I’ve never been a big fan of coloring inside the lines. Well, maybe a little at first — but once I figured out all the angles, creating my own lines became paramount.
I’m here to tell you how great being your own boss and working for yourself is, but I’m also here to tell you it’s not all roses. Going out on your own can be a harrowing experience. In the beginning, you will more than likely fail more than you succeed. There’s a good chance you will be late with rent, your car payments, student loans, and a host of other bills more than a few times. You may not know when or where your next meal will appear. You may have to beg and borrow from everyone you know.
The struggle to become your own boss is more than just a collection of harsh learning lessons, it’s a rite of passage. However, if you feel this is your true calling and you can persist against a world that seems hell-bent on the demise of all who dare buck the system, the rewards can be exponentially sweeter. But be warned, once you’ve tasted the sweet life, there’s no turning back. Once you achieve a certain level of success, or practically any level of success from working for self, the mere thought of returning to the 9-to-5 grind under the thumb of an overbearing boss will forevermore send nauseous shivers straight to your gut.
Before digging too deep, let’s take a look at exactly what being independent means from a dictionary perspective: 1) Not relying on others for aid or support. 2) Not being under the rule or control of another.
These definitions could apply to those that are independently wealthy and don’t need or want to work. They could also loosely apply to the unemployed or even a wandering monk who travels through the Old West armed only with his spiritual training and skill in martial arts. But for the sake of this article, let’s focus on the independent animator, artist or creative small business owner/operator who is not tied down by the confines of a standard jobby-job.
Working for self means having the power to choose lifestyle first. How much money do you want to make? How many hours per week do you want to work? Would you want to take this Tuesday off ? How about next month? Want to sleep until noon because you were up late last night checking out a DJ without needing to call into work, pretending to be sick? Not a problem! As long as you have all your responsibilities taken care of in advance so everything runs smoothly while you’re on siesta, the sky’s the limit.
The World = Your Oyster!
Working for yourself also means you can work anywhere you want. How would you like to make $1,000 a day from your home studio, never needing to change out of your pajamas while a movie marathon of your favorite films plays in the background? I don’t know about you, but for me that sounds a lot like heaven. What about taking your laptop and umbrella to the beach, sipping on fruity drinks under the sun, hearing the waves crash against the sand and seagulls caw while animating a character for a local advertising agency? Or how about taking a sabbatical to New Zealand because you want a change of scenery for a few months while you work on upcoming projects? As working remotely has become quite the norm, you can practically work anywhere in the world and deliver your content to practically any other place in the world, and your clients might not even know the difference. And even if they did, they probably wouldn’t care.
Working for yourself makes your calendar elastic, causing days of the week to lose their meaning in the traditional work-sense. Highs and lows are not dictated by the day of the week, but rather what goals are accomplished, how much fun you have being your own boss and how many times you thank the stars for not being a member of the Miserable Monday Club.
Working for yourself means unlimited earnings potential. This one deserves repeating: unlimited earnings potential! Chances are, you’re already an overachiever and make no qualms about working 80+ hours in a week, so why not do it for yourself, while moving toward your own dreams? Want to make $10k this week? There’s nothing holding you back, it’s all up to you to find the clients and projects to make it happen.
Working for yourself certainly has its challenges and is definitely not for everyone, but for those that dare to tread this path, the rewards can be things of legend. Working for yourself is more than just doing your own thing, more than having unlimited earnings potential and more than being able to call your own shots. To those of us who are able to achieve it, working for yourself is essentially freedom.
Martin Grebing is the president of Funnybone Animation Studios. He can be reached at funnyboneanimation.com.
