iFreelanceWork.com Blog

According to my clock, it’s well past working hours. It’s almost 10pm. My wife is wondering when I’ll be done working. I usually give the generic “in a few minutes” statement, but it seems to be getting old.

I told her that starting a business isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.  In the beginning, the idea was to be able to create our own scedule, work from home (saving gas is a pretty big priority these days), spend more time together, and perhaps a little “oochy koochy” in the middle of the work day.

Unfortunately, most of the daydreaming of being my own boss and setting my own hours went straight out the window. Making my own hours became 16 hour days, and being my own boss meant answering to a higher authority: the customer. Not to mention, I all of a sudden needed to wear the design hat, implementation hat, the sales hat, marketing hat, keeping the customer happy hat, finance hat… well, you get the picture. Needless to say, I’ve been looking for my face for about five months now.

I recently attended a SCORES meeting at my local library where they were talking to people who were thinking of starting their own businesses information and up-front obstacles that perhaps could deter some from trying to get out. I silently laughed at some of the reasons why people wanting to go into business for themselves. Most answered along the lines from financial freedom to feelings of success or self righteousness. But, I had to laugh when I heard one woman state “to make my own hours”. I thought the same way; hence, past tense.

As the seminar went on, I thought about the “financial freedom” someone mentioned. I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about, especially starting a business from scratch. Their is no steady income, lots of money going out and hardly any coming in. And, much to my dismay, only 30% of businesses started today will still be in existance 10 years from now.

One of the addressees at the meeting nailed starting a business on the head, or so I think. He asked the crowd “When starting a business, their are only two keywords that should be instilled in your brain. If you don’t have both, you are wasting your time. Any guesses?” Now I must say, I didn’t raise my hand to contribute, but I did think about it .. I came up with education and love. Unfortunately, I was only half right. What were the two key words? “PASSION” & “FEAR” ..

Passion I understood right away. I think it falls in the lines of what I had said “love”. But it is true. You better have the passion to work your tail off to make it perfect, otherwise you’ll be smuthered in concrete.

But FEAR took me for a spin! I never looked at it that way. But it’s true. What’s the fear? Where’s your next meal coming from? How are you gonig to pay your mortgage or electric bill this month? How are you going to feed your spouse? Do you have enough money for toilet paper? With all that in mind, I say that has made me work harder and harder ..

But don’t be discouraged.  One of the reasons I started www.iFreelanceWork.com was to help people go into business for themselves without starving. You can check the site for posted jobs and bid on them. You can do the job from your own home, and have guarantee that you’ll be paid when completed successfully.. Start small.. Even the biggest companies freelance work out, or take on jobs themselves when times are slow..

Until next time.. because this time has run out.

-D