So, you want to work for yourself?
I had no desire to work for myself, yet every self-employed person I spoke to pretty much said the same things; ‘You are your own boss, it’s brilliant’; ‘You’ll never look back’; ‘I have a freedom I never thought I’d have’; ‘I’ll be able to retire much earlier than if I’d stayed in a job’.
So when I was passed over for a c-suite job, it felt like the right thing to do.
Yet what I realised very quickly is that very few of people that I talked to, didn’t mention the struggles about becoming self-sufficient:
It’s tough on your personal life - constant communication is required
You lose lots of sleep - there’s no way to switch the stress off
You have to do many jobs - Bookkeeper; Content Producer; Salesperson etc.
You have to offer something unique - you have to demonstrate your difference
People don’t respond to messages - you always seem to be waiting
You have to be consistent - you can’t ‘disappear’ for weeks on end
You must continually evolve - stand still and you become irrelevant
It’s hard not to compare yourself to others - comparison is the thief of joy
Some organisations simply don’t want what you offer - regardless how much evidence you have!
It’s a lonely business - sometimes you just want to be on the team photo
In a recent documentary series on his life Richard Branson said, ‘What people don’t realise with businesses that start from scratch is the very, very thin dividing line between success and failure’ and I have felt that constantly over the last 10 years.
And yet, once you gain some traction, you get into a rhythm, you show up consistently (without fail) and you get the agency that everyone talks about. Time becomes your own, business development gets easier and you start to enjoy the process. And then…you move country and it starts all over again 😂
This is something that one of my best friends, Digby Scott, and I talked about when he visited the UK recently. Here is a short-clip of that interview and if you’d like to watch the whole thing (it’s a conversation we both loved) then you can do so here.
Self-employment isn’t for everyone, but if you understand what you are getting yourself into and devote yourself to the value that it can offer to others, it’s a decision you’ll never regret.
