Of all the advice I was given when I left the company (otherwise known as my government career), I recall what a friend in Saskatoon told me who had launched his own entrepreneurial venture.
“Self-employment, Joel, is not for the faint-hearted,” he said to me.
It has become clear wherever I may find my footsteps follow that downsizing has become a sociological norm in many corners of our world.
Coupled with a tight job market and many specialized positions at a premium, self-employment becomes more and more of an attractive option.
In my previous government/corporate life, I recall the mantra that we are all self-employed. It was a call-to-action on how we should treat our internal customers as if we were in business for ourselves.
It was good training for operating your own company, because whether you are employed or self-employed it’s all about getting and keeping customers and building solid, meaningful and long-term relationships with them.
So in your own job enterprises, practice being self-employed. It may shine a whole new light on how you relate to your customers/clients.
In the world of self-employed, the greatest reality is you only get paid when you work.
I do miss my government and corporate days when eight hours was a pay cheque even on those seemingly slow days when I caught myself “surfing the Net for a time.”
I still got paid. I got to eat lunch. I even got paid when I went to the nearby mall to find a birthday card for my wife.
Contrasting that to being self-employed, you’re probably thinking to yourself: “I don’t want to take the risk. I like it where I am just fine. I like the benefits. I like the daily routine, the security, the bi-monthly pay cheque.:
Guess what folks, I miss that too, at times. But mostly I miss the daily interaction with colleagues, friends and clients.
But there are rewards and trade-offs in the world of self-employment—the freedom is intoxicating, that feeling of accomplishment is self-assuring, the sense of success is rewarding and working without a safety net is a real confidence-builder and real adventure not to be missed.
Self-employment is about controlling your destiny. Getting up in the morning and walking down the hall to your home office brings on a different kind of “rush.” And there’s not much traffic at 7 a.m.
So, take a good look at this option for your life’s journey. It’s a choice facing a multitude of highly skilled experienced professionals and career workers across our Okanagan region today.
You never know when you might have to trade in your assigned parking spot at the office.
Ultimately, we are all self-employed, aren’t we?
The challenge of self-employment can be overwhelming to a person who has always worked for someone else.
Simply put, most people are followers who don’t wish to be independent. Society has spawned a compliant workforce that happily does its bidding.
Isn’t working for someone else less risky and just plain and simple easier? Quite possibly so, but that is no consolation for many seeking a greater experience.
It’s not about freedom, the challenge, the adrenalin rush in the risk and facing life in a whole new dimension, and it’s about finding your true self that you may, unknowingly, had hidden for an abundance of your life.
Remember, you are the factor in the entrepreneurial spirit formula.
Be ready and prepared as you can be for self-employment, to face the challenges that will come your way.
