As I write this, it is 9:45pm. I’m still working.
Yesterday, I leisurely walked to the office at 10:30am and enjoyed the beautiful day.
Two days ago, I stayed up until 11pm finishing off a project but I took a nap in the middle of the day.
Today, I had back-to-back calls from 1:00 – 4:30, but I got to wrestle my dog right afterwards.
“Work”
Since March of 2011, I’ve worked for myself. I own the company. I write the rules.
When you choose to work for yourself you implicitly accept certain changes in your life; you make trade offs. Here are the big three that I’ve noticed:
Stability for Risk
I’ve traded the stability of a steady paycheck and benefits for the risk that I might not have enough cash flow to pay rent–which thankfully hasn’t been a problem for some time. This whole thing could blow up in my face and I’m constantly terrified that it will.
Structure for Freedom
I’ve traded a Monday through Friday, 9-5 with weekends off for a flexible schedule that allows me to walk to the office at 10:30 on a nice day, but also necessitates that I work late many nights and weekends. No one is telling me what to do, no one’s asking me to work the long hours. It’s up to me to create structure.
Their Culture for My Culture
In another company, I’d be accountable to a boss. Would I be allowed to show up to work in jeans? Do we ever go out for lunch? Am I rewarded for doing good work? Am I incentivized to bring in business?
But in my company, those decisions are all mine, and I need to be the one to build that culture. And while building your own culture can be one of the most rewarding things you can do, it can simultaneously be one of the most disappointing things you can do.
Every entrepreneur has it in their head the type of company they want to build. But introduce a few clients, a busy schedule and {GASP!} a personal life, and all of a sudden that culture is like grasping at air, and you almost don’t even know where to start.
It’s not for everyone
These are the trade-offs of entrepreneurship and not everyone can stomach it.
Risk isn’t easy; ask any entrepreneur and they’ll tell you that they wish they could have a steady paycheck sometimes.
Having total freedom seems like a good thing, until you realize that the Xbox isn’t that far from your desk and you don’t have a boss to stop you. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline every single day to always be pushing forward.
Creating your own culture seems great until the first time you say something that makes you feel like one of your old bosses.
In the end though, I wouldn’t trade this for a job where I make twice or maybe even three times as much. You can’t buy this kind of life. You can only build it.