Are you thinking about starting your own business? Of course you are! This is the internet and it’s chock-full of entrepreneurs or wannabe entrepreneurs (wannapreneurs? Wikipedia, add that. Or, I’ll add it, ya know, when I can.). Since I have been successfully running my own company for the past three months, I would like to share the good, the bad, and the ugly about what I’ve learned so far. I’m adding value, please alert Lisa Barone.
THE GOOD
1. Hello, freedom
Last week, I worked from Los Angeles, then from the San Jose Airport, then in Phoenix. And, I actually got work done and kept on schedule and only had one anxiety attack. Progress, people, progress. In all actuality, the freedom to move about the country at will is absolutely invaluable to me. No asking for time off, except from myself, and, let’s be real here, I’m a fabulous boss. I get to set my own schedule and am solely dependent on setting timelines, which is empowering to be able to handle on my own, considering that any type of feeling of being tied down or restricted makes me feel terribly suffocated.
Not to mention, I’ve been looking into traveling to Europe, staying in a country for a few months, and soaking in the culture. There are very few jobs that allow this type of freedom and I intend on fully expanding my knowledge to include other cultures, while I silently hope I find someone better than (update: MOST) American men to possibly, one day, make babies with.
2. Truly, I’m doing something I love
Most people don’t start a company to finally do something they hate. It’s a passion; it has to be, otherwise why are you doing it? You might as well stay in your cushy cubicle, making your monthly paycheck if you’re going to ditch out to start working for yourself doing something you aren’t passionate about. Because the only thing that keeps me working the long hours that I do is knowing that I’m pursuing working at something I absolutely love and am passionate about getting better at. Yeah, ok, that was cheesy and mushy. I have my moments. Deal with it.
3. Revenue, business generation, marketing, is all solely dependent on me
Does that scare any of you? I’m sure it does, because that scares me, as well. Then again, it’s an amazing feeling when you think about it. My paycheck can fluctuate depending solely on my ability to work hard and produce high quality results. As an employee of most any organization, the fruits of your labor are hardly ever monetized and, maybe, will bear you a pat on the back or a hearty, “Good job!” For me, I can put more time into marketing or take on more projects to generate more revenue; my financial success is on my own shoulders and I see the rewards immediately. If I want a raise, I need to put in more hours or market myself differently; it’s as simple as that. Well, maybe not simple, but it’s a better set up than working my ass off for someone else’s vision and their bottom line, instead of my own.
THE BAD
1. No coworkers
I’m a pretty social and outgoing person, if you couldn’t tell. And, sometimes I feel like I need that fun banter I used to have with coworkers, including, but not limited to, workplace sexual tension. Some of my most creative ideas have been the product of wanting to impress a coworker because we had scintillating tension between us. Granted, I’ve gotten in trouble in the past, especially with unnecessarily jealous girlfriends, but that’s another blog post all together.
Anyways.
With graphic design, the process becomes more interesting when I can brainstorm with someone. I have plans for expansion, which includes opening up a design studio with other creative types like myself, but for now, while I’m building, my in-house office can feel pretty lonely and uninspiring. Thankfully, I have the ability to chat online with friends, but it pales in comparison to in real life banter and camaraderie with your team at work. (And, seriously, sometimes I feel pent up tension from not flirting enough. I know, I’m sick.)
2. There’s a significant amount of pressure on myself
If I don’t call people back, I don’t get the job. If I don’t answer emails, my business starts to float away. If I don’t get the work done, I don’t get paid. Sometimes this pressure feels a little bit like I’m going to have a complete panic attack, as in last night, where I couldn’t sleep and had dreams of missing phone calls and talking with important people in my drunk voice and randomly running out of chicken cold cuts for some appetizer I needed for someone’s book launch that I was apparently “designing.” Right? Pressure. Do you even see what I have to deal with here? Smiley face.
THE UGLY
There’s just one:
1. I talk to myself… a lot.
Which, may explain why, as of late, I have been described as a “beautiful mess” and a “super-confident nutcase.” Awww, you all know me so well.
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How fortunate you are to have started this journey of entrepreneurship now vs. 25 years from now. The lessons you are learning along the way are going to prove unbelievable valuable.
With your ability and drive you’ll kill it.
As for the talking to yourself deal, I can relate. It might help if you got a dog. You could talk to it instead. Oh but wait – you can’t because you hate dogs….never mind.
Lastly, “someone better than an American man”? WTF?
Let’s just be clear here — I don’t HATE dogs. I’m just not so much a pet person. Jeez, Rob, you’re ruining my good name here. =)
What I love and why you’re a “beautiful mess,” is that you just said, I’m going to do this and totally rocked it. Now that you hadn’t thought it through and weighed your options yadda yadda yadda, but I’m so calculated and precise about it all that I’ve convinced myself I need _________ experience, and then to be making _________ of total revenue, etc.
