The AWESOME Benefits Of Being Self Employed!
I never imagined this would be my life! I was terrified when I left my job in August of last year! I have been through so many ups and downs with my self-employment. It's an exciting time to be 24!
Self-employment has a lot of unexpected downsides that I never expected. I guess I always thought I'd be sipping margaritas on a beach all day with no worries in the world. I never imagined that all the hard work I did BEFORE I left my job, Was Only the Beginning.
I wouldn't trade my self-employment for anything! But it was a shock at first.
You Get To Pick The People You Spend Time With
No more coworkers you don't like. No more pretending and dealing with the awkwardness of talking to them. When you are self-employed, you have a lot of control over the people you are surrounded by. Sure, You can't be too picky with customers, and sometimes they'll be a pain to deal with. But you still have a lot of leverage. You can even outsource that part, so you don't have to interact directly.
Flexibility
I can be incredibly flexible. I essentially create my schedule.
IF I want to sleep all day, Work all night that's my choice. Do I want to spend all day at the pool followed by a few hours of nighttime work, Done!
When I go on vacation, I can take my laptop with me, And get more work done! It's so sweet, Sometimes this gets out of hand, Because I need to enjoy my vacation, But when I'm stuck waiting at the airport, I can take out my laptop and work on stuff. Or while on the plane I can work.
This allows me to be more productive, and do more money making activities throughout the day. Many jobs, Require that you are there to do the work. And when you leave you are stuck with whatever they will pay you. You don't have a say in how much you want to make either! With self-employment, You kinda get to choose. Obviously, you have to pursue the correct opportunities to make this happen, and you have to work for it, But even the amount you make is flexible, and it's a beautiful thing.
You can be More Passionate About Your Work
Every day I get to do something fun, Sure I don't get to spend all day drawing Like I originally had hoped. I still have to do budgeting and spreadsheets, and overall some work that I don't like. But most of my day is consumed by things I enjoy and things I want to do. Not things I am forced to do.
Today was supposed to be T-shirt day, Where I spend all day making designs. But I was in the mood to write Steemit posts. So I am now doing Steemit posts instead hehe. While occasionally Pressing buttons on my phone. Because I have a special app that makes the designs for me, and I can cycle through the designs it makes for me. So I'm doing a little of both! If I were working for someone else, My supervisor would tell me exactly what to do, And I really wouldn't have a say with what I do with my day.
Take The Plunge!
If self-employment is something, you are thinking about doing! Then do it! It is so worthwhile, It's definitely one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life, And I'm so grateful for it!
Time is the biggest asset we have!! :) Im very happy for you!!Artists have to stick together :)
Turn time into money and you win by having more time to do the things you want to 💰
Sounds amazing. I would love to be self employed. Not even just for the benefits mentioned in your post, but to also feel successful within myself - that I have managed to grab something and run with it by myself. You are very inspiring and make it seem very possible to be self employed
Being self employed is definitely great but it definitely has its pros and cons. The flexibility to work when and where you want and to determine your schedule is a great thing. On the other hand I find it very easy to work all the time. When you work for yourself, sometimes it's hard to stop working, especially when the times are tough. Setting a clear, solid schedule and following that schedule is really important. It's also really important to separate your work space from your life spaces if you work from home. Sometimes it's way better to get a separate offsite office than to work from home.
Yes. This is so true. While I'd never trade my couch or hammock for an office again - my boyfriend often accuses me of 'not being here' - it's easy to become a workaholic - because you only have you to depend on.
When you work for you, there's no guaranteed paycheck - sure you are the 'master' of your own time, but rarely is sleeping all day even an option. If you don't put out the work to find work - you don't get paid.
It's easy to become obsessive - often out of necessity to make rent - and work 12 or 14 hour days. Finding that balance is essential - as @Britt.the.ish said.
This isn't to discourage anyone from quitting their day job! It's just to set a realistic expectation. The beauty of working for you is that yes, the sky is the limit, no one is capping your salary, you choose your own hours, can work from anywhere (depending on the type of freelance work you do)...but there are tradeoffs.
Very few people quit their day jobs and poof ! Have enough to travel the word while generating enough income to sustain continued travel. It doesn't happen over night. That's not to say, one couldn't immediately move to another country with a lower cost of living, and begin freelancing (that was my 20's!) - but still different than instantly traveling the world within your first few months of being self employed.
Only you know your situation, of course. Whatever you decide, good luck !
Thanks for sharing this @kaylinart . Good to find a supporter in this step. I too quit my job recently in fact just this April to pursue my dream of self employment. It is difficult to come to terms with first but you soon begin to take life more seriously. I have started valuing my time more ever since. Time is money literally !
There's one benefit that wasn't mentioned here ;)
lol, but in all seriousness, love the article. Working at home can be very helpful as you can put total focus into whatever you're doing at any time, and the level of comfort you make for yourself can help a lot :D
OMMMG I didn't even think of that LOL awesome comment hehee. It's so true.
in order to be successful into your business you as the employer needs to be the best employee. it makes a lot of sense.
Great post ! Thank you for your sharing ! This is useful for me! I want to get self employed and I agreed with the benefits. However that's so difficult to have siccessfully self employed. Add oil !
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Being self employed is amazing, however it also has its big challenges that come with it. I would say even a working from home job would be somewhat like self employed would be like but with more safety in mind in terms of income.
With being self employed you could have a day of $10 in sales and then next $1,000 in sales. If done correctly though if you ever find yourself short on some cash or want a nice injection a email blast never hurts! ;)
It's wonderful, the only issue is accounting and taxes. It takes getting used to accounting, but it's something we all must be good at.
I toss mine to the tax man lol otherwise id go crazy trying to fill it all out myself. I do monthly accounting though on profits/expenses etc which make it much easier when it comes the end of the year.
OMG yes!!! The absolute best part of working for yourself is beyond any doubt the awkward forced encounters with people you don't want to associate with evaporate!
Exaclty heheh :) I am not a big people person so it helps
I used to have anxiety about it, but I think it was because I felt forced to be nice to people that were generally fake and didn't show me the same courtesy. I worked at a charity hospital and had a man and woman screaming at me and calling me "the white devil" because I wouldn't "force the doctor" to write five times the antibiotics they needed because there were too lazy to bring their other kids to the doctor. I think that was the day I gave up on working a "job" to help people.
Wow really? That sounds really awful! I'm sorry you had to deal with that crap.
I was in a very different place then. I needed the lesson to push me on the right path. :)
Points. lol. I <3 people - in small doses haha
" you have to pursue the correct opportunities to make this happen" - you are exactly right. Chasing the quick-dollar-scheme or NOT having the right opportunity at the right time can leave someone more exhausted and poorer than he has ever imagined.
Self-employment has too many bad outcomes, but I guess works for younger people as they are trying to establish their life and that gives them a bit of more freedom and outside the box-slave experience. If you can make more money than having a boss - GREAT! Though fighting as a freelancer (self-employed) every day to feed your family is a WHOLE OTHER STORY :)
So, that is your personal story! I am very glad it works for you! It's great to see people succeeding outside the modern-day-8-hr-slavery. Cheers!
While I don't think this is for everyone, if one has the opportunity to be self employed then why not! Thanks fo sharing!