an independent contractor, you must be a self-starter, self-motivated and be able to cope with an unpredictable revenue stream. Many of them have been successful at it for 9+ years and said doing so gets easier with time.

J.T. O'Donnell is a career and workplace expert who founded the top-ranked career advice site, CAREEREALISM.com. In 2009, she launched CareerHMO, the first on-line career care membership site which specializes in curing chronic career pain.