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Self-Employment is Self-Care.

Well, sometimes at least.

By Art APublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Self-Employment is Self-Care.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

The middle

I love my job because...

I'm my own boss. And, truth be told, I'm a pretty easy guy to work for.

Need an afternoon off? You got it. Forgot about a presentation? No worries, I'll pick up the slack and deal with the client. Performance review? Let's skip it and go for a beer.

Sure, I could make things a little easier on my boss. But he could push me a little harder too. That's never been his style though. There's beauty in the in-between, and we've found a balance that works for us.

The work looks different every day, and so do the clients. One afternoon I might be writing about personal finance, the next morning it could be copy for a mindfulness app. They say variety is the spice of life, right?

But, like so many of us have, I've been thinking about next steps lately. Before we get to that, let's go back to the start.

The beginning

We used to talk about the idea of dream jobs. Now I'm older, and maybe a little wiser, I don't dream of labour anymore. "Work to live, don't live to work" and all of that good stuff.

When I was a kid, my parents would tell me to "follow my dreams." I didn't know back then that's a phrase that comes with an unwritten and unspoken caveat: "...as long as they pay the rent."

I fumbled around in retail and marketing for a few years, climbing a career ladder of which I couldn't quite see the final rung, before deciding that I wanted to work for myself. I never looked right in a suit anyway.

Almost a decade later, here I am.

Being self-employed has given me opportunities that most full-time jobs aren't capable of. Month long sabbaticals in the US. Volunteering at a dog sanctuary (read: trying not to adopt them all). Growing vegetables in the back garden to lower the environment impact of my household.

Being in control of my own destiny.

Coronavirus tried to take that away from me, of course, like it's taken so much from all of us. But it's finally starting to feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel. (I just hope it's not the headlights of an incoming car.)

The end?

Yet, by coincidence, I've found myself thinking about taking a full-time role recently. I've collaborated with the agency before and they do great work. Wonderful co-workers. Socially responsible company. The whole she-bang.

But it's got me asking: what, or who, is a freelancer when they aren't free?

Self-employment has value far beyond the money you make from it. It teaches you how to market yourself, to follow your instincts about potential clients, and to learn how to make yourself indispensible.

What I mean by that is that the best freelancers will inevitably find themselves faced with offers of full-time employment from clients.

That's not (just) because clients want to bring the hourly wage down, but because those who are good at freelancing are flexible and versatile enough that they're capable of plugging into a business to cover up cracks and fill gaps that might not otherwise get fixed.

You heard it here first: great freelancers are Spackle.

* * *

So will I take this job? Or the next full-time opportunity that comes along?

I honestly don't know yet.

And I'm not just saying that to be cute, or because it makes a good ending.

I've been self-employed for around ten years and I've come to realise, especially as the world fell apart around us due to the pandemic, that the business I've carved out for myself means a lot to me. More than I knew.

Then again, you can't build a home from Spackle alone.

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