Freedom is something that everyone looks forward to when self-employed. More time for yourself, live life on your own terms.

However, just like the business and financial risks, there are personal and lifestyle risks associated with self-employment.

Now do bear with us here, we aren’t talking about risk to put people off self-employment. We just want you to be aware of the risks so that you can manage them and take advantage of what lies ahead. So let's get into it!

We will be covering three main topics in this episode

• Personal and Emotional risk
• Lifestyle implications
• Practical suggestion to manage time and risk

One of these suggestions involves you being the key employee in your business. Sounds a bit odd, but have a listen and find out more

Personal & Emotional Risks

There are many when self-employed. These include

Instability

There is no such thing as a job for life when you are employed. Your employer may not want to see you go, but you may wish to move on. When you are self-employed you appreciate that no customer is forever. Keep in mind that theres no certainty here. So always be on the lookout to create resources and business opportunities in case things start to dry up!

Personal development

Make sure that you plan for that career and personal development and make sure that you're on top of your game in your business.

Passion

Feeling passionate about your business is a good thing but is not the most important. Just because you love something does not necessarily mean that it should be converted into a business. 

Instead, research your business idea, check its viability and make sure there's a sufficient number of people out there that have got a problem that you are looking to solve.  Feeling passionate is important, but passion doesn't pay the bills.

Workload

I myself am victim to this. This can mean putting off tasks that you don't enjoy, and we're talking about tasks that are absolutely critical for your business. This can sink a business faster than anything else!

If it's a task such as getting a quote out to a client, picking up that phone, updating your accounts and records to get them off to the tax authorities. You must make sure that you prioritise and know that you can't afford to waste time on unimportant tasks while those critical ones pile up.

Obviously, all tasks need to be done, but prioritisation helps. If you haven't got the time, think about investing some, energy and money in bringing on somebody on board to help you out.

Lifestyle

Looking back over my 25 plus years of being self-employed, one thing that I can say is that lifestyle is severely impacted both in positive and negative terms. From here on out your lifestyle will not be that of an employee.

Your working hours are going to be slightly different. When I say slightly I mean a lot more.

Most of us starting out won't have an office space to go to. We'd typically start in a spare room in our house. As for myself, I started my business in my back bedroom.

In the early stages of your business, big office space are not a critical need. Eventually, when things pick up, you can move out of that back bedroom, as I did myself. Though I must say, homeworking does bring its own challenges and risks as well as some potential rewards. Pyjama working certainly does have its attractions!

Practical tips

Some tips I can share with you on lifestyle. Consider having two computer log-ins on your PC or laptop, One is for your business and one for social. Consider applying the same have to your mobile numbers, and remember to turn that phone off. it's a lesson that I am slowly learning myself.

You might not necessarily do a nine to five, but give yourself a start and end time every day. Schedule breaks, arrange network meetings at breaks or at lunch. Project manage your own workflow plan to maximize your work hours.

More tips in the podcast!

Takeaway

My decision 25 years ago to make that leap into self-employment is one that I don't regret. It's had its highs and lows, I've made mistakes, I've had risks that I've not anticipated. Would I change it? Not one bit.

Would I change how I did that? Possibly. 

Keep in mind that where you are in your business cycle and where you are in life is a result of those hazards you've experienced. I wish you well in your businesses. 

Take action!

Listen to this podcast episode, and learn about more about your future self-employed challenges.

Grab a drink, make yourself comfortable, sit back and listen.

I love doing this podcast and sharing my love of Numbers with you. Check out the links below to subscribe and do not miss an episode. Help me spread that Number Love by downloading it, listening, commenting, and acting!

In this episode

• Personal and lifestyle risks of self-employment
• Workload management
• Risk registers
• Work-life balance
• Lifestyle tips for self-employment

Links

https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/proactiveresolutionss-podcast/id1500471288

https://play.google.com/music/m/I3pvpztpjvjw6yrw2kctmtyckam?t=I_Hate_Numbers

https://open.spotify.com/show/5lKjqgbYaxnIAoTeK0zins

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/proactiveresolutionss-podcast

https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business–Economics-Podcasts/I-Hate-Numbers-p1298505/

You are listening to the I Hate Numbers Podcast with Mahmood Reza. The I Hate Numbers podcast mission is to help your business survive and thrive by you better understanding and connecting with your numbers. Number love and care is what it's about. Tune in every week. Now, here's your host, Mahmood Reza.

