6 Things You Must Do for Self-Employed Success
Never forget: YOU are your business's most valuable client. Treat yourself accordingly.
I call it ‘The Corporate Comedown’.
It’s that emotional slump that occurs a few weeks after the high of quitting your job to set up your own.
It’s when natural enthusiasm is replaced by anxiety, self-doubt, and total paralysis at how to structure your time and days.
It’s the moment of reckoning once you realise that transitioning into self-employment feels nothing like transitioning into an exciting new job.
Because self-employment is not a job.
It’s a lifestyle – one with its own very particular demands and requirements. And if you’ve ever considered working for yourself, are you ready for that?
When weighing up the pros and cons of employment versus entrepreneurship, most people immediately think about the financial differences. But far beyond how you get paid, self-employment is defined by how you live.
Here are 6 key pillars of the self-employed lifestyle that are worth thinking about if you’re considering making the leap.
Pillar #1: Value Your Time for the Precious Resource It Is
Being your own source of income radically changes how you view your time. As an employee, you generally get paid the same no matter what you’re doing. But when you work for yourself, every hour is an hour you could be earning more money.
The challenge? You have to proactively set boundaries to prevent yourself biting off more than you can chew, whilst simultaneously not spending too much time on activities that don’t make you any money.
As a result, time consciousness and time-management has to become a huge part of your new lifestyle.
Sadly, many people who start their own business to experience more freedom never get to feel truly free. Because designing a productivity strategy for yourself that’s connected to your big goals and constantly evaluating your own performance is very hard work.
It's far easier to get caught in the feast and famine cycle of working either way too much or not enough, or working on the wrong things altogether.
This is why I co-create a personalised, one-of-a-kind Productive with Purpose strategy for each of my entrepreneur coaching clients. Because only through changing our relationship to time and how we use it can we become truly free — and start to actually reach those big goals.
Pillar #2: Treat Your Health Like Your Number One Business Asset
If you’re an employee and you get sick, in most countries you tend to get time off to recover whilst still getting paid. However, if you can’t work in or on your own business because of poor health, everything stops, and there is rarely anyone to cover for you.
Hence why taking care of your business’ number one asset — your own physical, mental and emotional health — has to be a linchpin of your lifestyle. This can require a complete transformation in your mindset and how you prioritise your attention.
Burnout is a real risk for heart-led, wildly ambitious self-employed people. When burnout happened to me in 2018, I had no idea what was happening to me until it was too late. To recover, I had to let go of my biggest client – losing 80% of my income – and it took many months for me to return to form.
Since then, I've made huge changes to my lifestyle that mostly involve scheduling work around my health and hobbies, rather than the other way round.
Never forget: You are your business’ most valuable client. Treat yourself accordingly.
Pillar #3: Build Your Own Community of Like-Minded People
So you want to be a 'solopreneur' or work from home? Fine, but just bear in mind that chronic loneliness affects 48 percent of freelancers, and also provides the perfect conditions for self-doubt to flourish.
Successful independent workers understand that they are at their best when feeling supported, and go out of their way to surround themselves with like-minded people they can rely on for company, collaboration and community.
Pillar #4: Invest in Yourself Regularly
All successful business owners invest in growth. So when you – your personality, talents and skills – are the economic engine of your business, funding growth means investing in yourself.
Even if you start a business by yourself, you’re not supposed to try to do it all by yourself – that’s a recipe for burnout, resentment and poor decision-making. Succeeding in self-employment means being ready and willing to pay other people to help you get where you need to go, whether through coaching, training or outsourcing, and setting aside time and budget for it accordingly.
Wondering whether you need a mentor, a coach, or a therapist? Here’s how to know the difference between the three.
Pillar #5: Accept That Nothing Is More Certain Than Uncertainty
Uncertainty is part and parcel of entrepreneurship, and you must make plans accordingly.
Here are a few ways to prepare – financially, emotionally and structurally – for the macro cycles of contraction and expansion that are part of the human experience: slow seasons, economic recessions and events outside your control.
During times of contraction, you may find yourself needing to pivot your business really, really quickly. If you’re under pressure to get new clients, adapt your business offering and create additional streams of income, I recommend following these three core steps.
Pillar #6: Trust Yourself
“Be so fiercely committed to the things you care about and the vision of the life you want that you don’t have the time, energy or need to compare yourself to other people.”
– Jamie Varon
The most successful self-employed people are the ones who have a vision for their own definition of success, trust themselves and are in tune with their own inner compass.
Growth takes time and it may take ten years to become an “Overnight Success”. Instead of wishful thinking, work with structured focus to plant seeds every day without expecting to harvest the fruit tomorrow.
Are You Ready?
Many newly self-employed people struggle with this transition, like I did, because they try to carry the habits, behaviours and lifestyle expectations of being an employee into their business. (Read about the difference between CEO and employee mindset here.)
But – here’s the thing:
Becoming a successful self-employed person means unlearning everything you’ve ever been told by people who are not self-employed.
The self-employed lifestyle is a lot to think about. It’s not going to magically happen to you. It’s a lot of work. But in order to feel in charge of your life, you have to take charge of your life.
And feeling in charge of our lives is the most empowering and rewarding thing we can possibly do for ourselves.
Want to read more about transitioning into self-employment?
I’m Imogen, and as a Strategy Coach, I help entrepreneurial people build unstoppable resilience so they can create sustainable success in self-employment.
Ready to approach your life and work with more purpose, presence and productivity? Book a free call with me today to discuss 1:1 coaching.
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