Being in business for yourself is difficult.
Sure, you don’t have to answer to a domineering boss. Nor do you have to venture to a drab office on a biting cold day to be bitch-slapped by that same domineering boss. You’re also in the fortunate position of choosing the people you work with, as opposed to having them forced on you.
But it can also be difficult.
You lose the guaranteed paycheck. The company healthcare plan. You have to fend for yourself and not have someone else bring work to you. You have to have buy-in from your loved ones, because they suffer too if you don’t bring the food money to the table.
But here’s the thing – you chose this environment.
When you decided that you wanted to exchange payroll for pay dirt (as in work/life ratio and more freedom of choice), you signed up for the rollercoaster ride and the tough times.
You signed up for the projects that could go awry; the late hours; the blood, sweat and tears that often go hand-in-hand with risk-taking. Simply put, you signed up being responsible for what you do.
So why play the sympathy card when things don’t go your way?
Why blame the client because you missed deadlines? Why complain about not making enough money when you’re the one that billed the project in the first place and didn’t scope the work out properly? Why use the “single parent coping alone” cry when there are many other single parents in the same boat, but are just getting on with it?
Blame is easy to deflect onto others, because we can use it to cover up where we went wrong and failed.
But we all have failings. We all have mistakes we make. We all have issues with clients, with suppliers, with outsourcers. As they, no doubt, have with us.
But we make it work.
We make the trials part of our ongoing education, and grow stronger because of it. We use setbacks to strengthen our resolve and make sure we don’t follow the same paths the next time. Simply put, we use all the good and the bad of being in business ourselves to make us a better business.
If that’s not something that’s for you, then maybe an employed position is a better fit. And there’s nothing wrong with that – business is a tough nut to crack, and sometimes it makes sense to let others do it for you.
But let’s leave the sympathy card for hospital patients, eh?
image: Fran Simo