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If You're Self-Employed, Remember To Take Time Off
from: Jeff ColburnThere is one common problem that many self-employed people have, but they never do anything about, and that's taking time off. Recreational time is necessary for both your physical and mental health. If you let stress and exhaustion build up, the quality of your work and your productivity will suffer. It can get to the point where these problems will actually cost you your business.
Did you just finish a project or make a sale? Reward yourself and take a day, or a week, off. Go see a movie, take a hike, visit a friend. Do whatever is relaxing to you and will recharge your batteries. Taking time off will let your subconscious know that success is rewarded with some fun time, and not just more work. This will make it easier for you to find work because you will have a positive attitude about work and know that it offers more rewards than just money.
You may feel guilty about taking time off. It just doesn't seem right to you to take a day off when all of your friends are stuck in an office somewhere working. Well, isn't being able to set your own schedule one of the reasons you started your own business? Breaking out of the 9 to 5 rut was a big reason for me to start my own business, and I have no problem taking time off. If my friends are jealous, well, let them start their own business like I did. When you're self-employed you need to be a little more concerned about yourself than what others think of you. The reason for this is that you are responsible for your businesses success or failure. It's one thing to work for a company and know that there is a president, financial officer, marketing and sales department and everything else needed to run the company. It's something entirely different you know that you are wearing all of those hats, and it's up to you to make the whole thing work.
You may also not be taking time off because somewhere in your mind is the fear that you will never get another assignment. Hogwash! You've made it in your business so far, so why wouldn't you keep getting clients and assignments? You will, and deep down inside of yourself you know this to be true. One of the reasons I started my own business was to have control of my work schedule, so my life would be less crazy.
How many times has your work schedule at some company been thrown into chaos because someone above you dropped the ball and dumped their problems onto you? It happened to me a lot. I had to skip lunches, stay late or come in early. At one company, it got so bad that I hung a sign over my desk that read, "Poor planning on your part doesn't necessitate an emergency on my part!" Everyone thought it was funny, except for the unorganized disaster-makers that were above me on the corporate ladder. Since I've had my own business, this kind of problem is a rarity. Unfortunately, there are still some crazy times, thanks to a few, uhh... interesting clients.
You should also feel perfectly comfortable saying "No" to a project because it would overload your work schedule or because you are burned out. You won't do anyone any good if you are too tired or rushed to do a project properly. Not to mention what this kind of mental state will do to your personal relationships. I know it's hard to do this when you are first starting out and you need money, but it's something you must consider and feel justified in doing.
There are several ways to stay fresh and recharge your batteries. Join a club that is involved in something you like, but preferably not related to your job. To get away from my writing, I enjoy going out into nature where I can hike and take pictures. I must confess that I also find relaxation in writing. Instead of doing business writing or articles, I often relax by writing science fiction or fantasy stories and poetry. I also like to help new writers by giving them advice. They often contact me through my website, The Creative Cauldron (www.CreativeCauldron.com).
Whatever it is that you do for recreation, fit this into your schedule. Remember to be flexible here, too. Maybe you like to take a week and go mountain climbing. That's fine, but if you can't do this as often as you'd like, then find someplace where you can do this locally for a few hours, or join one of those indoor climbing clubs with the artificial climbing walls. Do you like to fly kites on the beach all afternoon? Try flying a kite in your backyard for an hour, just watch out for power lines and trees. Find things that you can do in a day, or an hour. Even a little distraction can do you a world of good.
Finding these kinds of activities will give you something pleasurable to do, and give you some down time. It may also be helpful to get involved in classes, community projects or activities where you can interact with people. One of the problems with self-employment is the lack of interaction with other people. So go out and meet other people. This could also have the advantage of helping you make important business contacts. I've made several good contacts this way. I've even had some of the people I've met in these social situations refer business my way by mentioning me to their business contacts. Remember to stay in touch with friends, too.
One of the reasons you started your own business was to have more control over your life, so take advantage of this. The worst thing that can happen is your 9 to 5 friends will be very envious.
http://www.CreativeCauldron.com
Jeff Colburn is a website designer and writer. His goal is to make the process of creating or updating your website easy and simple for you, while creating a website that meets all your needs and expectations. Jeff can also create all of the copy for your website.
To see a sample of Jeff's work go to The Creative Cauldron. It's an award winning site filled with information for writers, photographers, artists and other creative people.
Copyright 2004 Jeff Colburn
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