Busting 3 Myths about Self-Employment
They said it would be inspiring. They said it would be hard. Both are true.
Hey to all the new faces. I’m so excited you’re here. I write about product management, soloprenuership and anything that inspires me.
After a long work-filled weekend, I felt compelled to reflect in real time about some of the myths I’m personally busting about working for yourself. I’m about 8 months in now and it 👏 has 👏 been 👏 a 👏 journey. I’m in hyper scale/growth mode, so, yay, but wow, it’s knocking me off my feet. I’ve been thinking about the myths, the dreams and the promises of going solo and I think amongst all the inspiration out there, it’s helpful to shed light on the real, lived experience. So here’s mine, this season.
1. You control your schedule.
Technically, this is true. Practically, it’s more complicated.
While I have complete autonomy to shape my day, I conversely have trouble holding my own boundaries. With clients around the world and pressure to build on my own momentum, I’ve found myself working later into the night, more freely into my weekends and struggling to hold to a traditional schedule.
Standardizing my schedule isn't just a healthy routine but a way to unlock the optionality of finding a co working space that makes sense. Today, co working would look like paying to sit in a tiny phone booth all day, which honestly no one benefits from. Defining and sticking to flexibility and freedom in my schedule is a top priority for Q1 this year.
💡 The light at the end of this tunnel: I’ve adopted and championed an experimental mindset this past year and so to remediate my schedule woes, I’m currently experimenting with no meeting Mondays, 10am start times and a limited # of video calls a day. Watch this space!
2. Being your own boss is empowering.
It’s also absolutely exhausting.
Because you’re not just the boss. But you’re Head of Finance, VP of Social and Director of Marketing. And that’s on top of the job you set out to do. Wearing all the hats is hard, even when you have a rigorous, honed work ethic. On top of refining my coaching and consulting practice, I’m making decisions on software, pricing, scheduling, marketing on an hourly basis. With every direction to build and scale to, it’s hard to say no, deprioritize and give myself the time I need to naturally build.
💡 The light at the end of this tunnel: I did the thing I hated the most working full time: I ran a quarterly planning exercise. Though I absolutely hated doing this working full time, I finally spent a few hours defining what I would and wouldn’t do this quarter. And as a result, I felt a deep sense of peace. I have my business coach to thank for reintroducing this rhythm into my life and its incredibly grounding. 10/10 would recommend.
3. If you do what you love everyday, it won’t feel like work.
The problem is you have to do a lot of other things every day to do the things that you love.
I’m feeling this pain the most these days as I scale my business through software, resources and new systems. As a Product person, I’ve been able to stay scrappy and lean up until now.
Today, I’m moving into a new phase of my business and biting the bullet on so many things I held out doing like purchasing new software and systems. It actually feels so similar to starting a new job. And its the thing I hate about starting a new job: all the new processes. The feeling of being new, not knowing how to do anything and feeling like an utter failure. It’s a feeling that sucks but one that I know passes with time. My current reality is that I don’t always get to do what I love: coaching and writing. But, I’m building towards that future.
💡The light at the end of the tunnel: I’m uncomfortably pushing out goals, to do’s and saying no to things. I have a tough work ethic but even I have limits. It’s why today I’ll be signing off after posting this to give myself the rest of the day off to relax, recover and stay away from screens.
Are you self employed? Running your own business? What myths are you busting? How do you cope with the onslaught of work?