Working as an employee is typically less risky and offers a more reliable source of income than self-employment. Self-employment may give you the chance to be more innovative, as you have no commitments, ties and obligations to an employer, and can choose how you get funding.
Self-employment
Self-employment such as in financial markets (e.g. foreign exchange trading, stock markets or investing), starting up your own business, or consulting. Getting into financial markets involves a lot of risk so if you are risk-averse, do not have money you can afford to lose, or you are looking to get profits quickly then a high interest savings account or term deposit may be more appropriate. There are a lot of simple business ideas that can be quite successful such as growing food for others, tutoring, cleaning, gardening, painting, car cleaning, and other exterior and interior household care jobs (e.g. kerbside address painting), yoga practitioner, massage and so on. (I think many more ideas exist on the internet). Self-employment requires discipline but you get to control your own time which gives a lot of flexibility. You could work part-time and study part-time to get more qualifications to give you more flexibility with income sources. For instance, from 2016 to now (as of Feb 2017) I've been working part-time at Sungrow, and learning new skills such as C++.
Work as an employee
It can help to find work as an employee by continually learning new skills, either by formal education (e.g. university), or more informal education, e.g. learning online, reading books, or learning in the workplace.