Beata Leyland
Business Owner & Author of this article
It's almost a taboo topic to say that an employee will have a transition period before becoming freelancer and later business owner.
Intrigued ?
I have similar traits with many of my clients.
One of them is ambition and drive for success but another one is background.
Many started as employees and got burned out and sought alternatives. They are fighters; they don’t give up and neither do I as I spent almost 15 years working for others and at a certain point, I simply couldn’t fight with my nature anymore.
It’s almost a taboo topic to say that an employee will have a transition period before becoming freelancer and later business owner.
I’ve called it here taboo as with whomever I’ve spoken all face the same struggles.
Many apply the very harmful assumption that it’s kind of embarrassing to talk about it as we should naturally figure it out, right?
We are in an eternal transition period in life in one way or another and embracing it makes us stronger.
Let me share /debunk the myths, and harmful conceptions which keep so many talented and capable people static.
Being an employee creates a relatively safe environment in that you don’t have to attract clients, your work schedule is predictable, and your salary is always on time.
That’s a huge factor why very skilled and capable employees stay years in a job which is okay, and some live like that their whole life and that’s totally fine too.
Never give up on what you really want to do.The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.Albert Einstein
Clearly being a freelancer is not an easy way at least at the beginning but very rewarding as it helps spotting certain patterns in us engraved by the school system, society, parents, and more… we live a huge part of our life using autopilot and not all of us are deep inside happy about it.
I wouldn’t also demonise all institutions like the school system or communities, I would rather encourage to challenge the rules which we follow inside of us.
It’s crucial to acknowledge that systems and schemas which build us were built by people for people, so they are imperfect and it’s up to us to do corrections.
For me, being self-employed is an example of self-healing of lot of patterns which I thought were mine and simply it was always something wrong with me and the truth is that it was other way around.
Thanks to the fact that I control my hourly /project rate I know my realistic value, and I can easily spot areas for improvement.
The fact that I chose with whom I work gave me more confidence to say NO , but also to say YES, to manage my time as it’s important for me to build the life which I want.
I have become a better planner because I know how it is to think about deadlines first thing in the morning and last thing before bed, and I don’t want to live like that.
I respect others as well as myself and my needs. I value every client way more, and every review and every dollar /euro which I earn.
Also, I am aware that some people will never give you a good review or any review because they are too busy, or simply because they don’t want to admit that maybe their concept was wrong since the beginning and they prefer denial over truth.
All of that doesn’t have anything to do with you. Over time it is very easy to spot when you did an okay job, when it was exceptionally good and when the job could be done way better.
It’s a lesson not a sentence.
Your self-perception, your life, your work, your time and your rights are worth it.
It’s so liberating to spend all efforts to achieve them, and celebrate them, be grateful for them and don’t treat them for granted.
That’s something which I never got as an employee, and I clearly see that I couldn’t be happy being a part of a system which wasn’t for me, and at the same time I respect all people and their decisions.
How we see ourselves plays a huge role in how we talk to others, how we meet difficult situations, how we walk, and how we create relationships.
It might differ from day to day, but the core stays the same. I’ve noticed that women tend to play tough to overprove themselves, while men tend to play extra casual to not overdo.
Both strategies make complete sense but also show that this is not the person’s natural self-image.
Some clients will not give you good ratings simply because today is Thursday or it’s cloudy outside, not because they are unhappy with your work.
Others will give you great ratings because they want your business to do well.
What people say or think about you often has nothing to do with us, but rather their perception at that moment.
People are busy enough with their lives to not think about you as much as we sometimes think. On a business level you need to be firm, open, and polite but also know what you want and what suits you and what doesn’t.
I do not have any social media platforms except LinkedIn, so it’s hard for me to assess the influence of such mediums on my own psyche, but many studies confirm that limiting it truly improves self-esteem and gives you a more realistic view of the world.
For me, being objective means seeing a full 360-degree picture — my input, the client’s input, the surroundings, and a fair assessment of what was done.
What could I learn from it?
How can I help?
These are lessons, not sources of obsession over my faults.
It’s not a fair assessment when you analyze something only from the perspective of time, as an observer rather than a doer.
As a doer, you did what you could at that moment, with the knowledge you had.