Guest Post By Chef Patrick – Reflections on Being Self-Employed

me2

This article is written by Patrick Ruddell. Patrick is the creator and head chef at ChefPatrick.com, a domain name blog featuring weekly video posts, comic strips and domain names news.

Patrick has helped me take my blog to the next level and without him my blog would not be half the blog it is today! Patrick’s blog is a must-read so bookmark it now if it’s not yet one of your daily blog reads!

It’s no secret.  Everyone knows I love being self employed.  There’s something about being my own boss that gives me a sense of accomplishment and empowerment.

Every venture I have tried, including domaining, I started out at the bottom.  There are some things I failed at and some things I excelled at.  Being self employed forces me to bear all of the responsibility.  If I mess up, the buck stops here and I can only point the finger in my own direction.  So why do I continue to be an entrepreneur?  Because my failures weren’t a waste of time, they were lessons I learned and moved on from that have led me to where I am today.

There are obvious advantages to being self employed like:
•    No commuting
•    Don’t have a dress code.
•    Make your own schedule = more time with the family and friends
•    Your input is actually crucial to the day to day operations of your business
•    Profit is all yours

Most of you probably already knew that right?  You’re probably wondering why I’m talking about this then.  It’s because every now and then I like to talk about being an entrepreneur in the hopes it inspires someone else.  Maybe there is someone that has been toying with the idea of becoming self employed.  Perhaps this will be the chat that motivates them to take the plunge.

So I’m self employed.  Everything is wonderful right?  Well, not all the time.  Even though those advantages are important and fantastic ones, there are disadvantages to it as well, such as:
•    If you’re self employed, you wind up doing many things yourself to make sure they’re done right.
•    Many people have a hard time balancing work and life, meaning they don’t know when to quit for the day.
•    You can go broke investing all your money into your company if things don’t go well.
•    You have to do tedious stuff like bookkeeping and records keeping unless you can afford to hire someone to do that for you.
•    Don’t get paid time off, unless you’re doing something that makes money even when you’re not working.
•    No health benefits unless you purchase them with money from your profits.
•    You have to work extremely hard!

You may be wondering if there are so many disadvantages, why do I love it so much.  It’s because, for me, the advantages far out weigh the disadvantages.  I love being in control of my fate as much as possible career wise.  I get to work from my home and not rush out the door to try to beat rush hour traffic.  I go to all of my children’s events at school and don’t have to ask for any time off or act in fear of losing my job for needing a few hours off to be with them.  The fact that I’m a self professed control freak doesn’t hurt either.

Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong if you are happy working whatever job you’re working.  My problem was that I never was happy anywhere I worked, until I worked for myself. – probably because I knew I could get in good with the boss.

It can be extremely stressful and crazy at times, but I get to be in control of my destiny to a great extent.  That’s one of the best rewards, career wise, a person could ask for.

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton