Employed or self employed

Now that I'm retired I am reaching out for volunteer work after doing very little for almost two years of physically and mentally turning into mush. As you may rightly guess, my biggest concern as an autistic is my    awkward engagement and reactions with people.  Perhaps I should by now be preconditioned to others responses towards myself but it will mean adopting one of my many masks which I have been trying to eliminate. In view of past negative experiences, I'm not comfortable "baring my soul" to neurotypicals with an admission of my autism.  My M.O. of keeping my distance is why I am usually thought of as stand offish or even as snobbish (which is very far from the truth). My M.O. is simply a convenient choice towards a path of least resistance and I fear is a continued cross I must carry---despite being Jewish

You could get a bookkeeper to take care of your self-assessment for you. You wouldn't need an accountant as such, and there are lots of people who offer a basic service taking care of your self-assessment at a relatively low cost. There are jobs for junior copywriters on a part-time and remote basis if you didn't want to be self-employed. As an avid writer you'd be ideal I suspect. 

whompertoft,

I consider myself pretty articulate but I found in the past what tax returns really stressed me because I have a mental blindness where some maths is concerned and so I got ill when self employed.  I am an avid writer of many thing though so it's a shame I can't use the skill to support myself.... I think it's wonderful you are doing what you like work wise as many with MH challenges can't do it.  Me, myself and I.

It's highly flexible, so you can certainly do it around other commitments. You can be full or part-time. I'm registered as self-employed and have to submit a self-assessment which is pretty straightforward because my business finances aren't complicated. There are all kinds of routes into it and people come from all kinds of backgrounds - the main requirement is the ability to write concisely and clearly. 

whompertoft,

How did you get into copywriting and what qualifications does one need to do so?  Can it be worked around being a single parent to a child with additional support needs in your opinion?  Does this mean you are registered as self employed and have to sort out your own NI/Tax?

I work as a freelance copywriter - currently most of my work is with agencies which removes the need for me to find and manage my own clients. I'm still pretty busy despite AI.

Agencies are always looking for competent and reliable writers to join their freelance networks. 

Good luck!

Rainbowgirl,

I don't work because it becomes overwhelming for me but the loss of routine it difficult.  I'd say knowing what triggers you and what motivates you is a good place to start.  You know what ultimately makes you struggle but writing seems to be something you love.  See you you go and remember to be aware of what you can and can't deal with. 

Best of luck, I'm envious of those who can work.  I volunteer which is similar I guess.... :-)

I've held down a variety of jobs on the production shop floor of manufacturing industry. I was able to make those into positive experiences working mostly on my own with minimal and only necessary contact with others when needed. As long as I was producing up to, or even beyond company QA standards, I was left alone. I was labelled as stand-offish but was able to handle that.  indeed, at one point I was made a site manager --- which was a lonely position that suited me just fine!  I experienced a hat trick of redundancies which forced me into exploring self-employment. I had no idea of what sort of change I needed. I knew it had to be self-reliant work. After a few months of looking around I discovered a franchise that was outdoor work removing tree stumps with a diesel-powered, self-propelled, tree stump grinder. I bought a franchise package for one contracted period of 5 years then decided to set myself up under my own name.  I carried on with this work for the next 16 years until my retirement at age 76. 

I'm sure my story will not be of great use to your dilemma.  I think your only take-away may be to persevere and try to be brave with whatever decision you may make.  The bottom line is to first know yourself and what are your personal spectral limitations.  If you can meet whatever your chosen job description demands, you are onto a winner! 

As for myself, I knew solitary outdoor work utilising my electro-mechanical skills with maintenance and repairs to a stump grinder as an owner/operator was idyllic.

Further, when I first took the plunge, it was hard going marketing my name and what I offered. I thought the franchise would be more proactive in that regard, but not so. I had to take on agency work outside of stump removal work to pay the bills. After about six months of my own marketing efforts the work started to roll in steadily which allowed me to give up agency work.

Be perseverant ! 

HP35 said:

I'm worried about AI as one of the platforms I work on has already closed down, citing it as the reason. I have no idea what I'm going to do.

This is a very relevant point for anyone in IT, and part of the reason I chose to retire out of that field in my mid 50's

If you look at the advances AI is making across the board then more and more roles that follow a logical flow to them will be swallowed up next.

My response was to find something that is very difficult for an AI to work out what to do, and chose to move into property renovation (mostly Victorian age stuff) where a combination of over 100 years of repairs / decorating / bodging has to be worked through to get back to the bare bones, then repair and finish the place to a tasteful finish that will appeal to buyers.

I also love working with my hands so this is also quite invigorating (the demolishing stage) and soothing (the part where you see something created by your own hand).

That is just my way of responding to the Skynet threat...

Maybe a job writing would be best

You could look at getting a job where you have your own office then you've got your own space.

I don't work. I suffer from extremely bad anxiety and I'm mute, both have made finding and doing work impossible task for me

I feel like I need the routine of a job but really struggle with in-person work due to background noise and the expectations around small talk. I'm doing a desk job from home now and it's so much better, because I have a lot more control over my environment and the only colleague I have to interact with a lot is my dog

SInce you're already freelancing, would it make sense to work as a temp when you're not as busy with that? It might help you to maintain a routine well enough that you can keep it going when you're only doing your freelance work.

Hi BlackCat44 I have started doing this. 

I've been self-employed for a long time because I've found it too hard to work in offices with other people.  For me, I make sure I have a specific work area or office and I have a daily schedule that I try to keep to in order to maintain a structure. I block off hourly chunks and keep on track that way.

I have always struggled in jobs. 

I have an easy job now and work from home and my manager is the nicest and most understand person ever... But still I would happily never work again and just make a daily routine out of things I wanna do. 

I understand society etc how it works but I still hate working and could easily be off forever because it exhausts me on another level every week. Plus I never reset at the end of the week I just continue till one day it's all too much. 

I work in a school, and have had both positive and negative experiences in different places.  The one I'm at now is mostly positive.  It works for me because of the shorter days and the regular weeks on and off.  

I'm also a freelancer writer as when I left education in 2011 it genuinely felt like the only job I was capable of doing, even though it has nothing to do with my degree. Work has been lacking lately. I'm worried about AI as one of the platforms I work on has already closed down, citing it as the reason. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I think I'm probably unemployable due to how quickly I get burned out by interacting with other people.

I have struggled through a decade of hectic office jobs, managed to maintain a career but got too sick from it. Since covid, I've been working from my own space and it's been a HUGE help.

If you can't find enough FL work then maybe do one or 2 days office work to top up if you can manage it?

I always worked in  officers for years when i first left school. It was ok but there were times i struggled with office life as everyone chatted about things they'd done, and made plans for nights out. I didn't know at the time, but the more i've discovered, i think it was this bl00dy autism. After being  made redundant i had a go at selling double glazing, door-to-door. That was terrible having to go into peoples houses and get them to buy. Our bosses told us, unless you're in someone house at least  3hrs tring to convince them to sign, you're not doing your job right. Finally, almost by accident, i started driving a taxi. Most of the time i quite enjoyed. I was self-employed with no set hours, i could come and go as i pleased. And mostly having loads of different passengers in the Cab, didn't  upset my autism 'cos i knew they'd be getting out in 5mins and i'd never have to see them again.  After i finished on the Cabs i looked into doing something online. I thought of some sort of writing, i told myself, you can do that, you know know writing has to start with a capital letter and end with a full stop. I think the autism helps, i can be chatty, and i'll write as if i'm talking.