The Struggles of Self-Employment How to Overcome Them IM HIRED

The Struggles of Self-Employment How to Overcome Them Doing it on your own If you’ve never experienced self-employment, its difficult to fully understand just how different it is to having a 9-5 career. Many people imagine it to be more laid back than full time employment, but that’s not necessarily the case. There are many challenges to overcome before you consider going self-employed. By understanding any problems that likely lie ahead, youll be more prepared, helping you to avoid disasters further down the line.   Balancing Your Time When you’re self-employed, balancing your work and personal life can be a challenge. There is always the temptation to blur the lines, but you shouldn’t let that happen. It’s important to have a healthy work-life balance if you want to stay happy and healthy. Set a schedule and stick to deadlines so work doesn’t slip into your home life. Selling Yourself When you’re working for yourself, you have to learn how to sell yourself. Your personality is part of your brand. This is something that you should try to embrace as early as possible. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there as much as you can. Get to know clients and connections in your industry and start networking. Meeting All of Your Tax Obligations Self-employed people have to look after their own tax affairs very carefully because no one is there to do it for them. You should use software like UltimateTax if you want the right help with your taxes. There’s no sense in taking any risks with your taxes. So use software to track spending and keep hold of any receipts you get. Staying Motivated Staying properly motivated is one of those things that is hard to do when you don’t have someone there pushing you. It’s about finding ways to keep on top of things.   You won’t have a boss breathing down your neck, so you have to be the person who puts pressure on. Creating a Safety Net When things are going wrong, it’s good to have some kind of financial cushion or safety net beneath you. However, the challenge really comes with creating that safety net, which isn’t easy when your finances arent stable and you don’t know where your next client is coming from. You should try to put money aside for a rainy day whenever you can because it certainly will rain on you as a freelancer sooner or later. Keeping yourself afloat can be a real challenge. It’s important to plan out your finances and ensure your taking on enough work to keep the money rolling in.   Getting Heard and Known You should think about how getting your voice out there and being known by people who matter most really does make a difference. So speak to people in your sector and have a plan. Connecting with influential people, will help you build yourself a support network. The longer you persist at presenting yourself and your ideas, the sooner you will get to where you want to be. Finding the Right Direction Finding the right direction is not as easy as it might sound when you’re working as a self-employed person. You have to find out where your own talents and competencies lie, as well as what your shortcomings are. On top of that, you need to think about profitability because after all, this is about making money and staying on top. If you can’t do that, you will find it hard to be successful as a freelancer. Doing Dull Admin Admin is not the most interested nor the most exciting thing in the world to spend your time doing when you’re trying to be successful self-employed. But you also need to know that this stuff is important and has to be done. You need to keep things organised and get all the admin done if you want to have any chance of succeeding in your freelance efforts.   Being a self-employed person is not always easy, and you’ll need to confront these career challenges at some point. But none of this should put you off pushing forward with this endeavour if you want to become self-employed. It can also be very freeing and also very rewarding when you achieve success knowing you did it all yourself.