Hi, folks, and welcome to another weekly episode of I Hate Numbers. In last week's episode of I Hate Numbers, we talked about business and financial risks. Now, we weren't talking about those risks to put people off. We weren't talking about those risks to actually make you depressed, but if you're more aware of what the future might hold for you, then you can do things to mitigate, reduce that risk, and you can do stuff to actually take advantage of what may lie ahead.

In this week's podcast, I want to cover three things. I want to talk to you about the personal and emotional risks in being self-employed, being your own boss, and unfortunately there are some. We're also going to talk about the lifestyle implications of being self-employed, and to finish off the podcast, I'm going to share with you some practical suggestions as to how we manage time, manage those risks, and a bit of a spoiler alert here,

one of the suggestions involves looking at yourself as the key employee in your business. Sounds a bit of a contradiction, but it's definitely true. Ok, without further ado, let's just get on with the show. So, I'm going to, first of all, cover eight personal and emotional risks that all self-employed people experience.

I myself, over the last 25 plus years, having experienced most of these here and they don't disappear, but again, don't be disheartened. Let's just be aware. Instability. Now, in the modern age, even when you are working for somebody, you're on the payroll, you're employed by somebody else, then there's no such thing as a job for life.

Your employer, your boss can let you go anytime they so desire. There may be an environment that's created in your workplace. You find it very uncomfortable going to work here, and you find that you have no option but to leave. So, that idea of a job for life that you're always going to love, unfortunately, does not exist.

Now, when you are self-employed and you're working on a number of different projects for a number of different clients, you know that you've got to commit yourself to completing that job to their satisfaction. That's a) if you want to get paid, and b) if you want that customer to come back again and buy more from you.

However, you know that there's no such thing as that certainty here, so just be aware that you are always going to have to be on the lookout here to create resources, to create business opportunities just in case that opportunity dries up. Personal or career growth is another thing that you have to take responsibility for and your own professional development

if you want to stay ahead of the competition, keep up to date with changes in technology, skills, what's new in your industry. Make sure that you plan for that career and personal development, and make sure that you're on top of your game in your business. Feeling passionate about what you do in your business is certainly important, but it's not the most critical thing here.

A number of people become self-employed for the wrong reason. Just because you love something doesn't mean you should always convert that into a business. One of the key risks about self-employed is that when you get excited about what you do, what you might do as a hobby, what you might do as a part-time pursuit, and you want to convert that into a business, sounds like it should be a winner, but that's not always the case.

Research your business idea for being self-employed. Make sure there's a viability and make sure there's a need or, what marketers might say, whatever you are going to do in your business, make sure there's a sufficient number of people out there that have got that issue or pain or problem that you are looking to solve.

Let's talk about experience. Let's talk about necessary skills. There are lots of hats you've got to wear in your business to run it effectively. Lots of skills that you’ve got to develop in the areas of marketing, in skills, dealing with customers, number skills. You may not have those at the beginning. Don't despair.

I've never yet met anybody in my business life that has all the skills necessary. So, if you have a skills gap, if you check what you need to make your business effective and have that impact, then develop your own skill sets. Resource those skill sets. Bring them in. Talk to others who are successfully running their own business.

Talk to industry leaders. Check out forums. Get a book. Try and prevent overwhelm. There's lots of information out in the virtual universe there. Get a coach. Get a business mentor. Talk to a numbers expert, but effectively make sure that where there's a gap in experience, that you supplement that somehow.

Let's summarise what we've talked about so far. We've talked about career growth. You are responsible for your own personal development, your own career and business development. Becoming self-employed for the wrong reasons. So, something you may enjoy doing as a hobby, as a part-time pursuit, you automatically convert that into a business idea.

If it's not viable, if there aren't customers out there, if there's not a need to fulfill, then you are going to be spending a lot of time making that hobby a very expensive one, and not making it a sustainable business. Experience and skill sets. You may not have them all. Nobody does, and we're always continually learning. A personal and emotional risk that is evident,

a thing that most business owners don't necessarily vocalise but are aware of is the lack of free time. You're going to find yourself typically working every single day. You’re going to be responsible for selling your product or service, but you are also going to be in charge of admin. You are the HR department, making out the orders, dealing with customer complaints, doing social media.

You are going to be working frenetically. Certainly, most business owners will be in that situation. Work-life balance is absolutely important for your health, your well-being, and your continued motivation. The most critical asset in your business, the most critical vital component in your business success, your business being able to continue is you yourself.

