Employment and Self Employment
Your own employment offers many advantages that working for someone else just can't offer. These advantages include:
* Unlimited earning potential
* Greater flexibility
* No commute to work
* Greater control
* A chance to grow and expand
* Something you can sell one day or pass along to your children
These are the advantages that are driving many people to at least consider self-employment. At the same time, self employment offers some disadvantages that should also be considered:
* Financial risk
* No guaranteed paycheck
* Greater self responsibility
* Self employment can become a 24/7 job for the owner
If you are considering self employment, you should way your options carefully. It offers many advantages that typical employment can't offer, but it also has some disadvantages that are sometimes overlooked. Some entrepreneurs who wanted to escape a nine to five job, have created a twenty-four seven job that they can never get away from.
Tuesday 22 May 2007
Sunday 20 May 2007
NESTA supporting Start-up businesses
NESTA Banter
Connecting new businesses
NESTA is launching a new community site for Start-up businesses and those supporting them.
As a NESTA Fellow we know you have many talents and activities which we might not know about, so if you think this community would be relevant and of interest to you please register below and come to our launch event in a city near you.
Where: NESTA, 1 Plough Place, London EC4A 1DE
To register, please click here and follow the RSVP
Alternatively, if you are feeling adventurous the event is also taking place in the following cities:
Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle.
If you can’t attend the launch event but would like to be part of the online community please email: briony.marshall@nesta.org.uk
Connecting new businesses
NESTA is launching a new community site for Start-up businesses and those supporting them.
As a NESTA Fellow we know you have many talents and activities which we might not know about, so if you think this community would be relevant and of interest to you please register below and come to our launch event in a city near you.
Where: NESTA, 1 Plough Place, London EC4A 1DE
To register, please click here and follow the RSVP
Alternatively, if you are feeling adventurous the event is also taking place in the following cities:
Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle.
If you can’t attend the launch event but would like to be part of the online community please email: briony.marshall@nesta.org.uk
E & PP Session 3: Banking
For the last lecture we spent the day in Cardiff City centre. As a group we met outside the museum, before dispersing to visit various banks. We were required to find out what kind of support and information was available to us if we so wished to become freelance and set up our own businesses. I, Ian and Kirsty visited three banks in total, Barclays, HSBC and a private investor’s bank, before meeting up with everyone again to discuss our findings. Barclays were the most forthcoming, offering to arrange a meeting with us at a future date and giving us literature to take away.
To obtain any truly fruitful information we would have to attend a meeting like this with one of the various banks Business managers. However, this exercise I think was a good idea. It made me realise that there is help out there if we intend to set up our own businesses.
To obtain any truly fruitful information we would have to attend a meeting like this with one of the various banks Business managers. However, this exercise I think was a good idea. It made me realise that there is help out there if we intend to set up our own businesses.
EPP Session 2: Networking Events
* University of Bolton's new computer games enterprise project
Tuesday 15 May, at Tiger, Tiger in Withy Grove, Manchester city centre, the Casual Games North West project hosts an introduction to the growing casual games market, presenting inspirational speakers.
Casual Games North West, led by the university, aims to make England's North West a centre for this computer games market with massive female appeal, set to be a £1 billion industry by next year.
http://www.bolton.ac.uk/News/News-Articles/2007/April2007-5.aspx
* What's New in Online Marketing
27th June 2007, RIBA, London, W1.The event is a showcase for important emerging trends, technologies and services for online marketers.
“Get inside the minds of expert practitioners and leading thinkers to find out what needs to be in your development plans if you're to be amongst the best.”
http://www.e-consultancy.com/wniom/
* Internet World 2007
1st May 2007. Earls Court 2, London, Warwick Road, SW5 9TA. +44 (0)20 7385 1200.
The biggest names and the brightest brains in the Digital Age - over 200 speakers in keynotes and a multi-streamed seminar programme.
http://www.internetworld.co.uk/Brandsreignited.html
* The Media Network
There are also websites and organizations available that specialize in networking professionals and businesses. The Media Network for example are specialists in editorial recruitment. The company has been steadily building a database of experienced and newly qualified writers, editors and production journalists.
This way they say “…We know the personal histories and career aspirations of over 13,800 people active in consumer, trade, corporate and contract magazine publishing as well as web and online content provision. We believe that this is one of the largest single databases of editorial professionals in the UK.
This is just one of the reasons why employers use us to fill vacancies which exist within their editorial teams. We know who's out there, how much they earn and what they want to do in the future.”
http://www.tmn.co.uk/about.htm
What makes a networking event?
The ability to connect with people is essential to success in any business. Professional networking events present opportunities to interact with others on a personal level and to develop profitable relationships. These occasions are critical for anyone who wants to grow a business or promote a career.
My advice to anyone attending such events is to not be shy and communicate with as many relevant people as possible. Set a goal for yourself before you attend any networking event. Decide how many new contacts you want to make or how many strangers you want to meet. In some cases, you may specifically target individuals you'd like to know.
Saturday 19 May 2007
E & PP Session 1: What are your motivations for making work in this field?
Mo•ti•va•tion – The state or condition of being motivated, or something that motivates; inducement, incentive.
“The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior.”
- Dictionary.com
I have been asked to comment on my motivations for working within the field of New Media under the heading below.
• Money?
My main wish is to have financial stability, but to become excessively wealthy is far from my agenda. I wish to support the few around me who have helped me throughout my life. However, if by some remarkably bizarre turn of events I do become rich, one would hope I would use the money for good as apposed to ill…call that naivety of youth if you would!?! But to be honest, being from a run-down industrial town along the South Wales coast, I would probably not know what to do with it anyway.
