What does working for yourself really mean?

[Queentoshi]

If business owners, taxi owners, hotel owners and others who claim to be working for themselves need to depend on customers and customer satisfaction for profit, that is to be able to get money from them, are they really working for themselves?

Maybe the people who are actually working for themselves are those who do not need people or to satisfy any customer to make profit, example like the traders who do not need to lure customers to their shop like business owners or hotel owners, or taxi owner that need to follow instructions from their clients etc.

What could be the real definition of working for yourself?

[Hammer_Summer]

I think working for yourself doesn’t mean being completely independent of people, because in the end value always flows through people even if you trade or invest, you still depend on the market which is people driven to make profit. So to me working for yourself means having control over your time decisions and how you earn not necessarily being isolated from others or customer needs

[Alphakilo]

Working for yourself means that you are self-employed and you have no bus. Simply put, you are the boss of yourself. You report to yourself and the growth of failure of the organization depends on you.
An entrepreneur is in this category
A sole proprietorship is also in this category

You make all the decisions yourself without depending on a board or a superior before that decision is executed.

[Odusko]

Working for yourself simply means that you are accountable to the day to day running of you own business, whatever the income is you manage the finances and expenditures as the sole owner of that business, you are not answerable to any body and you bear all the risks and gains of the business., in most cases a lot of forks thinks that self employed means total independent.

[Charles-Tim]

If business owners, taxi owners, hotel owners and others who claim to be working for themselves need to depend on customers and customer satisfaction for profit, that is to be able to get money from them, are they really working for themselves?

Yes, they are working for themselves because that is their own work. They do not have any boss. All businesses relies on customers. But I do not see 'working for oneself' to be correct because people will call it not depending on any boss instead. If you have a family (like your children and your wife) to take care of, if you have your mother, father or parent to give monthly allowance, that means you are working for family also and not just yourself and you are not depending on any boss.

[l3pox]

If business owners, taxi owners, hotel owners and others who claim to be working for themselves need to depend on customers and customer satisfaction for profit, that is to be able to get money from them, are they really working for themselves?

Maybe the people who are actually working for themselves are those who do not need people or to satisfy any customer to make profit, example like the traders who do not need to lure customers to their shop like business owners or hotel owners, or taxi owner that need to follow instructions from their clients etc.

What could be the real definition of working for yourself?

I work on several projects
personal ones and clients ones

we just did a huge product launch 2 months ago, with more than 18k usd revenue in 2 weeks of sales, that was amazing, but at the end of the day my client had all the prize, I just got my fixed payment and a small % bonus, she gets most of the pie
it is like that when you work for others

in my own projects I can collect a bigger % of the profit

you always depend on someone, of course
any business needs people to exist, we're not isolated

but for me the main thing is risk x reward

it's still good working for my client because I like her as a person, we get along well, and I like the work I do, I take less risk with a fixed reward
on my personal projects sometimes I win sometimes I lose...

[DaNNy001]

The money you need wouldn't fall from the sky it would definitely come from people so working for yourself means that you are your own boss..you are not working under anyone's rules or hoping for a wage or salary... someone's running a taxi business is working for himself because he is not expecting someone to give him a salary, he's earning by the work he is putting in on daily basis, this is self employment

[Maslate]

Working for yourself means you work for your own income and survival. You don’t need to rely on other people but only on yourself. You are the boss of your own job, regardless how many people you hire to work on their jobs. And whatever the outcome of your own business or job, you are the only one reliable and accountable for it, since you are both the employee and the employer.

[rachael9385]

If business owners, taxi owners, hotel owners and others who claim to be working for themselves need to depend on customers and customer satisfaction for profit, that is to be able to get money from them, are they really working for themselves?

Maybe the people who are actually working for themselves are those who do not need people or to satisfy any customer to make profit, example like the traders who do not need to lure customers to their shop like business owners or hotel owners, or taxi owner that need to follow instructions from their clients etc.

What could be the real definition of working for yourself?

Working for yourself simply means creating something that provides a source of income for you either on a daily or weekly basis depending on your target. Business owners, taxi drivers and the others you mentioned give their services to get paid, to income for yourself you need to find a need and solve it, this is how people who have their own businesses get paid. Being your own boss pays you more.

[sunsilk]

If business owners, taxi owners, hotel owners and others who claim to be working for themselves need to depend on customers and customer satisfaction for profit, that is to be able to get money from them, are they really working for themselves?

Maybe the people who are actually working for themselves are those who do not need people or to satisfy any customer to make profit, example like the traders who do not need to lure customers to their shop like business owners or hotel owners, or taxi owner that need to follow instructions from their clients etc.

That is service providing and all of them are considered working for themselves if they own the service, the platform, the place that provides them profit.

As for traders,  the literal meaning of it, you're right, is that they're working for themselves. And for those that you've mentioned earlier, they're self employed. All of them fall into that category.

What could be the real definition of working for yourself?

Self employed it is but if you're not employed by a company and you have your own source of income through selling products, services or even trading, you're one of them.

[Stalker22]

Not many self-employed folks, whether they run a biz or do trades, got complete control over their work.  Sure they dont have a traditional boss, but they gotta keep their customers happy if they wanna get paid and  so even if they call their own shots day-to-day they are still following what the market and their clients want. 

So whats the "real" definition of working for yourself? Id say it comes down to autonomy.  And we are talking more than just how you work, but also who tells you what work to do and, big one here, how you make your money.

Bottom line I dont think its a yes or no thing.  More like a spectrum.  Lots of self-employed folks might have lots of say in their daily grind, but still rely on other peeps to pay the bills.  Maybe working for yourself isnt about being a total island.  More about who is really calling the shots for your career.

