http://www.making-ripples.com/2007/08/are-you-ready-f.html
Aug 04, 2007
Are you ready for self-employment?
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One of the first things you discover when you shift from being an employee to being self-employed, is that your time is no longer structured. All of the reminders and nudges you used to get from your boss and co-workers now come from your own mind as it races to keep track of the obligations you have inadvertently stacked up for yourself.
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I’d make the observation that even if you are “working for the man”, as our Japanese friends call it “salaryman”, in today’s economy, you are “working for yourself”. While it may not look like it, you are. You have to be burning the candle at five ends, just as if you were working for yourself.
Whether you are satisfying a Customer in your own business, or you are satisfying a Colleague in someone else’s, it’s really just semantics. You need to be:
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delivering value to Customers or Colleagues;
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publicizing what you’ve accomplished without being a blowhard;
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anticipating your current Customer’s needs;
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maintaining your personal productivity in your “guild”;
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preparing for any shift or change in your “guild”; and
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managing ruthlessly your personal finances.
Let’s dive into the weeds, just a tad.
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You retain value for yourself, regardless of whose business it is, by unleashing value in far bigger multiples that what you “cost”.
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You must ensure that your “Customers” understand the value you create. And, you have to do it with panache.
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You have to anticipate what your “Customers” need, want, and will want. In some respects, it’s hard because your Customers may not know what they need or appreciate you “looking out” for them.
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You have to be continually improving your skill set. Last year’s records become today’s standards.
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You can be achieving and anticipating, but if your guild shifts, you can’t allow yourself to be made obsolete. CICS systems programmers who missed the memo about Client Server computing. Blacksmiths have to shift to be car mechanics.
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You are only assured of the last check you cashed. Your “burn rate” must not exceed your “earn rate”. Personally, my AT&T golden handshake became a decade later my seed money for my own business. Ruthlessly, you must have a cash reserve appropriate for how long it will take you to shift from “burning” to “earning”.
So, imho, it really doesn’t matter if your in your own biz, or not. Regardless if you know it or not, you are.
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Reinke Faces Life 