“You’re SO lucky!” Big sigh. “I wish I worked for myself.”
Being self-employed does have its moments. Some of the advantages:
- Wearing whatever you want to work
- Taking off whenever you like for errands, appointments, naps, piña coladas at the pool, etc.
- Having no “big boss” hovering over your shoulder
- Doing work you’re passionate about
These also happen to be the biggest myths about being an entrepreneur. By the numbers:
- Wearing whatever you want to work. Yes, you can wear your PJs all day long if you work from home. You also don’t have to brush your hair (or your teeth), take a shower or change your undies.
There is nothing wrong with toiling away in your gym clothes on occasion, not doing the whole makeup routine and so on. The key is that those days should be the exception, not the rule. Looking like a slacker – and not taking care of yourself – too often translates into feeling like and being a slacker. Getting dressed for work is just as much about getting your head in the right place as it is about how you look. If you’re serious about your work, you should look like it, even when no one else is around. When you look like it, you act like it.
- Taking off whenever you like for errands, appointments, naps, piña coladas at the pool, etc. Who’s going to give you a hard time if you schedule your pedi for 2 p.m.? Or you decide to nod off after a heavy lunch? Or your kids have a home game at 3 p.m. that you want to attend? All these things are reasons why you wanted to work for yourself to begin with, right? The flexibility. The freedom.
Time management takes on a whole new meaning when you own your own business. Yes, you can do all these things, and rejoice that you can…as long as you understand that this kind of “flexibility” gives you the “freedom” to work longer hours each day. Sometimes all weekend, too. Because any time you take away from your clients’ regular business hours is time you have to make up somewhere else.
When we work for ourselves, we work our clients’ schedules, not our own. Depending on what we do and where our clients are located, that means we could start work at 6 a.m. and still be toiling away at 10 p.m. or later. For example, I’m coaching a client in the Philippines right now, a 12-hour time difference. What works for both of us is a juggling act.
On top of client work, we have to do our “business building” on our own hours – the social media posts, the advertising, the networking, the research and development, etc. And no, you cannot stint on these things. They must be done if you want to be successful in your own business.
This is why the average entrepreneur (if there is such an animal) works about 52 hours a week.
- Having no “big boss” hovering over your shoulder. Maybe the most pernicious of these myths is that we are our own boss when we work for ourselves. Au contraire, mes amis. When we work for ourselves, we don’t have just one boss – every client we have is our boss.
Just as in the regular paycheck workplace, some of these bosses will be great and some of them will be deadly. Some will listen to you and appreciate what you do, and others will fight you every step of the way, denigrate your skills and challenge your sanity. The good news: Being your own boss means you can fire your bad clients.
- Following your passion. Yes! By all means, do what you’re passionate about! When you work doing what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life and so on. What the platitudes don’t tell you is this: Make sure there is a market for what you love, because there is nothing more frustrating and debilitating than toiling away in a business offering a product or service that no one wants to buy.
In your view, people may need what you offer…and you could be a thousand percent correct. But do they want it – and want it enough to buy it? Be careful you’re not looking at your market through the one-way glass of your own perspective.
Are you in business for yourself? Do you have any tips to add? I’d welcome your input in the comments below.