10 things that I love after 10 years of working for myself.
1. You can do what you love or at least what you’re good at
Working for yourself gives you as good a chance as any at being able to forge a career doing something that interests you. Sure, we’re not going to ‘LOVE’ it all the time, but it might be in a particular industry or it might be a particular skill that you enjoy. If you’re good at it and people need it (and will part with their money for it), then you can earn money from it.
2. You can grow your own way
Each person’s needs, skills, time, demands, clients etc…are different. You get to figure out what you need from your work and go from there. If you want to work part-time, you can. If you turn clients away because you’re not ready to scale, also fine. If you take on a project that is different from your usual work, up to you. We can change and we can grow or we can stay put and plod along, it’s up to us.
3. You can work with some amazing clients
What does your ideal client look like? It’s nice to have a rough idea even if they don’t always fit that mould and as there are no limits to who we can work with, we have as good a chance as any at attracting some good ones. For me, a good client understands what I do and the value I bring; they have purpose and intention for the work they do, and they care about their cause or community.
4. Your work can be varied
You get to decide what you do. Sure, some days the work might be a little more mundane than others, but if you work across several clients at any time, then you’ll naturally get some variety.
5. You’re challenged
We all get the feeling from time to time of ‘oh, shit, how am I gonna get that done’. Maybe it’s a project that is more extensive than your usual ones, or a client that is bigger, or just the volume of work that you have at one time. These can all be good things, positive pressure, and we can rise to the challenge. Be careful that it doesn’t push you over and become too stressful — at that point, you’re doing too much.
6. You don’t need to commute
No time wasted sitting in a car each day or bustling through the crowds or sitting next to a snivelling person on the train. We can get so much more out of each day: extra work time, extra family time, extra whatever time. And this feeds nicely into point 7 below.
7. You have the power of flexibility
This is the main reason that I started to work for myself. You get to work when you want, wherever you want, as long as the work gets done. Of course, we all know that means putting in those late nights or early mornings to meet deadlines and still fit it that sports day or a school play or shopping day or…
8. You can have a good work-life balance
With that flexibility, you get a chance of achieving whatever a work-life balance means to you. You may even decide that ‘work-life’ balance is no longer a relevant concept. It’s all just life. There’s worky stuff you need to do in your personal life and personal projects that end up overlapping with your work life, and hopefully, some of it earns you enough money.
9. You don’t need a work wardrobe
We can work in our PJs if we want or we can throw on any old pair of jeans and a jumper, flip open the laptop and we’re ready to go. We don’t have to spend a fortune each year on our work wardrobes. I have a few smart casual “work” outfits just in case I have a Zoom or an in-person meeting (it does happen very occasionally).
10. You’re not alone
There are now so many people out there working in exactly the same way as you: working for themselves, setting their own agendas, sitting in their home office or at the kitchen table working away. We all know that this can lead to feeling isolated and sometimes you just want to ask someone a work question but have no one to turn to. Well, there are now communities set up online for that very reason.