I had been an employee for almost 30 years of my working life and thanks to the great coaching I received over three years ago, I decided to take the plunge and work on my own, be brave, do my own thing!   It was a very challenging step to take, pastures very new and all that.  I had always had the safety blanket of a structured work life with a regular salary coming in together with a reliable support infrastructure of people around me to call on.  If anything went wrong, it got fixed.

For some weeks after I took the self employment plunge,  I would wake in the night, every night, with a knot of fear inside me thinking “what have I done?”  It took a while before the realisation hit me that it was the uncertainty I feared and that I did not have anything to worry about, I had made sure I had a financial cushion to dip into, I had a roof over my head, I had people in my life who supported me and I was fine.  What was the worst thing that could possibly happen I asked myself?   Well, if it did not all work out I could always go and get another job, couldn’t I?  So with that thought in mind, onward and upward I went.

Here are the 5 best things about working for myself.

1) Freedom

Top of my list is Freedom.   Freedom to choose what I do, freedom to choose when I do it and freedom to choose who I do it with.   Once I had tasted this freedom, I do not think I can possibly ever turn back.

2) Being in Control of My Life

The ability to make my own choices gives me the courage to be braver and seek out new challenges.  I love not having to be accountable to anyone else.

3) My Clients

It is such an uplifting experience to know that I can help others,  to witness my coaching clients and Creative Circles clients succeed and to know that I had a hand in getting them to dig deep within themselves to uncover the riches that were there all along.

4) The Interesting People I Meet and the Wonderful Experiences I Have

Since working for myself, I seem to be meeting all sorts of interesting people and having the most interesting encounters.  This is all proving to be very stimulating and rewarding for it is indeed people who are my business and I find them all endlessly fascinating, I’ve always been curious about people, how different we all are and what makes us all tick.

5) Stretching Myself Right Out Of My Comfort Zone

Having put myself way out of my comfort zone and become self employed, I have discovered that I am flexing this muscle more and more, doing things I never even dreamed of earlier.  pushing the envelope so to speak.  I am loving the challenge of it all.