During my first year as a freelancer I began at square one. I worked a lot.
I had some money saved but the stress and anxiety of not knowing how I would bring money to next month’s bills took a lot of energy. It was a few months filled with uncertainty and many questions. Just the case that I was sitting at home on my 22 square meters throughout the day was weird. For that was what I did. It was not as widespread as today to work at cafes at the time. And I was quite alone among my friends to run my own company.
I said yes to any assignment that came my way. I put no value in thinking about the time frame, it didn’t matter if it would be ready within a day or two. It was a assignment, the only thing I saw was the dollar sign, money for next month’s expenses.
I worked a lot and had fun. Really fun. I never thought of searching for employment. It was just about trying to find a structure in the day and look for assignments. My idea was to see possibilities in everything and don’t focus too much on hourly rates. It was a successful concept.
See opportunities in everything and don’t focus too much on hourly rates. Focus on collecting experiences and references from customers.
Everything went pretty well, after a few months I got more and more assignments and money in the bank. I earned enough to pay my bills and live as my friends.
After about six months, it became even more work. I saw the 24 hours of the day that I atleast can work 10-14 hours of them and even much of the weekend. Now when I thinking back, I can’t think of a single day when I wasn’t working. I always worked a few hours each day throughout my first year as self employed.
Enough
I knew you could become totally leached from working too much. That, I had heard many times before and I’ve seen at close range what can happen to those who do. But I felt no signs of tiredness at all, it was just fun. Sure, sometimes when it became night shifts, and the only thing I did was to climb the ladder to my loft bed and down to my desk in my tiny little apartment, was not always enjoyable. But when the assignment was done and I saw the result, that feeling disappeared.
It went on, a long time. I worked a lot and rarely socialized with friends. Friends called and wanted to hang out and my answer was usually that I don’t have time. I had to work.
During my first two years of self-employment, I earned the most during my first year. My turnover was thus higher in year 1 than in year 2. But wasn’t something I aspired to. Never mind the turnover. Don’t think about it too much, let it never be your main goal. Never start a company where the main driving force is to make lots of money. You will never have the energy, this blog post is about why you will not cope. Running a business requires an extreme amount of energy and you really need to be passionate about your idea.
For the same reason, you should never be afraid to talk about your idea. Because it requires a lot for someone else to be able to drive an idea forward without being passionate about it. You have to sweat to make it happen.
Find your getaway
One way to manage to work a lot for a long time is to have a getaway. A breathing space. If you don’t, make sure to find it, in the long run you will need it.
This came up for me during Christmas 2010. During the holidays when I met my family and friends it came up to me. I was totally exhausted. My brain could not sort my thoughts. I slept a lot and felt bad without being able to sort why I felt bad. I had just had my first years of hard struggle and missing a getaway.
A getaway, a haven, is a place where you are allowed to breathe. A place where you feel comfortable and can relax. A place where work is prohibited. A time for reflection and relaxation. It can be a workout, you might singing in a choir, sewing, doing carpentry, does yoga, have a country house, a book club … whatever. In short, something you enjoy doing or a place where you can relax. Find a couple of times a week when you visit this place, a few occasions where you allow yourself to take a break from everything else and breathe.
A occasion when you do exactly what you want, except to work. It’s useful and healthy, you will need it, sooner or later, I promise.
PS. Don’t do like me, don’t rely on that you will know when you’ve had enough, because you will not know it until it’s too late. Make sure to have a breathing space freely from work already, at day one. Are you thinking of starting your own business? Do it! NOW! In four years, I haven’t regretted it once. It is amazing to jump into the unknown and dare to invest. Risk, invest, win! DS.
Thank you for reading!