• Fame?
Fame is such a dirty word these days. We live in an age where people are famous for simply being famous, not because of their achievements. I have no ambition to join the apathetic hoards of brain dead celebrities such as Paris Hilton, who’s only purpose in life is to pervert humanity. If I was to acquire fame or glory, one would hope it would be on the grounds of merit and merit only…who knows, maybe some day! But as Napoleon once said “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”
• Contribution to knowledge?
Probably along with everyone else, I desire a purpose in life. I wish to achieve greater clarity in life and to become more knowledgeable. I believe this can only be achieved by working hard and contributing any knowledge learned to the greater good of humanity.
• For the good of society?
Throughout my time on a previous design course I had serious concerns with the integrity of some people I came in contact with. However, New Media has opened my eyes to many new things I would have never considered before (e.g. using blogs as a tool for investigative journalism). However, while studying on my previous course I had many grievances. For example, I fail to see how a series of lectures on designing products to break after the warranty runs out is ethical or conducive to the greater good of society.
New technologies might be considered good by the majority, but I really do wonder if there will become a time when the majority of humanity becomes obsolete. Being Welsh I understand how changing times and technologies can affect an entire nation. Our greatest achievements could penultimately lead to our downfall.
I have no intention to follow a Product Design career, but pehaphs within the field of New Media. Whatever I do, I hope my efforts would be conducive to society.
Are these motivations apparent in your personal project?
I believe so; I am concerned with the issue of Freedom of Speech, specifically “Internet Censorship in China.” This topic was chosen because I believe it is a serious issue that needs greater publicity. This is especially true while I was conducting my research as I believe Internet Censorship is an issue which affects every net user throughout the world, not just the people of China.
Identify examples of projects that exemplify each of these possible motivations, (and any other that you may think of.)
* Amnesty International online, 2002, People’s Republic of China: State Control of the Internet.
http://web.amnesty.org/web/content.nsf/pages/gbr_china_internet
* Irrepressible, an Amnesty International Campaign
http://irrepressible.info/
* The Open Net Iniative: Internet Filtering in China in 2004-2005: A Country Study http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/china/
* Reporters Without Borders, 2004. Internet Under Surveillance! Obstacles to the Free Flow of Information Online: China.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10749
* Reporters Without Borders, Handbook for Cyber Dissidents
http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/handbook_bloggers_cyberdissidents-GB.pdf
To sum up, it is fair to say that someone has probably already expressed our feeling already, usually far better than we can too. When I looked at these questions I was immediately reminded of a quote from a well known American author and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau which stated -
“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
“The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior.”
- Dictionary.com
I have been asked to comment on my motivations for working within the field of New Media under the heading below.
• Money?
My main wish is to have financial stability, but to become excessively wealthy is far from my agenda. I wish to support the few around me who have helped me throughout my life. However, if by some remarkably bizarre turn of events I do become rich, one would hope I would use the money for good as apposed to ill…call that naivety of youth if you would!?! But to be honest, being from a run-down industrial town along the South Wales coast, I would probably not know what to do with it anyway.
• Fame?
Fame is such a dirty word these days. We live in an age where people are famous for simply being famous, not because of their achievements. I have no ambition to join the apathetic hoards of brain dead celebrities such as Paris Hilton, who’s only purpose in life is to pervert humanity. If I was to acquire fame or glory, one would hope it would be on the grounds of merit and merit only…who knows, maybe some day! But as Napoleon once said “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”
• Contribution to knowledge?
Probably along with everyone else, I desire a purpose in life. I wish to achieve greater clarity in life and to become more knowledgeable. I believe this can only be achieved by working hard and contributing any knowledge learned to the greater good of humanity.
• For the good of society?
Throughout my time on a previous design course I had serious concerns with the integrity of some people I came in contact with. However, New Media has opened my eyes to many new things I would have never considered before (e.g. using blogs as a tool for investigative journalism). However, while studying on my previous course I had many grievances. For example, I fail to see how a series of lectures on designing products to break after the warranty runs out is ethical or conducive to the greater good of society.
New technologies might be considered good by the majority, but I really do wonder if there will become a time when the majority of humanity becomes obsolete. Being Welsh I understand how changing times and technologies can affect an entire nation. Our greatest achievements could penultimately lead to our downfall.
I have no intention to follow a Product Design career, but pehaphs within the field of New Media. Whatever I do, I hope my efforts would be conducive to society.
Are these motivations apparent in your personal project?
I believe so; I am concerned with the issue of Freedom of Speech, specifically “Internet Censorship in China.” This topic was chosen because I believe it is a serious issue that needs greater publicity. This is especially true while I was conducting my research as I believe Internet Censorship is an issue which affects every net user throughout the world, not just the people of China.
Identify examples of projects that exemplify each of these possible motivations, (and any other that you may think of.)
* Amnesty International online, 2002, People’s Republic of China: State Control of the Internet.
http://web.amnesty.org/web/content.nsf/pages/gbr_china_internet
* Irrepressible, an Amnesty International Campaign
http://irrepressible.info/
* The Open Net Iniative: Internet Filtering in China in 2004-2005: A Country Study http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/china/
* Reporters Without Borders, 2004. Internet Under Surveillance! Obstacles to the Free Flow of Information Online: China.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10749
* Reporters Without Borders, Handbook for Cyber Dissidents
http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/handbook_bloggers_cyberdissidents-GB.pdf
To sum up, it is fair to say that someone has probably already expressed our feeling already, usually far better than we can too. When I looked at these questions I was immediately reminded of a quote from a well known American author and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau which stated -
“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
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