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6.You’ll be free to walk away. When you first start out on your own, you will probably be grateful for whatever business comes your way. The thought of “walking away” from a client may seem suicidal. It isn’t. As your reputation grows, people will approach you, ready to hand you their money and have you begin work. That’s terrific. However, in some cases,
fit won’t be there – something in your gut will tell you it’s a bad match. You will learn that you can say “no thank you” and walk away. Nobody assigns projects or clients or teammates to you anymore. You and only you decide who you work with and on what terms, and if it doesn’t feel right you need only say so.
7.You’ll make new friends. If you’ve been with same company for a long time, you’ve probably developed several close relationships. You may be afraid that you’ll be lonely and isolated out here in “cold cruel world.” Nothing could be further from truth. Starting your own business gains you immediate entrance into a collegial world of fellow sole proprietors and entrepreneurs, eager to have you along for ride. We hold meetings, we have events, we meet for lunch, we talk on phone – we share ideas, support each other and hang out together. Price of admission: a friendly demeanor and a willingness to help other people find their way.
8.You’ll pick players. Wherever you sit in a company, you’ve got people you interact with every day. Your boss, your direct reports, head of legal department, desktop support guy, receptionist. Hopefully you like and get along with most of these people, but whether you do or not, you’re stuck with each other. When you run your own company on other hand, you pick who’s on team. You get to choose your attorney, your accountant, your landlord, your printer, your partners, your clients – everybody in your daily life is there because you decided to put them there. You get to choose.
9.You’ll have real problems, instead of imaginary ones. In a corporate setting, your happiness and success is dependent upon dozens of intertwined relationships and handed-down decisions, any one of which can change your world in ways you may not anticipate or even understand. With so much out of your control, it’s hard not to spend time “What If-ing” and worrying about future: “What’s my boss really think of me? What if I don’t get put in charge of that new project? What if they cut my budget next year?” Fear of what might happen can become worse than situation itself – imaginary problems.
When you’re building your own business you’re immersed in reality. Sure, you may have days where you worry about paying mortgage, but you’ll be in game, fighting good fight, and no longer obsessed with possibility of being blindsided by an unforeseen shift in corporate winds.
10.You’ll find your purpose. You didn’t come here to follow somebody else’s vision or sit on sidelines watching clock tick away until retirement. But somehow, somewhere along way, you forgot. Now, after so many years of following pack, you’ve come to see work as a place you go to earn enough money to do things you really want to do. It doesn’t have to be that way. Working on your own will give you freedom and focus to find exhilarating, balanced, self-directed career you’ve always dreamed of.
One of my favorite quotes is from book, The Artist's Way, and I've had it taped to top of my computer monitor for last five years: "Leap, and net will appear.” Go ahead, I’ll be waiting for you.
Michael J. Katz is Founder and Chief Penguin of Blue Penguin Development, Inc., (www.BluePenguinDevelopment.com) a Boston consulting firm that helps clients increase sales by showing them how to nurture their existing relationships, and that specializes in the development of electronic newsletters. He is author of the book, E-Newsletters That Work.
