A year ago this week I quit being an employee. At the time I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life, I just knew I no longer wanted to waste my hours for low reward, high stress job. I didn’t want to have to beg someone to let me take a day off so I could do the things I really wanted to do in life. So here we are, a year later, and things have certainly changed. I’ve been lucky enough to be in a position where, despite giving up the monthly income, I am not starving or worried about my rent. That being said, there are a ton of challenges to making a business work.
By far the hardest thing has been giving up my trusty monthly income. I’ve been a salaried employee for as long as I can remember. This meant that even if I took time off, I would still get my paycheck. Not knowing when or if you are actually going to start making any money has been a huge challenge. The past few weeks I’ve felt really down about the lack of income coming in but I have to remind myself that it is a journey and it takes time to build client lists. I need to be at peace with this and not fight it so much, but I do struggle.
Another challenge is not having a built in set of colleagues you can go to for questions/problems/etc. You have to force yourself to be more outgoing (if you aren’t, like me.) It really sucks when you don’ know how to do something and you don’t have a go to person to ask!
The best part is having my own hours. So long as I get my work done, I can run errands in the middle of the day, let the dogs out, some days I even sleep in (although not very often as I work out at 7 a.m. three days a week and the other two I’m usually up before 6 to go spinning). Once in a while though, there is the occasional 9 a.m. wake up. I treasure those days, because I know I need the sleep when I sleep that long. I love being able to arrange having coffee with colleagues, lunches with mentors, quiet afternoons if I’m stressed out…. I love being able to challenge myself. Each day is for ME and not for anyone else. That really makes a difference emotionally. When you are invested in what you are doing, you make sure to do the best job possible. It makes you feel good about yourself!
Overall, I love working for myself. It has been an interested six months. I wonder how the next six will go? I’m hoping to continue to grow and also have some ideas for expanding my practice.
Do you work for yourself? Do you want to? What is stopping you?
Fit Fearless Love 