Continuing our theme of unexpected aspects of working for yourself, I want to cover how working for yourself will affect you.

Massive Distrust

I often talk about how entrepreneurs will go through a ‘trial by fire.’ If you aren’t used to dealing with late paying and demanding clients then it will most often come as a shock. This may cause you to react a little negatively. We all want to think the very best of everyone, but business teaches you that a promise is worthless and you can only trust some people when the money is in the bank.

Confidence

One thing that will certainly happen is that over time you will build up confidence. A large part of being an entrepreneur is meeting and persuading complete strangers to give you money. This is no easy thing! Confidence is a lot like fitness though; it takes a lot of time to build up but can easily be stripped away. Being an entrepreneur will make you a more confident and outward person but it will also toughen you up.

Personal Life

I always say that when I compare working for myself and working for other people that on a day to day basis, working for yourself is more enjoyable BUT when you have a bad day it’s really bad. This is why it’s important to have a close collection of friends and family to support you. Try not to use them as an outlet to moan all the time or it will quickly become tiresome!

One problem is that generally if people are only used to working for other people may not understand the sorts of issues you’ll be coming up against when working for yourself. This is why it’s good to have a professional network of people who will understand what you’re going through.

It’s not easy balancing your home and work life. Sometimes you will have to put work first and that can mean missing out while everyone else is having fun.

See The Money

Once you start making money and understanding where the real value is in things, you can’t stop! You quickly understand and evaluate the businesses and services that you use and figure out where the profit lies in them.