My first freelance job was walking the neighbor’s kindergartner home from school. I was in the fifth grade and earned a buck a day for doing it. Pretty good money for a kid back in the 60’s. You may not have thought of babysitting as a freelance job, but just like a lot of the things we did as youngsters; washing cars, mowing lawns, weeding, fence painting, pet sitting, plant watering, we were on our own.
We had to maintain our reputation, do our own marketing, and deliver as promised and we were considered smart, creative, and industrious. Once you become a grown up and you want to work on your own, you are considered crazy.
WHY would anyone want to give up the security of working for a corporation? OR worse, maintain a corporate job and have a side gig? What is wrong with them/us?
I figured out we’ve got three kinds of motivators: Personal, Performance, & Progression.
Personal – working on our own allows us to take better care of ourselves or our loved ones. We can pursue our personal interest rather than one that is dictated to us, and we love the challenge of being tested every day to succeed.
Performance- While we’re hardworking, we may not work so well with others. We are likely to see a better way to do something and are vocal about it… which doesn’t always jive with corporate life. Also, we may be at our best creatively at 3 a.m. rather than 9 a.m.
And finally, Progression – It is likely we have earned out or aged out of what an employer finds comfortable. Or we’re busting with energy and creativity and we just want to race to the income we believe we deserve.
We freelancers, small, and micro business owners are not exactly crazy, we just see opportunity differently. We see the whole ocean, not just the shoreline.