Not to be

by Patricia Oshier Franks

Created on: September 19, 2009   Last Updated: September 28, 2009

The decision to be or not to be self-employed should not be taken lightly or made in haste. Be aware of the advantages and disadvantages on each side. Before deciding to 'be your own boss', think about what that means. You make all of the decisions and do all of the work as well as taking every drop of credit and pocketing every cent of income. However, I've seen the boss's job and I don't want it.

Several years ago I was the owner of a small clerical business operated out of my home in a small community. I was self-employed as well as wife and mother, taking care of my family. In trying not to allow one to interfere with the other, personal and professional lives were affected. The more I focused on business, the more my family was neglected. But if I concentrated on family, business suffered. In the end, both suffered and the trade-off wasn't worth the effort. As the boss and sole employee, I was responsible for everything. Unless you can wear many hats and are a jack of all trades, thus master of none, no one person is capable of doing everything. And to make your work profitable, you have to do it all.

In addition to marketing, to attract clients, I did the work for those clients, my own bookkeeping and records, advertising, etc. A lot of legwork and expense went into attracting clients. Advertising and marketing carry prohibitive costs so I was unable to use radio and television. I had business cards created. The local printer offered a good special on first time orders. I peddled these cards, leaving them on public bulletin boards, car windshields in parking lots, and even did presentations to local writers, which made me extremely nervous as I'm not a public speaker. I forced myself to endure that discomfort in hopes of a decent supplemental income. Business cards and flyers listing my services littered every bulletin board in the area. Those services included resumes, correspondence, typing/editing documents, record keeping, and bookkeeping. I did a lot of resumes and letters, as well as my own office management, which entailed all of the above.

I believed being my own boss would allow me a lot more free time for my greatest passion, writing fiction. Business, however, only took up more of my time for little return. The stress level skyrocketed and I stopped writing, thus abandoning one goal. The business took over as I scrambled for more clients. In the end, relocating to another city due to my former husband's job was a blessing in disguise.

At first I stressed over whether or not I could continue doing business from such a distance but I knew we needed more income than my husband's paycheck alone and the little provided by my work was not enough. After acquiring a job, it soon became obvious I preferred not to be the boss. No headaches, stress, or worries and the income was sufficient to help meet the daily needs of living. I admit I liked the security of a steady income.

Yes, as a published novelist and freelance writer, some would consider me self-employed but it is not something I do solely to earn a living. I simply indulge in my favorite activity and earn money for it. I require a job to earn a living and prefer the stress-free environment where the boss deals with headaches and hassles. From my own experience, I chose not to be self-employed.

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