Three Self-Employment Surprises
It’s time for an update on the under-discussed arm of our NVR life. Work.
Through all of the travel and other life goals, we’re busy maximizing companies and people. I don’t know that our work has ever not been stacked up over the last five years. We’re always pretty busy. Currently, though, that has never been truer; we’re in the middle of our busiest quarter ever.
Which got us thinking about why we do it, which got me thinking about a call I had the other day, which got me thinking about writing this post.
Bottom line. I was on a call with a client. She had recently gone from self-employed to working for our client-company because being on her own was not what she expected. “I was envisioning all of this freedom,” she said. “I didn’t feel free at all.”
Cue the part that got me thinking about this post.
What she said is exactly what we hear from people who get in touch requesting tips for how to best strike out on their own. People crave freedom, time and a whole bunch of other things that spark the yearning for self-employment. Along the way, they wouldn’t mind losing a crappy commute and an even worse boss.
We were the same way.
Here are three (of the many!) things that we wish people would have told us before striking out on our own. We still would have done it, but someone – anyone – could have said… something. Here are those things and how we deal.
1. It takes skills you may not want to use.
Someone we partner with on random projects, Brian, works for himself doing project management. He’s always telling us – and did so again just yesterday – that he hates the fact: that he has to market his business, that he has to deal with scheduling, that he has to keep records, that he has to bill clients, that he has to be the help line. You get the idea – all those things that other people take care of in a corporate environment. Sure, you can hire out for help on anything, but we’re talking about people (like us) who want to keep things small and contained.
This. Stuff. Can. Ruin. You.
Can you hack being the complaint line? How are you with confrontation? What’s your take on being interrupted? Okay, what’s your take on being interrupted five times more than you just imagined?
We’re lucky to be a couple that works very well together. Moreover, our workplace strengths could not be more complementary. Again, the “core” work we do revolves around helping businesses and people to maximize. But, between us, we’ve also got mad skillz in a broad range of business functions that enhance the core work we do – marketing, sales, service, etc.
2. It’s your thing, or it isn’t.
Something interesting we’ve learned over years spent bonding with other freelance / contract peeps. Being self-employed is either in your blood, or it’s not. I know that may sound either overly simplified or sorta hardcore, but it’s true.
This relates, tangentially, to #1 but is different and deserves it’s own number.
Take our friend, Brian, above. He’s innately wired to be doing freelance / contract work, but he hates the tasks that come along with it. Here, in #2, we’re talking about people who aren’t wired for it. Some questions for exploration:
– Do you manage your time well?
– Are you an “ideas” person?
– Do you work well alone?
– Are you a self-starter?
We were both excellent employees – well, most of the time – but also had our fair share of dust-ups for too-often thinking outside of the box. One time, a manager told me she was officially “squelching” my ambition. In writing.
Doing it for yourself only work if it aligns with the natural strengths and talents that reside at your core. Need help figuring out what that core is? We can help! Well, not right now. One of these days – when things slow down for a hot minute – we’re bringing some of our services here to No Vacation Required. Watch for MAX LaB – it’s gonna be good.
3. Life Balance? What life balance?
People who succeed, long term, doing their own thing are most often the people who make money by doing exactly what they’re meant to be doing. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, there’s a little problem.
It can consume you.
The good news is that, with mindfulness, you can manage the overwhelming desire to work every chance you get. After all, if #1 and #2 aren’t a problem, what’s going to stop you?
We weave in and out of work (mostly) successfully. When we’re on the road – about half the year – we deliberately scale things back a bit so that we can gravitate towards other dimensions of our NVR equation. When we’re at our home base in Seattle, we can tend to lean into work projects quite a bit more. As a matter of fact, right now we have a crazy life experiment planned for the coming weeks. It’ll diminish our availability for work, so we’re putting in extra time right now.
If you’re “on purpose” in life – doing exactly what you should be doing – balance becomes a bit of a ridiculous word. However, we believe in cherishing the sustainability of things that we love. Given that, we’re careful to zigzag around the different things we enjoy. For instance, I took a break from work to write this. Granted, it’s late… on Sunday. But, hey, I took a break.
