5 reasons to love being Self-Employed

I post a lot on Socials about my Businesses, especially on my personal IG stories. Anyone that tunes in gets a real sense of the day-to-day trials and tribulations of leading an entrepreneurial lifestyle whilst being a full-time mom.

So I wanted to share the 5 positives of Self-Employment that keep me from 'giving up' and taking the easier route of relying on someone else to pay my weekly wage.

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1. Being Creative.

Being a natural born creative, spontaneous travel bug requires a certain amount of freedom. Since leaving College I had a number of jobs, which I changed almost monthly, in fact I think the longest period of employment throughout my entire adult life was around 8 months.
This was mainly because I struggle to commit to anything that I find boring, and anything I headed into without 100% interest quickly fizzled out. I couldn't stand not being 'Free' to grab a ticket and travel, this hit home when my girlfriends announced a trip away, I was horrified to find out I couldn't get out of work to make it, and so I quit my job. There was no way some rich, balding, budding entrepreneur was going to spoil my fun. And as you can imagine, this wasn't the most practical path I'd taken in my life. I quickly ran out of funds, and the spontaneity kicked in, I found myself flitting from one elaborate business idea to another, getting lost in hours of creation, painting, surfing and with those life choices came huge amounts of plastic abuse. My credit cards got hit hard. And the day my final bill came through I decided I had 14 days to pay it off in full and I needed to generate the cash. So I spent my last available funds on my absolute dream DSLR, enrolled in a Uni Grad course and headed off to gain My Photography Quals. During the course I put my skills to the test and headed off to Festivals having created a Brand called SurfGypsy Magazine, which I used to get access to UK nationwide festivals, artists and athletes. Before I knew It I was selling myself to major Icons such as Ed Sheehan, Wiley, Ellie Goulding and the notorious Snoop Dogg amongst others, and my life quickly went from "When the hell am I going to eat next?" to not checking price tags before I spent.

2. Growth.

Once you start you really just can't stop.
I'd set goals, and exceeded them, in half the time I could have ever imagined.
So I started to look for other creative ideas I could add to my lifestyle, that suited my Family life.
I'd always loved baking, and being a keen surfer with a love of food, I decided to create Creme De La Creme Cornwall, A surf snack hub that i'd tour the country in. Starting with festivals, beaches and events. To begin with the legalities here in Cornwall where extremely difficult to contend with, along with the usual food hygiene requirements I also decided to renovate the entire venue myself.
So I chose a mobile van for promotional purposes, I invested in a vintage caravan which was an absolute gem of an eBay find! Almost a year later, did I mention I was expecting this entire time?.. The van was finally ready. That big bellied dungaree's paint in the hair shot? yeah totally smashed that shit.
My plans were pushed forward as much as possible in every effort to get back to work as quickly as possible, and it was perfect.
I'd only work 6-8 days a month and spend the rest of my time focusing every effort on my growing eldest and my newborn. SurfGypsy brought me a regular income and the Cafe brought me more in the weekends I'd chosen to work than most would earn in a 31 day month.
I didn't stop there though. Again I got bored. I loved my life. But I wanted another challenge.

3. Freedom.

Being Self-Employed's biggest reward has to be the element of Freedom.
You set your own goals, make it work, reach them and reap the rewards.
There's nothing better than seeing social posts about Monday's being sh*t or the Sunday back to work groan and knowing that your not duty bound to accept that shit anymore.

"If you don't like where you are, move, you are not a tree"

One of my personal faves.

4. Stability.

I hear this all the time. Stability . Risk . Start up costs . Overheads . blah blah blah
Words that have never intimidated me. You determine how far you can achieve and only you.
I have more stability now than I ever did whilst being employed, the personal risks of being employed were too great for me to handle, and that was having to accept limitation.
Limitation to how much your role is paid, limitation to what time off you can use, limitation to your personality, limitation to your creativity. And then the realisation that actually that Company could just replace you at any given time.

No. Thank you.

You call it risk?, I call it living, choices and living. Determination and drive. There's four replacement words which I find much more appropriate.

5. And Finally, Responsibility.

Taking responsibility for the foundations of your financial world bares immense amounts of 'Sense of achievement'. I'm nearly 30. Most of my acquaintances are in their 30's and 40's, because with business comes experience, in life and work and with the growth and responsibilities of owning business's comes a greater need to surround yourself with positivity and good, honest conversation.
Your time becomes especially precious, and to achieve a great work - life balance you need to accept and embrace responsibility in a positive way. And it really does give you a great sense of self.
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Head over to my personal IG and get 100+ weeks deep to physically see the changes I've created in my life, embracing these 5 reasons that I love being self-employed.

www.instagram.com/jadeullrich