Can you be your own Boss ?

Would you like to be your own boss ? Then remember that you will also be your own employee. Discipline, commitment and self organization are some of the skills you may need to develop and to sustain.

Clearly, you can handle this challenge when you work for a client who is mostly as demanding as your boss if you were an employee. But how about working for yourself, on your own project ?

Would you be that rigorous and hard working ? Would you stick to your very own milestones and deadlines when there is no(t yet) person watching you, i.e. associate, investor, advertiser, etc. ?

This has been my ongoing challenge for 18 months, leveraging two of my blogs into daily media which I want to be grown and sustainable. Here I reflect on some of the lessons I have learnt so far.

New (enriching) routines

Eventually, you would piece together a digital toolbox to collect and to monitor the precious information brought by your project, and to generate leads.

You would also start checking and feeding your calendar more frequently to not miss opportunities to get in touch with amazing people who would love and engage with your project.

Then, you would regularly review your journey: Assimilating insights, watching your competition, getting inspired, acknowledging your lacks, rethinking and brainstorming your choices, weighting new options, readjusting, and ultimately, congratulating yourself for your non-stop solo adventure.

Remember that at this stage, you might be the only one to handle all of the above. You are the boss, but still..

Gift yourself other perspectives

.. You have only one opinion, and a single perception of your work. Never hesitate to ask your acquaintances and connections, not to forget your growing community, about their first impressions and opinions about your work, whether it is creative or not. You will be amazed by the diversity and the quality of the suggestions you will hear, as much as by the invisible gaps and areas you can explore.

Listen to your community

They are much more than mere followers or readers. Think about their expectations and aspirations when they connected with you in the first place. Do you know enough about them ?

Engaging with your audience will allow you to literally discover your online space or platform’s hidden gems and aspects to improve.

At final, aren’t they your best associates, guiding you to the best version of your media / podcast / digital product ?

And promise them something!

Why not holding yourself accountable in front of your subscribers who believe in you, by promising something new keeps you working and.. innovating : an exciting topic to tackle, an upcoming interview, a new series, etc. Do not forget to specify a date, so that you can honor your promise, and celebrate it!

legacy 

Being "self employed" may sound like a dream, a fantasy to many of us. And because reality is  almost different from fantasy, I would like to share some conclusions I have come to, as a freelancer and as an employee.

Would you like to be your own boss ? Then remember that you will also be your own employee, and you will need to be ready for it. This involves discipline, commitment, organization, and many other skills and practices you are expected to obey, and to develop on the go such in a company.

Clearly, you can handle this challenge when you work for a client who is mostly as demanding as your boss if you were employee. But what about working for yourself, your own project ?

Would you be that rigorous, hard working, stick to the "deadlines" when there is no person with whom you treat (funders, advertisers, etc.) ?

I had to experience this situation, and I still, working on new media projects which I love to take care of. How much ? And for how long ?

Daily, using all your means, as if you will be accountable for it. Are you a webmaster ? So you need to be responsive to your website's community, you should be be aware of your platform's weaknesses and security threats, you need to constantly think about the next steps to evolve, when ? and how ?

Practically, you would need to use and to master spreadsheets in order to keep an eye on the huge amounts of information brought by your project, and to generate leads. You would learn to review your job, to rethink about your choices, to ask yourself whether you are in the good direction, to conduct some brainstorming, to acknowledge the failures, to criticize yourself, and to love yourself, too. Remember that there is no one that will do that for you. You are the boss. You would also learn to use your calendar more frequently to not miss events and any opportunity to get in touch with amazing people who would love and engage with your project.

Still, you have only one opinion, one perception of your work, so do not hesitate to ask your friends what do they think about your work either it is creative (a logo, a business card, ..) or analytical (column, ..), you will be surprised by your the gaps you can not see, and you will be amazed by the quality of the suggestions you will hear. 

 

If you are a webmaster / editor, it can be a good idea when you tie yourself a little bit promising something new for your community : publishing an article, an investigation, etc. in date dd-mm, so that you can honor your promise, or not... 

Such practices are trivial and a routine when you work in a hierarchy and when you are paid for your job, but once you are your own boss, you may be tempted to forget that you are also your own employee.

Keep hard working, and more importantly, keep dreaming big, so that you will have enough energy to be the most devoted and proactive (self-) employee, entrepreneur, and leader, if you want.