Considering self-employment?
Already self-employed? You need this book.
The Self-Employment Survival Guide: Proven Strategies to Succeed as Your Own Bossalerts you to the challenges involved in being your own boss and provides proven strategies for surmounting these obstacles to achieve success. You’ll also learn what you need to put in place before taking the leap to being your own boss to help assure your success.
Self-employment offers great personal freedoms and rewards, but the road can curve or travel uphill at times. This book has proven solutions for obstacles that inevitably will cross your path, including unreasonable client demands, slow payers, unexpected client defections, hectic daily schedules, health and financial planning, and isolation that can accompany working on your own.
Provides an honest, comprehensive picture of the day-to-day joys and challenges of being your own boss.
Details proven coping strategies for common problems that arise when you’re self-employed. By knowing about these issues in advance, you can learn how to avoid some perils from occurring in the first place as well as what to do for those that are unavoidable..
Is based on almost 30 years of self-employment experience as well as ideas from seven colleagues and friends who all have been self-employed for several decades.
Helps you decide if you’re cut out to be your own boss and guides you on the plans you should put in place before making this leap.
Discusses eight common behaviors and attitudes that impede success at self-employment.
Unlike most books on self-employment, this one takes off the rose-colored glasses, and tells it like it is – the good, the unfortunate, and the ugly – all for the purpose of helping you achieve long-term success as your own boss.
To schedule an event with Jeanne Yocum, email her at jeanne_yocum@yahoo.com. Also, visit the book's Facebook page (The Self-Employment Survival Guide) to see news on upcoming events.
Media Appearances
“On the Mark,” a discussion with Mark G. Auerbach about being self-employed during the pandemic. (Interview begins at 36:08.) December 30, 2020
In this interview with Thom Fox, Jeanne shares key behaviors that impede success and provides solutions for the obstacles that might cross your path, including unreasonable clients, slow payers, time management, health and financial planning, and the feelings of isolation that can sometimes accompany working on your own.
For nearly 30 years, Jeanne Yocum has been self-employed as a public relations consultant and ghostwriter. She credits her parents for fostering skills that have enabled her to succeed as her own boss. Her mother was a high school English teacher who led her to love writing; her father was self-employed and served as her example of how to succeed out there on your own.
Jeanne has worked with clients in a wide variety of fields, including commercial and residential real estate, dot-coms, retailing, higher education, health care, financial and legal services, manufacturing, IT analysis, management consulting, architecture, and banking. Her blog, succeedinginsmallbusiness.com, offers advice to small business owners and solopreneurs.
Jeanne’s published works include The Self-Employment Survival Guide: Proven Strategies to Succeed as Your Own Boss, and two co-authored books, New Product Launch: 10 Proven Strategies, published in 2004, and Ban the Humorous Bazooka [and Avoid Other Roadblocks and Speed Bumps Along the Innovation Highway], published in 2001. She also has ghostwritten books on open innovation, strategic partnerships, and leading fast-growth companies.
A Pennsylvania native, Jeanne holds a B.A. in Journalism from Pennsylvania State University and a Master’s degree in Journalism from Boston University. After spending most of her career in Greater Boston and in Western Massachusetts, she now lives in Durham, NC, with her husband, Bob Ickrath, and their puggle, Molly.
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This Book’s Mission
The mission of this book is to give people who are considering self-employment a full view of what bring your own boss entails. By learning about the ups and downs that come from being in charge of your own livelihood, I hope you are well prepared to make the bet choice for you. If you’re already self-employed, you can reach higher levels of success with the advice from this guide.
What Reviewers & Experts Say About this Book
“This book is an important cautionary guide on what to expect [from self-employment], beginning with the basic business plan and your goals; the challenges of working from home or alone; clients; finance; and the roadblocks to success like health, burnout, isolation, depression, and uncertainty that every entrepreneur endures.”
Ivy Digest BizNewsAsia, Sept. 12, 2018
“PR consultant and ghostwriter Yocum (coauthor of New Product Launch) offers straightforward advice and coping strategies in this helpful guide to self-employment. It’s the right choice for many, she writes: in 2015, 15 million Americans were self-employed. It’s also a choice to make with “eyes wide open,” and Yocum begins by sharing challenges she faced and straightforward suggestions for dealing with them. Throughout, Yocum’s guidance is simple but useful: “discipline is required,” “set expectations with clients,” and “be willing to listen.” ....Salaried employees wondering about taking the leap and becoming their own bosses will find answers to many of their questions, and plenty of encouragement, in this well-written primer.”
