Since the pandemic, the job market has changed considerably. The way we work has changed dramatically with many people nowadays working from home as part of their work environment. Some might work completely remotely, while others mix between home and the office.
One major advantage of this shift in work life is the opportunity for entrepreneurship. The pandemic gave many people the opportunity to reflect and to gain perspective. For some, that meant a change of career or a move from one company to another.
Self-employment isn’t for everyone but there are plenty of self-employed job ideas out there if you’re looking to venture into this industry in particular. With that in mind, here are a few top tips for pursuing a career in self-employment.
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Determine your area of expertise
It’s important to look at where your expertise lie and for some that might be in a number of different areas. Consider what your expertise might be and how you might be able to use that within a self-employed context. For some talents, it might not be something that you can transfer over into self-employment.
However, those restrictions are likely few and far between. There’s a chance that most of the ideas you have when it comes to going from employed to self-employed are entirely possible. With that being said, make sure you’ve selected the right area of expertise before diving in feet first.
Create a schedule
When it comes to being self-employed, you want to create a schedule. One of the advantages of being self-employed is that you get to choose your own hours. That’s great because it means you can enjoy the benefits of working late or starting early to finish earlier.
There are lots of different combinations of working hours when it comes to self-employment. However, having some semblance of structure is important, and creating a schedule will certainly achieve that.
Think about what your working day will need to look like when it comes to the self-employed work you take on. Make sure that’s something you can successfully achieve.
Work on your discipline and weaknesses
What are your weaknesses when it comes to your work attitude? Procrastination can impact all of us, some more than others. That’s why it’s important to have discipline when it comes to being self-employed. If you’re not disciplining yourself to work when the work needs to be done, then there’s a likelihood that this won’t be the type of employment for you.
As you are your own boss, you’re not really answering to anyone in particular, other than yourself and those clients you work for. With that being said, you want to focus on the weaknesses you do have when it comes to time management or organization so that you can fix these problems before stepping into the self-employed world.
Become the best type of boss for work-life balance
In order to thrive in a self-employment role, you want to be the best boss. The best type of boss is one that balances the work-life ratio. As you only answer for yourself when setting the hours and the time you spend on work itself, try to have an equal ratio of both.
Even if that can’t always be the case, it’s important to try and implement it where you can. Even if you’re a workaholic, you need to be able to take a break and unwind. Otherwise, you’ll burn out and be useful to no one.
Manage your money carefully
Being self-employed, the one, major challenge you need to overcome is money management. Not every month might be as financially hefty as the next. That means that you’ll need to be able to manage your money well and without putting yourself into debt.
Think about having some emergency funds saved for a rainy day or month. This is useful to help alleviate some of the stresses that come with self-employment, one being money!
Network and form work relationships online and offline
When it comes to being self-employed, it’s not always what you know but who you know that makes a big difference. Networking is something you want to be proactive about and meeting new people. Forming those relationships either offline or online is going to make a big difference to the successes you have as a result.
Try to meet new people everywhere you go and through every interaction, you have where possible. You never know who you might influence or be influenced by in the future.
With these tips, you can take the first necessary steps into your self-employed life.
