Finding the happiness in beeing your own boss

A large nuber of the worlds best consultants and experts are no longer employed, instead they work as individual professionals.

A number of surveys conducted worldwide show that self-employed and full-time employees are more likely to feel happy when they work because they see their work as an important part of what makes them happy.
Those employed full-time were generally happy at work, but considered their employment mostly as a mean to enjoy leisure activities outside working hours.

There are countless reasons why people choose to start their own businesess.
Some do it because they have ideas that they think may change the world, some want to avoid working between 9-5 and want to take control of their life and some simply want to create something for the future.

If you choose to become self-employed we want to share some tips.

Create a workplace where you want to work, not just the physical space though it’s important, but decide if you want flexible working hours, work in comfortable clothes or bring your dog to work. A big part of being your own boss is to be able to control your work environment as well as your work.

Choose your customers with care, it may not be possible at the beginning, but as you become established, you should choose the customers who respect you and you are comfortable working with.

Set your own work schedule if you want to start working at 5 in the morning, or want to leave for a few hours in the middle of the day, work late in the evening or work on the weekend and take time off at the middle of the week, Do It as long as your assignments allow it.

Nobody chooses to become their own boss to work 24/7, ruin relationships and make their families unhappy.
Despite this, it happens to often, do you want to avoid it?

Here some advice from happy entrepreneurs that share their tactics on how to be their own boss and love it.

“I have an timer that gives me exactly one minute to rant about things, so when I want to complain or vent problems with my partner, I turn it on and go at it for a whole minute! Then we can discuss solutions if needed. But most often I can go on and enjoy my family when I’ve got what I had to say of my chest. In the past, I used to dwell on things for hours and had difficulty moving on, this helped me to balance and not let the job take Over home ”

“I plan fun activities the same way I plan business meetings. I add things to my calendar like” Lying in the Bed and Reading a Book”  That sounds wierd, I know, BUT it works. I’ve also took up old hobbies like knitting and Baking, which gives me creative satisfaction without being a job ”

“When someone points out that my life is off balance, I sit down and try to write down all the things that I spend my time doing during my awake hours. I write down everything I do outside of my usual 8 Hour workday, and how much time I spend on different things.
Next to that list I write down the five things that I consider to be the most important in my life, giving me perspective and motivation to restore the balance ”

“Having a travel business is a 24/7 job and it makes it almost impossible to keep my work from controlling my life. But I or rather my wife has found a way to disconnect me so that I can continue to be husband and father. My wife takes my phone on friday nights and returns it to me on saturday morning. No calls, no emails and no text. It’s hard for me to give up the phone, but my wife is a psychiatrist so I guess she knows best ”

“It’s so easy to get stuck in work and routines when you work for yourself, I don’t know how many nights I’ve spent on the sofa in my jammies with the computer on my lap. I barely take time to cook and just do something quick and easy…simply because I’m I love my work. Luckily I have a dog that makes me get out of the couch and out of the house. She gives me balance in my life “

You can say that having your own business and beeing self-employment is freedom with responsibilities! Responsibility to make it work financially, but also responsibility towards yourself, don’t forget why you wanted to be your own boss.