Having this website and using it to generating my own income has been a challenging but very worthwhile experience. I've noticed is that if you go from being an employee for most of your life to having your own business, you will almost certainly change your attitude to the way workplaces are run. You tend to have a lot more sympathy for employers than beforehand.
For example, up until a few months ago, I had a part time job in an office, as a back up more than anything else. As is the case in pretty much every workplace, this one had some shocking time wasters who would spend half their time chatting loudly to each other and giggling stupidly.
These people had always annoyed me. But since starting my own little business their behaviour got to me even more. I'm not an aggressive person by any means, but I even reached the point of snarking curtly at them a couple of times.
Maybe I've been going overboard with this feeling, but I've even noticed it in other contexts. For example, I was in a cafe recently. One of the waitresses spent ages talking to some customers she knew personally, even sitting down with them for a few minutes at a time. I was in there for at least an hour (actually working on one of my blogs). And she must have been loudly yammering away for half of that time at least. Sure, the venue wasn't super busy. But there was certainly work to be done.
I didn't say anything, of course. But I was annoyed by the fact that the other cafe staff were working hard, yet getting paid no more than this talkative waitress. It's not fair on them, I thought. It was also not fair on the employer. He was wasting money on this employee, and others like her. He would have been working hard, coping with a lot of stress to keep the whole show on the road.
I've really noticed this change because even though I've always frowned on people who were lazy, I've never found myself sympathizing with eeevil capitalists before. Like so many people I tended to fall back on the old "workers are always the victims" line. Not anymore.
Obviously there are many cases in which the boss is the greedy bad guy. But most business people are not like that at all, I think. Just as they want to make a profit, they take pride in creating work and income for their employees and treating them well.
Still, I can understand why they are generally so misunderstood. Few people make the leap of starting their own business. Most are lifelong employees as opposed to employers. They have no investment -- economic or emotional -- in the companies they work for. They just show up to put in the hours and then go home. Sure, that's calming in one way because they can just shut off emotionally after leaving. But it can make for a boring life, in my opinion.
I think it's much better to be committed to something and creating your own work. If you do, you wake up in the morning knowing that it's up to you to deliver a service. That's invigorating. It's daunting in one way because you can easily wind up working too hard. If you become over committed you can become a kind of slave. But in the end you do call the shots. And you can cut back on the work if you like. It's a much better position to be in.
While their are huge potential pitfalls, I think that having your own business just better for you all round emotionally. You feel much more a master of your own destiny. It gives you a greater sense of purpose; a stronger sense of who you are. Also, you keep coming up against your own inner barriers. If you just work for someone else for ages that tends not to happen. You don't actually develop as much. For this reason I wish I'd discovered this way of earning a living much earlier in life.
For example, up until a few months ago, I had a part time job in an office, as a back up more than anything else. As is the case in pretty much every workplace, this one had some shocking time wasters who would spend half their time chatting loudly to each other and giggling stupidly.
These people had always annoyed me. But since starting my own little business their behaviour got to me even more. I'm not an aggressive person by any means, but I even reached the point of snarking curtly at them a couple of times.
Maybe I've been going overboard with this feeling, but I've even noticed it in other contexts. For example, I was in a cafe recently. One of the waitresses spent ages talking to some customers she knew personally, even sitting down with them for a few minutes at a time. I was in there for at least an hour (actually working on one of my blogs). And she must have been loudly yammering away for half of that time at least. Sure, the venue wasn't super busy. But there was certainly work to be done.
I didn't say anything, of course. But I was annoyed by the fact that the other cafe staff were working hard, yet getting paid no more than this talkative waitress. It's not fair on them, I thought. It was also not fair on the employer. He was wasting money on this employee, and others like her. He would have been working hard, coping with a lot of stress to keep the whole show on the road.
I've really noticed this change because even though I've always frowned on people who were lazy, I've never found myself sympathizing with eeevil capitalists before. Like so many people I tended to fall back on the old "workers are always the victims" line. Not anymore.
Obviously there are many cases in which the boss is the greedy bad guy. But most business people are not like that at all, I think. Just as they want to make a profit, they take pride in creating work and income for their employees and treating them well.
Still, I can understand why they are generally so misunderstood. Few people make the leap of starting their own business. Most are lifelong employees as opposed to employers. They have no investment -- economic or emotional -- in the companies they work for. They just show up to put in the hours and then go home. Sure, that's calming in one way because they can just shut off emotionally after leaving. But it can make for a boring life, in my opinion.
I think it's much better to be committed to something and creating your own work. If you do, you wake up in the morning knowing that it's up to you to deliver a service. That's invigorating. It's daunting in one way because you can easily wind up working too hard. If you become over committed you can become a kind of slave. But in the end you do call the shots. And you can cut back on the work if you like. It's a much better position to be in.
While their are huge potential pitfalls, I think that having your own business just better for you all round emotionally. You feel much more a master of your own destiny. It gives you a greater sense of purpose; a stronger sense of who you are. Also, you keep coming up against your own inner barriers. If you just work for someone else for ages that tends not to happen. You don't actually develop as much. For this reason I wish I'd discovered this way of earning a living much earlier in life.
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