by JimRaffel on November 9, 2010
A little over fifteen years ago I quit what, in hindsight, can only be termed a great job. I was about 30, had just completed an MBA program (paid for in large part by my employer) and had received a very nice raise to keep me happy now that I had three extra letters after my name. It gets better – I had a great deal of freedom to work on the projects I wanted to and worked no more than 50 hours a week. Vacation, sick time, holiday pay, 401(k), health insurance – anyway you get the picture.
I quit
I did not quit for a better “job” that paid more or was in a better geographic location. No, instead I decided to go back to my own consulting practice. I had it all arranged and lined up. Unfortunately, my initial partner in the venture was, in my opinion, less than truthful. Now what? I thought about taking another “job” but the reality is I was just 30 years old and already in my second venture on my own. This self-employed thing either runs in your veins or it does not. It runs in mine.
I started over. Within a very short period of time my wife and I determined this was going to be a dire situation quickly. I contacted a few previous consulting clients and cobbled together a living wage to tide us over. Then, when an opportunity presented itself, I contacted my current business partner and asked if he’d be interested in some software development work in exchange for half of the resulting company. This all happened within two months of leaving my previous job. There was clearly some hustling involved.
I trusted myself
There are times I believe the most difficult part of working for yourself is not second guessing yourself. Fifteen or so years ago I trusted that I could use that same creativity that earned me a flexible job to find enough clients to pay our bills. ColorMetrix looks nothing like the company Mike and I started years ago, but we are still going strong making sure color problems do not mess up our client’s bottom lines.
What’s your take on working for yourself?
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by JimRaffel on July 7, 2010
Starting and running a small business is hard work. Forgot about 9 to 5 this is not a job. Success, in fact will be defined by working more hours than you dreamed possible and loving every minute of it.
You want to change the world? Not in 40 hours a week you’re not going too. My guess is you’ll spend 40 hours a week getting your customer facing work done. Then, another 20 to 40 hours a week growing your knowledge and doing all the behind the scenes work necessary to keep your business running. That’s right, 60 to 80 hours a week to get this baby cranking.
Work when your customers need you. Caller ID and a smartphone are your friend. When a customer contacts you before 9am or after 5pm …. respond as quickly as humanly possible. You are either matching the service of your competitor or differentiating yourself from competitors who leave them hanging until 9am the next business day.
Don’t waste time. Unless your driving the vehicle, travel time to and from customer sites is not play time it’s work time. Read a business book, prepare for the meeting you are attending, catchup on expensive reports of paperwork. The reason your friends think you are only working 20 hours a week is because you don’t gather around the water cooler four times a day to chat. I’ve written entire blog posts in the 30 minutes before a flight boards. The same thirty minutes several of my fellow passengers spent in the bar grabbing a beer. It’s a choice, your choice to use the time wisely.
Vacation is a twenty hour week. Perhaps I really am just a workaholic but for me being on vacation still means working 20 hours a week. I refuse to leave my customers hanging. I am capable of reading email once a day and responding. I bring along business reading to read when my head is clear and my schedule as well.
Work/Family balance. Like you had that when you couldn’t take off work for a ball game of school field trip? You didn’t, you had the illusion of balance. The flip side for a small business owner is the 2 or 3 hours of work that comes after the cub scout meeting. Yes, you will work your ass off and be dead tired….a lot. The key is if you love what you are doing none of it will bother you.
I’d love to see the comments on this post filled with input from the other small business owners I know read this blog. Please, back me up or let me know I’m all wet. Either is fine.
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