ALT-9 To be or not to be self Employed – To be
I kind of had to vote "yes" on this debate since my husband is self-employed and has successfully run his business for years now; but before I started writing this article I glanced over the articles from both sides of the argument. I found it amusing that some who voted "no" on the topic were actually business owners or self-employed themselves. I laughed because I almost voted "no" myself! I was even wishing there was a "maybe" or "undecided" choice since I find that in our own business, it sucks (for lack of better word) some days to be the one in charge of pay-ables, receivables, banking, collecting, servicing, and all the other -ings and -es involved. Self-employed and small business is not for the faint of heart. You have to be tough and man up to every situation that gets thrown at you each and every day. My husband always says that "it's the same 'stuff', just a different day". Sounds a tad grueling, I know, but it is reality for us in our business. You have no one to watch your back but yourself. After saying all this, I guess I should HAVE voted "no" which is more than likely why the others who are self-employed DID vote "no". They feel the same way.
On the other hand, I could not picture my husband doing anything else but work for himself. We have talked about him finding another job, yet in the end we come to the conclusion that he is his own boss and the idea of sitting in a cubicle taking orders from someone else just doesn't fit him. So here we are working for ourselves. It is a deep dedication to make the business work every day. The challenges are always there, and the satisfaction of a job well done is what we cling to to keep us going. I'd like to say it is truly rewarding and the benefits are just flowing in, but the truth is its just a job. You take the good with the bad. And let's not even get started on the stress and lack of sleep feature! Oh the woes of being self-employed!
I think I'm coming across as completely spiteful of my husband's choice to be self-employed. Regardless of all the pain and torture of owning a small business, he does have one thing that I very much admire of him: his self-respect. He can look at the job he just completed and be proud of his hard work. He also gets to plan his days and hours; he gets to work directly with the customer; he gets to be creative with each job he does since its something different everyday; and he can look back one day at his accomplishment of running a successful business on his own. He is the strongest and smartest man I know. So to him and all those who are self-employed, hang in there and kudos to you for doing what alot of people cannot....be self-employed.
