Self employed to employee. Not exactly the way most people picture. In fact, ask a random poll of a few people working for one of those huge multinational machines and I'm sure a high proportion will tell you they want to get out of the rat race and work for themselves. Going the other way is just crazy.

But it happens for whatever reason or circumstance.

Sometimes self employment just doesn't work out. It could be the unfulfilled promises of working from home, the rollercoaster of sporadic jobs or the pressure that everyday is just another day that you need to get up and make enough money to put food on the table.

There is no accounts department. No regular pay check. No job security of any kind.

Sound scary? Well it can be. And for those reasons, self employment just doesn't work out for some people.

At some point in your life you may find yourself in the situation of trying the self employment merry-go-round and wanting to get off for something more secure.

Fair enough.

There is a lot to be said for the security that the larger firms provide and who can blame you for missing it? At any given moment, anywhere in the world thousands of people are going about their business working for a company that is guaranteed to pay them a certain amount at the end of the month. They get a pension plan. Health insurance. And perhaps even a small bonus at the end of the year to take care of the credit card or out of control spending.

Self employed people take this all on their own shoulders and sometimes it is too much to bear.

The point in all this is simple. Life is different for different people. And it can all change at the drop of a hat so what may have worked 5 years ago could have drastically changed.

When you set up as a self employed contractor then you probably thought that was the end for the corporate treadmill. You thought life would be forever blissful in the comfort of working your own hours and to your own terms. No boss would ever tell you off again!

But times change. Markets change and people change. The world goes round and all of a sudden the business you once knew is no longer paying the mortgage and the electricity bill. It's a harsh reality to face but one in which you are very much not alone. Thousands come and thousands go. The rat race is cyclical. If you find yourself back in it once again you can be sure of two things.

The first is that you'll have a regular salary, regular conditions and a boss who thinks they know more than you. That last point is like taxes - it's one of the only certain things in anyone's life. The second is, and perhaps this is the most positive point to take away from this, that nothing is permanent. You may be self employed one day, working for someone the next. But that doesn't mean you'll be there forever. It doesn't mean that the rest of your life will be determined by the small minded issues of company directors. It doesn't mean any of that because, like I said, times change.

Good luck, whatever decision you make.