I often hear people comment that they could never motivate themselves to work for themselves. The temptations of tellie, tea and comfy slippers are just too great, they imply; as if, somehow, the kind of willpower and discipline required to resist these delights are the preserve of a very lucky, very motivated few.
This idea seemed to be re-enforced during a recent discussion following an interesting but unrelated post over at Employee Evolution. An artist aspiring to self-employment asked:
…since you are working for yourself how do you avoid the temptation to sleep in on rainy days and get daily motivation? … I fear the “oh I’ll do it later” mentality and being secluded, which I feel would get lonely…
To which another commenter suggested that working for a small company might better suit this person’s “mindset”.
It’s good to see people offering suggestions and help to others within a supportive and encouraging environment. But I’m concerned that comments like this can lack vision. Mindsets are just that – minds which have been set in a certain way. This does not mean they are set in stone.
What aspiring freelancers should be asking themselves is, “what do I need to do to ensure that I *don’t* feel secluded / lack motivation / [insert any other concerns here]?”. Properly thinking through the answers to these questions will offer you a more realistic insight into whether self-employment is a step you are truly willing and/or able to take. It goes without saying that being your own boss is not a panacea for all working woes – quite simply, the trade-offs aren’t always worth it. And of course, working from home and self-employment are two different conditions with their own individual set of challenges, and it can help to think these through separately too. It’s about creating new habits, but ultimately, a new mindset for yourself.
Greg Hollings over at Location Independent Living did a great job of showing how he overcame his freelancing fears in an excellent post called Three Fears I Had About Leaving The Rat Race That Came True (And How I Overcame Them). Best of all, he prompted some really useful and empowering suggestions from other freelancers in the comments section (another reason to love blogs!). All of this shows that if you’re seriously considering whether you can cut it on your own, feeling afraid and unsure about yourself should not be reasons in themselves to deter you.
I don’t consider myself to have a lot of willpower. I’m not especially disciplined and, as I’ve explained before, sometimes have to work hard to motivate myself to work. I’d bet these factors alone would fail me on many of the ubiquitous online quizzes offering to assess my suitability to be my own boss. I’m not for a minute underestimating the skill set required to work for yourself, or the complex combination of other internal and external factors. But I can’t help thinking that if I can work for myself, then there’s a lot more people who could too if they really wanted to!
About the author
Sarah Dillon is a qualified, accredited and experienced professional translator originally from Co. Clare in Ireland. She specialises in producing English-language texts that don't "sound" like translations, ensuring her clients' message has the desired impact in their overseas market. She is based in Brisbane, Australia and works with corporate clients, small businesses, agencies and nonprofit organisations all over the world. In her spare time, Sarah is also Marketing Director of eCPD Webinars.
Sarah Dillon has written 252 posts for There's Something About Translation.
