I've had the opportunity to think a lot lately on why I work from home as opposed to finding a secure job where I could earn a lot more money. It's not that I didn't know the reasons before, it's that I couldn't have articulated them as well.
Almost as important as the reasons I do work from home are reasons other people have for desiring my situation. I believe that some of these are counter-productive to working at home. I'll start with them:
Reasons that don't make sense for the entrepreneur
1) Money
Sure, it sounds great. You're taking out the middle-man. You can offer your services without having your company take out all the middle expenses.
Be realistic.
Entrepreneurship is a risk. You're not guaranteed success or money. Be ready to accept that you'll possibly be making less money than you would at a full-time job. With no benefits. And less security. There's a chance that you'll make it big, but there's a much greater chance that you won't. Recognize that it's a gamble.
2) Fewer Hours, More Freedom
This sounds silly, but I have friends who want to start their own business so they don't have to work so many hours (ie, 40). If you're serious about your entrepreneurship, be willing to devote more than 40 hours if you want any measure of success. I haven't done that, you say? True. But few would call me successful. I've been lucky, but not everyone will be. Don't assume you'll be lucky too.
You can get more flexibility working for yourself. Don't confuse that with more time off.
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Those are the reasons that come readily to mind that friends have had for wanting to "entrepreneur". Now, why do I do it?
1) Freedom with myself
I'm my own boss. I work for my clients and they are the people I need to please, but I get to choose how the work is done and what is important. I have creative freedom to do things how I see best, and I don't have any bureaucracy or red tape to cut through. I can work efficiently without having to justify myself to anyone but the end client.
2) Freedom with boss (clients)
I chose to work for the poker clients, but I was never excited about the work. Why? Because they didn't really care about their product. They were in it solely for the money, and they could care less about the end product we created for them as long as it did what it needed to. That's very unfulfilling work as compared to my primary client. When you work for a client that cares about what they do, you work in a situation where your own effort and hard work is recognized and appreciated. When I work, I work hard and I try to deliver a quality product. Maybe it sounds weak, but it's so much more meaningful to have that recognized.
3) Freedom with organizational structure
I aspire to grow my work to a level where I have enough work to warrant the use of several programmers to create teams. At that point, I have almost complete freedom over how the business will be run (I use almost because there are laws I'll have to follow). Perhaps I can avoid the office environment you find in Dilbert with creative management. Until I do have employees, I also control my internal systems. I decide the level of paperwork required and any other procedures. This is a liberating freedom.
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I like working for myself, but more importantly I like my work.
Monday, October 30, 2006
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3 comments:
40 hour work weeks? Work less? Hm, that's kind of counterintuitive. I would have thought that people who work for themselves normally have to work more...
btw, what piece is that? it's sad. =\
I would say it's very unusual for someone who is self-employed to work less than 40 hours in a week. If you care about your business and you want it to succeed you'll put in as many hours as necessary (or as possible).
I don't know the name of the piece actually. It's from the anime Noir - it had pretty good music. I don't really hear enough accordion =).
That is, I dont hear enough accordion in music these days.
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