I slept in today. Just woke up at about 9am. I needed the rest. This is one of the advantages to having my own business. When I need the rest I take it. As an employee I could not have done this and then again as an employee I would never have put in the amount of hours that I do. There is a tremendous difference in terms of your motivation when you are doing something for yourself as opposed to someone else. An employee will never have the same drive to see a business succeed as its owners will. Why should they? No matter how well the business does they get their same paycheck with the same COLA adjustment each year. I know that never really excited me. I worked at one company where I found thousands and thousands in theft. I was a temp. That did not motivate them to hire me permanently. It wasn’t until many months later that they hired me. You would think I had proven my worth by then but it wasn’t until over a year later when I gave notice that they finally acknowledged my worth by giving me a counter offer with a substantial increase in salary. I took it only to wind up leaving for another opportunity with a CPA firm for only marginally more in salary. I knew this company would not be a long term play for me. It would take too long to develop and move up with them. The same was true of the CPA firm and that is when I started building Nerd Enterprises, Inc. While I was working with the CPA firm.
So today I work my ass off but here’s the thing. It isn’t work to me. I love doing it so much that I can do it to the point of exhaustion then get a little rest and get up and do it again. And again. And again. You will never get that kind of drive from an employee unless you motivate them with a share of the profits. I give my bookkeepers the opportunity to move up with me based on a very simple formula. If you take the time out and schedule training with me then I will train, I will give more responsibility, and the pay rate will more than double in a short period of time. Even with this I have yet to see anyone motivated enough to follow up. There are all kinds of things that come up, but the bottom line is that THIS never becomes a priority.
I never have to feel guilty about my down time because I work way too hard. So sleeping until 9am is a gift and I’ll take it. Now it’s time to get to work. Have a GREAT day everybody and don’t forget to post your comments and share your own experience below!
I will never ever work for anyone else ever again. Self employment (and the countless blessings that I’ve received) have saved my life numerous times.