Cats & Coding

Today I'm super excited to share a guest post from my friend Erin! She's great, and has SAVED THE DAY many a times. Since she's established her own business, and works for herself, I'm totally inspired by her! I asked her to share some of the reasons she loves working for herself, and I agree completely. Enjoy and check out her site!There are some definite ups and downs to working for yourself, but overall I love it!

10 Things I love about being my own boss:

1. No dress code. I don't have to wake up in the morning and do my hair or figure out a cute outfit. I just hop on the computer in my pajamas and get to work! After a while I take a break and put on my workout clothes. Which are also really comfy and far better than heels and slacks!
2. Breaks whenever I want. It's awful when you're exhausted at work and you have a boss watching your every move. Sometimes you just need to get up and walk around, or watch a funny YouTube video so you can refocus on your work. You shouldn't be "breaking" all the time, but used correctly, breaks can help make you more productive!
3. There's no limit to how much I can make. It's painful to ask for a raise when you work for someone else, and I've had people scoff or laugh when I asked for what I thought I deserved But when you work for yourself, the only person limiting your income is YOU! Uhm, and the government, they like to take your money. But they do that no matter where you work.
4. No commute. At least not for me. I just walk over to my computer in my living room and start work! I do NOT miss commuting to/from work during rush hour at all!
5. Flexible schedule. If I want to meet a friend for lunch or shopping in the middle of the day, I can. I just have to finish my work before or after I see my friend. I can get up early and work, or I can work late, or if I'm fast, I can just take the afternoon off completely. I don't have to request permission from anyone, I just have to make it happen!
6. I choose who I work with. This might sound like bad customer service, but you know what? If you're going to be a complete psycho, I'm not going to work with you. It's one thing to have a difficult customer, and another to have to deal with someone who screams at you for no reason. Having worked in customer service for others, I've been screamed at plenty for things I had no control over. Now that I'm in charge I can tell people that I won't deal with them if they're going to cuss me out and throw things at me (it's happened). No one deserves to put up with that crap, and now I don't.
7. I'm in charge. This is both good and bad (when you fail, it's your fault!), but I do really like it most of the time. I get to make decisions about branding, come up with new products, and make my dreams come true.
8. Connecting with other small business owners. I love networking with others and making new friends with similar companies or interests. Many of my clients have become friends, and I love helping them promote their businesses through my own. It's a fun little community where we help each other grow!
9. No annoying coworkers. I know some people have cool coworkers. I've had some. But it seems like a lot of the time you get really annoying ones who bother you or gossip about you behind your back. I only work with people I want to work with, and although I sometimes hire outside help, I get to choose who I work with on a project, and don't have to put with slackers or catty comments.
10. It's fun! It's like a big adventure, and an awesome learning experience. I don't consider myself an expert, but it's pretty astonishing to me how much I've learned in the past year, and how much fun I've had! I can't imagine working in the corporate world again, so despite the difficulties of working for myself, I think it's completely worth it!

I'd love it if you stopped by and visited me on my blog! I ramble a lot about design, owning a business, and other exciting stuff (kittens!).