Life is change. That can be hard to accept, which is why some people are drawn to philosophies like Stoicism that help us become more resilient.
Our careers are also subject to change. It doesn’t matter if you’re ready or not: You can suddenly lose your job or income source. And I’m not saying this to scare anybody. That’s just a trend I’ve been observing more often in recent years.
The world changes really fast and that requires us to adapt. For example, I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal that featured Ramona Wilmarth, a 39-year-old hairstylist from California.
She left her job at a salon during the Covid Pandemic because work became difficult for her when the state placed tighter restrictions on the face-to-face service industry.
So Wilmarth bought some equipment and started visiting clients outside their homes. Eventually, she’d visit about five clients a week and have another 15 clients on her front porch. And the best thing? Her monthly net income is 35% to 40% higher than her pay at the salon. She even gives discounts to clients who can’t pay full price!
“This pandemic has helped me blossom,” she said an interview. “It pushed me to do something I wasn’t really ready for [before].”
What’s interesting about Wilmarth’s story is that necessity pushed her to do something she felt she’s not ready to do. But she actually succeeded. It’s a common sentiment I hear from people who want to start their own business or side hustle: “I’m not ready yet.”
Yes, it’s difficult to start a side gig and work towards self-employment. But working for someone else is difficult, too.
Benefits of being self-employed
Freedom
Imagine waking up at noon, working at the beach, and earning $10,000 a month. It’s possible. But it takes a lot of work.
Every single successful entrepreneur I know works more than when they had a job. It’s because they want freedom more than they want to have a job. And they realize it comes at a price — one they are happy to pay.
Freedom isn’t just about working when you feel like it. It’s about being in charge of your time, location, and income.
More urgency
There’s something about a “stable” 9–5 that makes us complacent. Things like healthcare, retirement funds, and even insurance are usually covered by companies. It’s tempting to perform the bare minimum and wait for the holidays.
You can’t do that when you’re self-employed. You’re constantly looking for ways to grow and improve. Or trying to get repeat customers. Or outperform the competition. Being self-employed makes you take responsibility for your life and career. This leads to:
Better work
When you work on things you’re passionate about, you do everything to make the best possible work. It makes you focus on what you’re good at. As Peter Drucker said:
“A person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weakness, let alone on something one cannot do at all.”
When I started my blog, I aimed to create the best productivity blog out there. With this goal, I’ve worked for the past six years trying to improve my knowledge, methods, and content. It made me grow as a person, writer, and entrepreneur.
How to succeed
I hear people talk about being self-employed all the time. But not all of them execute. In fact, I have a handful of friends who have been talking about starting a business for a decade.
Sometimes it’s because of a lack of motivation or fear. But more often it’s because people don’t know how to do it right.
I started my first business with my dad while I was writing my thesis in grad school. But it took me another four years to start a business fully on my own. I learned some important lessons from that experience.Invest in yourself: You are your biggest asset. How can you succeed if you’re in poor health, don’t have enough knowledge, or work with an untrained mind? Our minds and bodies are our foundation. If you need to spend time and resources to improve them, go for it.
Start building long-term wealth: Too many people think of wealth-building the wrong way. That’s why they don’t save or invest. Or they don’t do it effectively. But if you want peace of mind, you have to be your own CEO and CFO. Investments and savings are your safety nets.
Pick a skill you want to master: If you’ve mastered an income-generating skill, you’ll always find a client or customer willing to pay for your expertise. Generalists survive and do well. But specialists thrive and earn a lot.
Becoming self-employed is a process
Maybe you can’t be self-employed right now. Bills, kids, career goals, and so forth — they affect when and how we can be our own boss. And that’s okay. But remember that the best person you can rely on is yourself. Not your employer. Not the economy.
You can always work towards self-employment little by little. The important thing is that you constantly work on your side hustle and progress.
Real stability and security exist when you have options. So I always encourage people to have more than one income stream. When bad things (like global pandemics) happen, everyone is affected.
Diverse income streams keep us from going totally bankrupt. And being self-employed makes us more financially and emotionally secure.