I've been working for myself for 15 years in residential repairs and remodels. My main form of advertising was a website portfolio and newspaper ads.

Well, the newspaper almost went under and quit giving away free papers delivered to houses and went down to only 3 editions a week by subscription.

The ad price was cut in half for a month at $80.00, but within a month it doubled for half the editions.

Since then, my phone calls have been cut by 4/5. My rent $700.00 is due in 10 days. I placed one more ad minus the website because that has expired in hopes of a few phone calls.

I'm so seriously considering selling all my tools to pay the rent and to go full time somewhere.

I'm tired of being poor, sitting here watching the days pass, stressing. I was denied disability.

Twice the work and half the pay is what it is.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. I want to deliver pizzas.

[ManOfConstantSorrow]

Interesting - In the very prosperous part of England where I live a good handy-person is like the proverbial hen's teeth and they can almost write their own pay cheque. Mostly they rely on word-of-mouth, posting through letter boxes, and signage on their vans.

All the same self-employment is not an easy option and life as an employee has many advantages; no liability insurance, national insurance, social security, tax paid at source, employee pension plans usually give better value, sick pay, training at employer's cost, social contact etc.

I'm self employed myself and while I feel your pain, the only advice that I can give is evolve and adapt.

With how cheap and easy it is go gain an internet connection these days, newspapers are becoming obsolete so if you are relying on newspaper ads as your primary means of advertisement, consider getting a full fledged website complete with a professional looking description of the services that you offer and pricing and what not and investing into SEO to boost your web page's ranking on Google. Getting a decent web page can be cheap by utilizing a service such as Squarespace which can get you a professional web site for as low as $30 a month and SEO services can be obtained for no more than a few hundred dollars if you know where to look.

Also, consider utilizing web sites like Craigslist to promote your work and getting ads up on some of the biggest sites such as Ebay, Amazon.com, Facebook, ect which are cheaper than you may think.

Finally, become innovative. Don't limit your business just to services. Consider selling products related to the services that you offer. If you get the web site via the method that I suggested above, you could easily add products to sell as well to further boost your income and there are cheap ways to get products to sell without a lot of hassle. Consider getting into dropshipping (feel free to Google it if you are unsure what dropshipping is)

If you need any help or suggestions, feel free to hit me up anytime

Originally Posted by DarknessIsMyFriend

I'm self employed myself and while I feel your pain, the only advice that I can give is evolve and adapt.

With how cheap and easy it is go gain an internet connection these days, newspapers are becoming obsolete so if you are relying on newspaper ads as your primary means of advertisement, consider getting a full fledged website complete with a professional looking description of the services that you offer and pricing and what not and investing into SEO to boost your web page's ranking on Google. Getting a decent web page can be cheap by utilizing a service such as Squarespace which can get you a professional web site for as low as $30 a month and SEO services can be obtained for no more than a few hundred dollars if you know where to look.

Also, consider utilizing web sites like Craigslist to promote your work and getting ads up on some of the biggest sites such as Ebay, Amazon.com, Facebook, ect which are cheaper than you may think.

Finally, become innovative. Don't limit your business just to services. Consider selling products related to the services that you offer. If you get the web site via the method that I suggested above, you could easily add products to sell as well to further boost your income and there are cheap ways to get products to sell without a lot of hassle. Consider getting into dropshipping (feel free to Google it if you are unsure what dropshipping is)

If you need any help or suggestions, feel free to hit me up anytime

Thanks for your input. Been there done that. Can we say "Burn out?"

Having to deal with MI and everything else?

Besides I'll set a price, then an alter would come out and under cut ourself voluntarily???

I need a break.

I had a good website (often congratzed) that I built for $14.00/month with GoDaddy and I'd get calls from 5 states away! Lol

Craig's list is a fight for the bottom.

Im 47, time to try something else. I used to be on a blasting crew for Brown and a Root.

[CosmicRose]

Mmmm pizza...no shame in the game. Do what makes you happy. At 47, I think that's really all that matters. Take it easy. If I was 47 I think I'd really stop caring about the rat-race and just do whatever was less stressful. That's a good age to be considering your retirement options though, start planning for that, whatever that means for you. Live a simple life without the stress. Just enjoy your life. No one is watching over your shoulder judging your life choices. Live life for you. Do what you think is best.