Becoming your own boss should put you in charge of your work routine. A lot of people who take a leap of faith to become self-employed quote heavy workload, lack of time control, and stressful managers as the reason for their decision. Therefore, you would expect your life as a solo entrepreneur to be liberating and satisfying compared to the employed routine.
However, many new entrepreneurs find themselves hitting a brick wall. The liberating experience they expected failed to happen. They become a slave of their venture: Long working hours, intrusive clients, and never-ending challenges that keep them awake at night. Many wonder: Is this the life I wanted? How is it better than working for someone else? The truth is that if you don’t prepare for your solo business, you could end up switching the safety of a paid position for the insecurity of self-employment without gaining anything in the process. You can, however, regain control by setting up the basic rules for a liberating business presence.
Protect your privacy
Working for yourself means that clients get in touch with you when they want to discuss a project. However, you should think twice about sharing personal contact data on your website. Countless hackers have smart screening programs that can extract all confidential information from web pages. If your contact-me page publishes your mobile phone number and home address, you could find yourself exposed to fraud and the misuse of your data. That is not what being an entrepreneur is about. Besides, the last thing you want is for potential clients to call you in the middle of the night because they’ve got an idea and they found your number online. If you’re working from home, you need to keep your personal data private. Using a solution such as physicaladdress.com can provide you with a virtual mailing address. Additionally, you can also invest in a business phone number that could redirect calls during working hours to your mobile.
Schedule time for yourself
Solo entrepreneurs work hard. It’s fair to say that you need to invest time into your business to make it work. However, you also need to schedule time for yourself. Sitting at your desk all day is stressful and unhealthy! Did you know that sitting for prolonged periods can contribute to the apparition of health disorders? It can be helpful to make time for physical activities such as exercising throughout the week. Additionally, don’t fall into the trap of desk stress food, where caloric snacks become your go-to coping mechanism. Working for yourself is stressful! Yet, planning time to be active will help you stay healthy and manage a balanced diet.
Give yourself the right to say no
Lastly, as tempting as it is to seize all opportunities, you can’t agree to everything customers need. Saying no to your customers is a delicate choice but it can help you gain back control. As a solo entrepreneur, you need to be clear about what you are offering, and where you draw the line. Activities that are time-demanding and don’t generate any income are a drain of your business resources.
Becoming your own boss is about creating a safe space for your expertise to grow. You want to stay in charge of your business, which means that you need to create boundaries to protect your health, your income, and your privacy.
What do you think?