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Should YOU self-employ?
By brewmaster | June 16, 2007
Let’s face it, you’re either a self-employment type or you’re not. Working for yourself, accountable to no man (or woman) isn’t for everyone. Some of us know which of the two camps we’re tenting in - we know whether we’re cut out for the life of the self-employed. But for most people, it’s not that simple. Here are some ways to tell if you’re cut out for the self-employment life.
1. You get much more accomplished, and enjoy doing it when you’re allowed to self-direct. Does the best work you do come from those projects and times when your boss is on vacation and the decisions you follow are your own? My bosses have learned that I know what I’m doing, and the best way to get maximum results from me is to let me run my ship, so I’m at the helm. If you’re in that same "boat," (to overextend the metaphor) use those situations as confirmation to yourself that what your boss knows is true - you do know what you’re doing.
2.You think through what can possibly go wrong in a given situation, and have plans or ideas about what you’ll do to meet challenges brought on by your actions. If you can’t be bothered by possible roadblocks and failures and don’t feel like planning for them because they would be "someone else’s problem," you probably not cut out for self-employment.
3. You can do everything you ask subordinates to do. Delegation isn’t just to make your life easier or hire out something you don’t know how to do, it’s to act as a "force multiplier" for your talents and allow you to accomplish more with your standard issue 24 hour day. If you need someone else to handle your email or hook up your cable modem, you’re probably not going to be happy in the world of the self-employed.
4. Your switch doesn’t automatically go off at 5 o’clock. In the late 70s, my father sold an extremely successful business to a man he’d known for several years. The business was making a lot of money and times were good. A few months after the transaction, the economy stumbled a bit, and the buyer had problems making the agreed-upon payments for the business (my father had largely financed him, since they had been partners in a couple projects before, and were friends). The buyer and his wife came to visit my family out west where we had relocated, to try and figure out how to serve everyone’s best interests in the deal, since my father wanted to be paid for the business, but didn’t want to have to sue to get it. My parents put them up in very comfortable surroundings, and made sure they had a nice time.
In talking about how the buyer and his wife were running the company and how bad business was, the couple were pleading poverty. They had 4 children, and all their assets were tied up in the business. During dinner and non-business talk, the wife mention the big family vacation they were planning. This took my parents by surprise, since they were saying they just didn’t have the money to pay my parents what they owed them. When they saw how that information was received, the wife said "well, we HAVE to have a vacation!"
The buyers of my father’s business clearly weren’t cut out for self-employment. My father, instead of suing and taking their home, ended up forgiving the debt, which the buyer and his wife never forgave him for. They never spoke again.
When my father was building his businesses, once the family’s basic necessities were met, the businesses were nurtured and luxuries came when they could be afforded. The result? Consistent and substantial self-employed success.
5. You don’t equate the trappings of success with true success. Great big mahogany desks in 1,000 square foot corner view offices usually don’t make the business a lot of money, unless the business is based on impressing people who visit you in those offices. True success in business is about providing yourself with more income at less cost than someone is willing to pay you. Period. It’s not about having a job that becomes your life, it’s about providing for the kind of life you want.
If, by your own desire you make your job your life, it’s by definition, no longer your job, it’s your life. And that’s okay, but it’s not what we’re talking about here.
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