The Joys Of "Working For Yourself"

Thought I'd share a couple fun things about "working for myself" that I've noticed.

Some positive things:
1) You can "take a nap" in the middle of the day & not get fired
2) You can work at 4am and "catch up" if you got busy during the day
3) You can set your own hours (I take Wed's off)
4) A trip to the store for some "goodies" isn't going to "piss the boss off"
5) You're your own boss
6) If you feel like taking the day off....you can (kind of)
7) You can sleep in (kind of)
8) Can you say NO COMMUTE!!!
9) If you don't feel like leaving the house, you don't have to
10) "Mi casa es mi office"

Some negative things
1) You usually work REALLY long hours (it's almost midnight and I'm still "working")
2) You end up working odd hours
3) Work days
4) Screaming kids in the back ground when you're on the phone with customers (I think Emily's scream should be patented. That thing can go through a solid door & right into my phone for all my customers to hear)
5) Unannounced visits from customers at 7am
6) If you take a day off, it's YOU who has to catch it all back up
7) Vacations are a pain. You basically have to shut the whole business down & that's not fun because then your voice mails pile up
8) It's up to you to do EVERYTHING to make the business succeed
(You screw up & there goes you're primary source of income)
9) Your family wonders who the guy in the basement is since they don't see him near as much as they used to
10) Hiring employees
11) Health Insurance

For those that want to run right out there & join the ranks of "owning their own business" come & sit at my place with me for a couple days & see if you really want to. Personal time sometimes become non-existent. BUT!!! and this is a big one, working for yourself has got to be one of the most rewarding feelings in the world.

While the rest of the world "goes to work for a boss they don't like for pay they hate with a monstrous commute", I get to sit at home, do something I love & talk to cool people all day. It has goods & bads, but the good stuff FAR OUTWEIGH the downsides.

I've been doing this now full-time for over a year now and I absolutely love it. Sure, it has it's bad days & sometimes I wonder why I ever did it, but for the most part it rocks & I wouldn't give it up for the world (well, ok, float me a cool million & we'll talk).

Having complete control over every aspect of your financial well-being though can be spooky. Knowing that if your business fails so does your salary can be a bit of a stress, but you just plan for it.

Dealing with customers has for the most part not been bad at all. I've really enjoyed it and it's thrilling to hear from people that have been referred to me because their friends recommended us so highly. That's the paybacks!

Anyway, if you can find something you love to do and can figure out a way to make a living while doing it, it's great! Somehow I just got lucky & was able to do just that.

....now if I can just figure out how to get the personal time back I'll be set...but, that's for another day.

-Graydon