What’s your take? Is self-employment for you?
I’d agree – owning a business is the hardest job you’ll ever have. The most rewarding, and the most difficult.
You know a thing or two about this, don’t you
This post is the story of my life! I love how people think I’m so lucky to have a “flexible schedule” as I do–sure, I can go to the gym in the middle of the day, but the trade-off is that I wind up working 12+ hours of the day and every day of the week. That’s the part about our “glamorous lifestyles” that people don’t realize…if we’re not out hustling, we’re not getting paid
And you especially. We are hardcore, and I think you out-do us. Can’t wait for face-to-face time to talk all about it.
Great Post! It is spot on.
Thanks, Kara!
There are days when I don’t want to be my own help desk anymore, when I don’t want to be my own sales team, and I don’t want to be my own boss. But then I look out the window and realize where I am, and it’s all worth it in the end.
Well put, Raymond.
Definitely good things to think about. I’ve definitely heard some of the realities of self employment, probably a lot of it from you guys, and like most things, it doesn’t sound like the magical answer. But it does sound like a good solution for someone with the right skills.
I think you did hear a lot of this from us! See, we really mean it.
I’m going to send this post to everyone who says “Oh, it must be nice to work for yourself!”
Perfect idea!
I think it goes without saying that we wouldn’t have it (life/work) any other way, but it’s not without it’s,um, challenges (was that a nice way to put it?).
#1 & #3 resonate with me and I’m still struggling with it. With freelancing, balance is something that’s hard to find. Either you’re pushing for work or working. Both are work and it feels constant unless you’ve gotten a lot of work or a regular client. =( OMG #1- hate it. As a solo freelancer, I feel like I have to do it all. There’s outsourcing or hiring others if you feel financially fit, but when you don’t, then you’re utilizing your skills to learn things you sometimes, don’t really want to learn about.
I hear you. We love what we do so don’t really care how much time we spend doing it. #1 was a big surprise at first, but we’ve gotten good at dealing with it.
Agreed! I hate marketing myself and handing out business cards, but I totally have to to get enough clients. Right now I am comfortable money and work wise. I could make more, but I dropped some clients because I was feeling too stressed and not enjoying the freelance life. I felt like it would be better to make less and be happy. If I want more money for less happiness, I’ll go back to office work.
Ooooh, being able to drop clients is a big step.
For me, the hardest part is marketing my work and networking. And also the fact that I’m always thinking of my business, no matter what I’m doing – I didn’t have to think about my work (outside of work hours) when I was working for someone else.
I think that this is what brings a lot of people back to the traditional workplace – especially those that already have enough worries in life. Juggling all those self-employment balls can feel like a lot of stress.
This is a timely post, as I’ve been doing a lot of ruminating lately on matters regarding life, work, travel and time. I’m spreading myself too thin, not devoting myself fully to any one project, and getting frustrated that none are reaching their full potential. I’ve even scanned Craigslist for 9 to 5 jobs, which is a bummer because the corporate lifestyle is not for me! Thanks for the brainstorming prompts… they will help as I make some decisions.
We’ll be interested to learn more, Scott. Good luck!
Life Balance is difficult in any situation but when you are self-employed it can become suffocating especially if you work from your home. I am continually crashing into my comfort zone as a self-employed person. It can be exhausting learning about all the different parts to owning a business and working through those barriers but its also very interesting.
You’re right, its either in your blood or not!
I’m excited to hear more about MAX LaB.
Couldn’t agree more with it’s your thing or isn’t. Some people I know just wouldn’t be able to be self-employed..period.
So true. I’m learning as we get more and more busy that it’s best to start outsourcing the things you don’t like to do. I heard somewhere that working for yourself can just turn into another job you are a slave to if you do everything yourself. It’s a big wake up call and we have started outsourcing certain things we don’t have time for (or don’t like to do)
Great post. As a freelance blogger/translator/writer/community manager, I spend a lot of time behind my computer since my office is at home. The line between work time and play time is even more blurred that it would normally be if I worked in an office, since my computer is always in the next room.
So yeah. Life balance, what’s that exactly?
We’re trying to insert some “tech free” time every once in a while. We need a bit more of a line.