The pros and cons of being self employed

Somehow I always knew that I wanted to "do something on my own". It was more of a subliminal feeling. Working in a suit, sitting in the office, that was always absurd to me. Sure, I’ve been employed before and it was not the typical nine to five job, but  still I couldn’t find satisfaction in it. Money was never that important to me, or let's put it this way: the money I need for a living is so little that any career plan wouldn’t be bothered by it. If something annoys me or if I find something meaningless, I analyze the problem and try to solve it. Of course, this is not always possible with some things, but paired with my "I can do it better anyway" attitude unfortunately often leads to megalomania and in this case to founding Manitober. In this case I use the phrase self-employed as a synonym for self-responsible, because I'm not a classical freelancer. While some can immerse as an employee and can pretend to make their work look hard, when you on your own it’s rather : You can’t get something from nothing!

And who knows that he is not getting paid for doing nothing prefers a job that doesn’t feel too much like work. Of course you can spontaneously go on holiday, drink beer at lunch time or take some time off whenever you want, but I can say from my own experience, it’s not that easy and already requires a certain amount of preparation. That's probably the difference: As a self-employed person you try to optimize your position, get better jobs, improve the portfolio, build something up. You can then feed on this later, while as an employee, you are only slowly ascending the ladder and somehow always dependent on many others. I just like the combination of freedom and the feeling to realize your own idea. I can understand, if one quarrels with self-responsibility to work, be it because of the financial security, not wanting to give up the developed situation or the continuous bureaucratic effort.

But the most important reason for me to think about it is the fact that you always work, even when you think you’re not. I have to admit, I may have underestimated that, and while some employees may enjoy their time off now, I'm sitting on the couch in the evenings, typing these lines. So if you can’t switch off very well, have a pretty perfectionist streak and are rarely satisfied with yourself, then you should become aware that being a founder is a bigger part of your everyday life than a nine to five job. All other worries, on the other hand, will soon turn out to be a "right decision".