[freedomgo]

Working for yourself usually means being an entrepreneur - having your own business and building it from the ground up.

In short:
Employer – working for yourself
Employee – working for someone else

As for me, I’m now working for myself because having a business has always been my dream. It’s definitely more challenging than being an employee, but here’s the most important part: it may be harder, but it’s also more fulfilling especially when you start seeing success.

[Marykeller]

If business owners, taxi owners, hotel owners and others who claim to be working for themselves need to depend on customers and customer satisfaction for profit, that is to be able to get money from them, are they really working for themselves?

Maybe the people who are actually working for themselves are those who do not need people or to satisfy any customer to make profit, example like the traders who do not need to lure customers to their shop like business owners or hotel owners, or taxi owner that need to follow instructions from their clients etc.

What could be the real definition of working for yourself?

Most businesses need people for them to excel. They need a customer base network to patronize it since most of our business is of buying and selling, also providing goods and services to those that need it.

Someone who works for themselves is a self-made individual. We have many in our society who run their business on their own; they have nobody to give them commands on how to run their day-to-day business activity. Whatever loss or gains they have in their business, they are the ones to deal with. They have every right to employ or sack anyone who works for them, and their decision is final.

Many people are working hard to get to the stage of being their own boss because nothing is as sweet as that. You don't dance to any people's turn of voice even when their instructions don't suit yours

[BenCodie]

I think you've misinterpreted "working for yourself". What you've described is the working part of working for yourself. If you are working, you are producing a good or a service. If you are a hotel owner, taxi driver and so on (as you described) then you are working for these customers but you do not have someone managing you, you manage yourself (hence the yourself).

This post put it well too:

Working for yourself means that you are self-employed and you have no bus. Simply put, you are the boss of yourself. You report to yourself and the growth of failure of the organization depends on you.
An entrepreneur is in this category
A sole proprietorship is also in this category

You make all the decisions yourself without depending on a board or a superior before that decision is executed.

[mich]

Well I do know alot of people that does work for themself. It does mean they are their own boss. And they can make own choice for what they do for work.
If you work for yourself you do not need to clock in and out. And you make your own pay salary that you want.

[Porfirii]

Working for yourself simply means that you are accountable to the day to day running of you own business, whatever the income is you manage the finances and expenditures as the sole owner of that business, you are not answerable to any body and you bear all the risks and gains of the business., in most cases a lot of forks thinks that self employed means total independent.

Exactly. You'll always depend on other people (stakeholders): your boss, your clients, your partners, shareholders, financial institutions, insurance, public administration,...), so there is no pure "working for yourself" unless you get lost in a desert island, which I don't wish on anyone.

We colloquially say that working for ourselves is not getting a boss. But, as I said, it is tricky, as you can work for yourself and feel more stressed than the ones who are employed.

[X-ray]

I always think of working for yourself as achieving your dream.

When you work for other people, you're basically building their dream for money in exchange for your time and energy.

If you become an entrepreneur whether through services offering or some sort, and you want to achieve financial freedom, it's kind of working for yourself to achieve your own dream although you're offering services.

[viljy]

If business owners, taxi owners, hotel owners and others who claim to be working for themselves need to depend on customers and customer satisfaction for profit, that is to be able to get money from them, are they really working for themselves?

Maybe the people who are actually working for themselves are those who do not need people or to satisfy any customer to make profit, example like the traders who do not need to lure customers to their shop like business owners or hotel owners, or taxi owner that need to follow instructions from their clients etc.

What could be the real definition of working for yourself?

Well, if you bring your reasoning to a logical conclusion, then the only ones who really work for themselves are drug dealers (the product sells itself) and prostitutes (there is always demand). In fact, working for yourself means that part of the value created by your work is not spent on maintaining a boss, as is the case in large organizations. That is, you are your own boss.

In any case, both a corporation and an independent entrepreneur depend on customer demand, but do not work for customers. In other words, you are working for someone who takes the surplus value (or, more simply, profit) for himself. If it's a corporation, then you work for a corporation. If it's you, then you're working for yourself. But these are definitely not customers, because they do not make a profit for themselves.

[BlackBoss_]

If business owners, taxi owners, hotel owners and others who claim to be working for themselves need to depend on customers and customer satisfaction for profit, that is to be able to get money from them, are they really working for themselves?

Maybe the people who are actually working for themselves are those who do not need people or to satisfy any customer to make profit, example like the traders who do not need to lure customers to their shop like business owners or hotel owners, or taxi owner that need to follow instructions from their clients etc.

You can not be an alone wolf or entrepreneur in this world if you want to do business as you need your trade partners, your bussiness partners and more. There are mutual interactions among companies and companies with their customers, so running a business is a complicated task for everyone.

Fortunately, with Bitcoin you can do many things and completely don't have to rely on others. You can buy, hold your bitcoin and wait for Bitcoin adoption, value and price growth to get profit that similarly to get rid of working collaborations or dependence on others. You can have more freedom by doing your businesss smartly with Bitcoin, just be your own bank, a long term investor, and a diamond hand holder, Bitcoin truly works for you.

What could be the real definition of working for yourself?

Forget about definition that is uselses for your practice

[lovesmayfamilis]

Do you see the difference in, OP, between the work of a waiter serving a customer who works in his boss's restaurant and the work of a person who has waiters working for him in his restaurant? In the same way, there are many examples. The more successfully you organize your business, the more customers you will get, but you cannot attract customers as a hired worker, right? Or there will always be a difference in cost and amount of profit. Do you need more explanations? Your business is exclusively your money from the profit, but working for someone else, you cannot manage his business, or there will again be a big difference in pay.