Last week I posted a message on Facebook and LinkedIn about how working for yourself is less risky than working a regular job. I’ll excerpt a version of it here:
People think being self-employed is risky, but the much bigger risk is working a traditional job.
A friend of mine got laid off this week. I told them “Congratulations!”—they’re a smart person and will be totally okay. But it also made me wonder: why do people think working for YOURSELF is risky?
Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Just think about it: when you work for someone else, you can be fired or let go at any time. Or the company could go out of business. Or you could get a new boss that sucks. Or any number of other things could go wrong that are totally outside your control.
Things go wrong being self-employed too, but it’s different. If something goes wrong in your business, you fix it. Or you change it—you try something new.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying “Everyone should be self-employed.” I’m just saying, don’t work a traditional job unless you’re comfortable with risk!
Those of us who work for ourselves are taking the safe path.
Think about this and make whatever decision is best for you. And if you do have a job and like the idea of building more security for yourself—what’s your plan? What’s your next step?
One idea is to create a new source of income without quitting your job.
Might be good to work on that today!
The greater point is much more than just traditional vs. self employment. Yes, working for yourself is safer than having a job—but trusting yourself is even better.
If you learn to trust yourself, your circle of opportunities becomes much larger.
Not sure how you’ll make it if someone isn’t looking after you all the time? Great, an opportunity! Has something come along that throws you off course? Awesome!
And if you don’t trust yourself to figure things out, you’ll never take any risks—which might be the greatest risk of all.
Because that’s the thing about change: it’s hard. It’s much easier to keep trucking along, doing the same thing you’ve always done.
But as they say: not making a choice is making a choice. Also: nothing changes unless you do.
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