And I love that you embrace the fact that everything is dependent on you. I had a friend from grad school go into a *GASP* sales job in this economy. He loves it. He said he loves knowing the size of his paycheck is dependent on how hard he works. I suspect that’s a pretty liberating feeling!
Good stuff Jamie!
A ton of pressure but an abundance of freedom. No one to answer to but yourself. Such is the blessing and the curse of an entrepreneur, eh? I think we are in agreement that the good far outweighs the bad (if you thought otherwise you wouldn’t be doing what you do). You clearly have skill – and you have found a way to apply that skill into doing something that you love. It’s what we all (or at least most of us) aspire to be doing.
That’s the challenge for most of us – not knowing what we’re good at, but knowing how to apply our skills into a grand money-making scheme. I’m still soul-searching for that myself. Congrats on all your success so far!
You are my favorite “super-confident nutcase!” And I am so happy this is working out so well for you.
I’ll just bow down to your greatness and leave it at that.
You hate dogs?!? Weak.
I am really happy to see that you have been able to pursue a career and business that you are passionate about. As Rob was saying, it can take others many years to come to the revelation that following your dreams and passions is profitable.
Having to rely so heavily on yourself might be stressful in the near term, but will make you much stronger as time goes on. The confidence will also give you the ability to make more risky and successful moves in the future.
Its great to hear your progress and I will be looking forward to updates in the future.
Yeah, I’m definitely not the entrepreneurial (hopefully I spelled that somewhat correctly) type. But if it is something that works for you, go for it, you know? Not everyone is destined to do the same thing. I think it’s awesome that you have the drive to do what you’re doing.
And by the way, thank you so much for posting blog entries that don’t raise my blood pressure. Even though you used the term “adding value” (which I hate).
I have WAY huger gripes about that blog entry by Lisa Barone. Wow. I may have to write a blog about that post and how pissed I am about it.
That wonderful that everything is going well for you! I’ve promised myself that when I start grad school in the fall that I’ll start seriously pursuing freelance work, followed by starting an LLC once I’ve done a bit of trial and error first. I’m sold on “the good” and it’s nice to hear some of “the bad” from your perspective. The coworker thing is a good point.
Yet again, Jamie, you inspired me. I just quit my job!
OK, so I was kidding. But I admit, pretending that I did felt pretty liberating! I guess I can only imagine what it would be like to work for myself…
However, I kinda sort lucked out and happen to have a job that I love and am passionate about — and one that gives me a work/life balance to boot, so come 5:01 on the dot I actually have time to welcome writer’s block yet again — in both the blogging and freelance copywriting circles. Oh…and that novel that I have yet to start. Hmm.
However, you forgot to leave out the part where you don’t have to endure the suffering of weird s@x dreams about a somewhat nerdy but influential co-worker. I recently had a dream that my marketing department colleagues and I were having a sleepover. Yes, odd. Was I anxious about my workload that week? You bet. In attendance at this impromptu “sleepover” (circa 1989 — the leggings and banana clips made that part pretty obvious) were two of our company’s big cheeses, acting like 10 year old girls, perched on the bed, kicking their legs back and forth, entrenched in girl talk – even tossing pieces of popcorn from a big arse bowl up in the air and catching them on their tongues. We were all trading secrets, heck, we probably even had our NKOTB trading cards (I believe there was a game of Mall Madness lying on the rug, come to think of it. Seriously!). That was Monday night. So, come Tuesday morning, I decided to do the unthinkable (aka, the unforgivable), and I shared this lucid recollection with my coworkers…and it had a snowball effect. More of a downward spiral, you might say. On Wednesday, a fellow marketing manager came in and “thanked” me for sharing my dream – she had just had one too. And then on Thursday, another marketing manager came in, bleary eyed, distraught, shaking her head at me. She too had had one, and needed a cup of coffee and a Boston Creme donut to take away the pain. I told her I understood, and the three of us shuddered together, making silent but much needed finger-down-throat puke faces, and then went our separate ways, back to our cubes and respective offices.
It’s really awesome that you jumped on the entrepreneur wagon so early in your life. I’ve hesitated for years and finally when my crappy company got sold to another and I got laid off I had that “it’s now or never” moment. Ah, how great it was for me to “loose” that job and win my life. The freedom, the ability to not only set your own hours but more importantly set your own course. It’s invaluable and much more meaningful that any other “regular” job could have given me.
What no hash tags on this post?!!! ####!!!! My!! You are moving on! Congrats and another step up on the Jamie ladder! Keep up the hard work. And you are the best boss ever!!
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with talking to one’s self!
Good luck with the new business!