Is On Your Own Right For You?

Today marks four years to the day that I’ve been without a real job. Oh, I have lots of work (although more is always appreciated – you know where to reach me!) but I haven’t held down the sort of job I had for the previous 30 years prior to that day. To commemorate the occasion, I’ll be lunching with the same group of friends who accompanied me that cold December day to welcome me into their world of self-employment. They’re lawyers, consultants, financial advisors – top-shelf professionals who decided that the rewards outside of corporate life outweighed the risks.

I’ve been very fortunate over the last four years to have done my entrepreneurial thing.  If you’re wondering if maybe you could be doing the same, here are a few things you should think about.

Do you have a clear idea of what you want to be doing?  It’s hard to sell your services or attract investors if you can’t paint a cogent picture of what distinguishes you.  It’s also not as easy as one might think to get that sorted out.

Being on your own, whether as a consultant or as a start-up, is in many ways less risky these days than working for someone else.  That said, if you can’t bear the thought of an unclear income stream, maybe you’re better off knowing there will be a check coming for as long as your employer sees fit to have you around.

I enjoy controlling my income stream – there’s no cap, no begging for a raise, and no unfair split of the profits.  There’s also no “free” health plan, no 401K match, and I get to be the IT guy, the accountant, the marketing and PR departments, and I’m also in charge of sales.  In between actually doing work for my clients, of course.  If you need to work on one thing at a time and can’t juggle, maybe this isn’t for you.

Having said that, there are a lot of folks who help me round out my offerings with skills I don’t possess – web coding, art, etc.  I help them be bigger and better so they can offer my skills to round out theirs. So even when you’re “on your own”, you’re not.  Is the work solitary?  Sometimes, but it was that way when I managed several dozen people too.  I miss managing people more than I do socializing with them – I do plenty of the latter.

Here’s the thing:  I’m calmer, I’m healthier, I’m generally happier.  It’s been a lot to learn and many adjustments to make, but once I got it in my head to commit to this, as I had committed to corporate life, it got easier.  I’m always surprised how many “consultants” I know are people who are looking for full-time jobs.  That search is a full-time commitment in my mind, as is servicing your clients.  It’s not fair to them, or to you, to try to do both.

Four years ago I had a bunch of irrational fears as I faced an unknown future.  Even if someday I go back to corporate life, I’ve acquired skills and self-knowledge that I would never have got had I not gone down this path.  Maybe it’s not for everyone.  You?