Publishers Weekly
“Yocum’s guide is practical, intuitive, and based on her decades of experience as a solopreneur, a self- employed professional. She has been there, seen it, done that. A PR expert and ghostwriter-coauthor of other business books, she lays bare the inner and outer souls of those 10-plus million people working for themselves, with good insights and remedies to solve almost any issue. Short chapters focused on one singular aspect of the business—selling, time management, continual learning—describe the situation, then provide coping strategies, while other voices chime in from sidebars to confirm the solution. One example that plagues many self-workers: fluctuating workloads. As Yocum admits, it’s either too heavy or too light—and never just right. Sound familiar? No remedies here. Instead, she advises: “What you need to focus on during slow times is not painting the spare bedroom but rather new business activities that will bring in more work.” Misery might love company; then again, company prefers success. ”
Barbara Jacobs Booklist reviewer
“Having a guide book like The Self-Employment Survival Guide: Proven Strategies to Succeed as Your Own Boss makes the journey easier, because once you realize “you’re not the only one”, there are options, best practices, coping strategies and opportunities. I plan to use the book as a resource for my clients and for my public relations workshops.”
Mark Auerbach The Westfield News
“The Self-Employment Survival Guide (Rowan & Littlefield) by Jeanne Yocum is a realistic manual that alerts readers to challenges and offers strategies for succeeding as an entrepreneur. Yocum, a self-employed public relations consultant and ghostwriter, shares personal examples of traversing the winding road to success on your own.
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Cindy Schaefer Raleigh News & Observer
“Working with entrepreneurs is not an easy task. They tend to have their own way of thinking and are generally, very passionate about their venture. The Self-Employment Survival Guide by Jeanne Yocum helps to address many issues a beginning entrepreneur might have and maybe some they had not thought of yet. She has her own distinct perspective on starting, growing and maintaining a business based off her experiences in the entrepreneurial world. Her words of wisdom along with personal examples help paint a vivid picture of success for any entrepreneur. It is especially nice to see the advice is not all business related. Jeanne helps entrepreneurs understand the impact a business can have on entrepreneur’s life.”
Tim Mittan Entrepreneur Advocate & Business Coach and author of The Pocket Business Coach
“The Self-Employment Survival Guide is a needed and vibrant new resource for anyone who wants to not only survive, but thrive in the gig economy. It’s a must-read for students, solopreneurs, and people age 50+ who are embarking on an entrepreneurial path of self-employment.”
Rebecca A. Corbin, Ed.D. President & CEO, National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship
“The Self Employment Survival Guide is a refreshingly straightforward, candid book designed to empower and inform anyone interested in starting their own business. Jeanne is a fantastic storyteller, with a genuine voice and insight based on experience. The book is nicely organized into sections that move the reader through understanding what it really means to become your own boss to managing and overcoming challenges along the startup pathway. Jeanne illustrates the key concepts presented with tales from her own entrepreneurial journey and the reader gets to know her, business warts and all.
The Self Employment Survival Guide is jam packed with tips, shortcuts, down-to-earth practical advice and wonderful stories that will inspire you as you undertake your new venture. It should be on everyone’s must read startup book list.”
Diane Sabato Professor, Business Administration, Springfield Technical Community College
“Although one in ten Americans is self-employed, there is little practical support available this significant portion of our workforce. The work that many have done to help entrepreneurs certainly overlaps somewhat with the challenges facing the self-employed. However, there are unique issues that set the self-employed clearly apart from entrepreneurs. In The Self-Employment Survival Guide, Jeanne Yocum offers advice ranging from managing yourself, to managing your clients, to managing your workload, to managing your finances. Although self-employment may seem simple to those on the outside, there are many speed bumps, roadblocks and landmines that can cause the self-employed to stumble or even fail in their effort to make a living. This book serves as a resource that will greatly enhance the chances of success for the self-employed professional.”
Dr. Jeff Cornwall Professor and Jack C. Massey Chair of Entrepreneurship, Belmont University