Anyone else considering self employment?

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I've been looking into this for a while now and was curious as to what anyone who is self-employed has ran into or anything that they have noticed for trends/markets/good things to buy or sell/and so forth. I won't rehash the frustrations or the nonsense of job searching, networking, working for someone else, etc.. but one of the reasons I am considering self-employment is because I honestly think I can do a better job at being an owner vs. most of the companies I have worked for in the past or have applied to for employment. My first job where I got paid money for my work was actually mowing lawns for neighbors when I was 14 years old (I did this on and off until I was 29, the longest position I ever held). Granted I didn't make very good money but it was probably the best job I had when you take away the pay aspect.

Anyone else considering joining the Freedom Train to Self-employment?

I can't borrow money for a start-up because recent financial problems means my credit rating is screwed up, and the only self-employment I can think of is music production and posting to youtube hoping it might get views and ad revenue enough for the long-term. Other youtube related things seem unrealistic because 1. my personality doesn't fit the requirements and that seems to be something viewers are looking for 2. there are so many people doing different things theres likely nothing left and 3. I don't have the money for equipment such as camera, microphone and lastly 4. I tried youtube in the past, doing tutorials for gaming, programming, but soon got copyright claims so everything pretty much has to be licensed or your own work.

Other than youtube, i really can't think of anything, ideas like retail, interior design, sales got shot down by parents as they think i'm not communicative enough or not impressionable for the job. I could do IT but for it to work properly i will need a car and drivers licence which both obviously need money.

I've been eyeballing websites that let you send in designs and you can link the product you set up like mugs, shirts, photo prints, ect, and the theory goes that you have a website or blog that links to your products and the company taking your designs takes care of the transaction, manufacturing and shipping so you don't need capital or a big team to begin, just ideas and images. There's also sites that I'm excited about that let you send in the PDF templates for table top games and they make it box and all when someone buys it which gets me thinking about niche products being a valid option to create a career. Marketing to the NT community may not be a requirement to find success, just good ideas and learning good online advertising tricks

The game Crafters is one site to check out and merchify is another!

Yes, I have been considering self-employment essentially since getting into the workforce and realizing, "oh dear god this is not for me. I am not like these people. Why is everything so loud? Why is everyone in a bad mood? Why is everyone in a bad mood and half-heartedly pretending not to be in a bad mood? Why is it that if I'm kind to a person I get treated like the weakest link? Why is this essentially default pack animal behavior creating an unspoken dominance hierarchy?"

I am not fond of the work culture here in America.

I am an ideas person more than an implementation person. Allegedly if you are going to commit yourself to running your own businesses, you need to be in a relational proximity to people who successfully run their own businesses. Not necessarily close friends, but first name basis type relationships.

Besides working in a factory, I'm also self-employed.

Being self employed was the best thing I ever did. Ironically, ALL of my family members both in Aus and England are self employed and doing amazing things(working in the Disability field, Psychologist, HairDressing, Acting/Singing, IT Field, Gardening/Landscaping, Art Field! Find your passion, work harder than hard, and give it your all.

During my psychological evaluation by one of the leading clinical psychologists whos specialism is in Autism Spectrum Disorder and associated conditions.

After diagnosing me with Autism Spectrum Disorder of the Asperger Syndrome Variety, he explained that as i was very high functioning and was educated to Degree level in a useful subject (had developed skills in specialist areas), and because many of my problems in life is to do with communicating with people in the work place.

He thought i (as well as many other people with ASD who are high functioning, who have developed skills and specialist areas of interest) would be more likely to succeed in life if i were to work for myself, and i am in the process of slowly buying the equipment to be able to do so eventually.

As others mentioned, funding for people who have a history of problems in the work place, is really hard to get.
As well as keeping down a normal job in the generally volatile working environment (in the island that i live, most the employment opportunities are in merchant banking, which is the opposite type of working environment that my personality fits).

So, with no likely hood of getting any normal funding to being fairly poor long term , and no grants or charities that offer any financial assistance to people such as myself (and the rest of us).

The only option for me was really to slowly buy the equipment i need, piece by piece, over a series of years.
Living fairly frugally in the process but achieving my goals if but slowly.
I have about a year left of purchases, before i will be in a position that i can start up officially.

I think that self employment is where i will shine, rather than be someones slave or voodoo dummy, to be bullied and ridiculed by nasty NT's.

^^^ So good to hear that you’re not allowing any negativity to get in your way, that you’re clearly on the right path. I found that the harder the obstacles, the more sweet the feeling of finally “getting there” and setting up! Behind you 100% and wish you nothing but well .