So, it's important that you keep your physical and mental health up to speed as well as just making money. Obviously, making money is important for your business to survive and thrive. Let's be real, folks. If your well-being is not where it should be, then what money you make is going to be a waste. A small tip to share with you.

Start allocating, disciplining yourself to give yourself time off to yourself every four months of work, just as companies would do to their employees. You need to remember that your business engages, employes you. Factor in that time itself. Feeling fresh and invigorated with a little bit of time off is better than working fanatically 24/7, 7 days a week, where it is going to impact on your decision making and your ability to operate.

Let me talk to you about the last two risks you are likely to encounter. An ultimate one is poor workload management. I hold my hands up to being victim to that, and that means about putting off tasks that you don't enjoy, and we're talking about tasks that are critical and vital for your business. They are going to sink your business faster than anything else.

So, if it's a task, that means getting a quote out to a client, getting back to a client, picking up that phone, whether it means updating your accounts and records to get them off to the tax authorities, you must make sure that you prioritise and focus on those. You can't afford to waste time on unimportant tasks,

while those critical ones pile up. Obviously, all tasks need to be done, but get some idea of prioritisation. Get some idea of focus. If you haven't got the time, then think about investing time and energy and money in bringing on somebody on board who's going to help you out. Get a coach. Get a mentor. Look at your systems, but create that time.

Lastly, it's a risk that none of us in life can avoid, and it's that bad-luck risk syndrome. Those are changes in the outside environment for which you cannot predict. Typically, natural disasters or sudden bereavements, pandemic, illnesses, either yours or somebody very close to you or dependent on you. By me,

what this means is you need to build up some degree of business resilience. Yes, you need to try and actually have some form of contingency, some safety pot of money that will take care of you when those times hit, but also mental resilience is going to help you through those tricky times. Having looked at those personal and emotional risks,

let's talk practical. Let's talk about ways that having considered what those risks are, and as a reminder, there are instability, career growth, going into self-employment for the wrong reasons, a lack of business experience, lack of free time, not managing your entry effectively, poor time management, and none of this can avoid this last one, just pure bad luck.

It's all very well being aware of these risks, but in practical terms, so what? Once you've considered these risks, and any others that you identify as you set your business up, as you are on your business path, I would recommend drawing up a risk register. Now, it can be electronic. It can be on a piece of paper, but effectively, you are looking at making a note and assessing the risks that pose a chance of your success

not materialise. Regularly update it. Assess the risks which have increased. Assess the risks that have decreased and why. When I've constructed a risk register before, there are typically two questions that I want to ask myself for each risk that I've identified. Number one, what's the likelihood of that risk actually occurring?

And number two, what's the impact to my business if that risk materialises? Let's think about an extreme example. So, what's the likelihood of a meteorite crashing the Earth? It can happen, but the likelihood is quite a low probability. If we're going to be talking numbers, you might want to give that a scale of one.

If that meteorite does impact and hit the Earth, and hits the area where we conduct business, what's the impact likely to be? Well, basically lights out, shows over. That's going to be a 10. But the two together give you a very low scoring of about 10. So, likelihood times impact will give you the score and then, if you go through your key risks in your business, both personal, we can factor in business risks as well,

then you can see where your attention has got to be spent. Things to consider in your risk register are the risks that you've identified, the cause, the reasons for the risk, the likelihood, as we said, and the chance that it's going to impact on your business. You can use the scale, as I said, from 1 to 10, or 1 to 100 depending what your preference is.

When I look back over my last 25 plus years of being self-employed, one conclusion I've drawn is that lifestyle is severely impacted, both in positive terms and in negative terms. Your lifestyle will not be that of an employee. You'll take on more responsibility. Your working hours are going to be slightly different.

Let's translate that word slightly. By slightly, I mean a lot more. Most of us in business, we start our business life typically in a spare room, in our house. We won't actually have an office to go to. For myself, and I started my own business in my back bedroom. You've got to cut your cloth accordingly and in the early stages of your business life, big office premises aren't critical, are not needed.

For me, I eventually moved out of my back bedroom, but home-working does bring its own challenges and risks as well as some potential rewards. Pyjama-working certainly does have its attractions. Check out the show notes at the end for some additional resources on home-working. Let me share some practical tips with you, some practical suggestions to help you manage your working time and your social time.

Consider having two computer logins on your PC or laptop. One is your business affairs and activities, and one is for all the other social things that you might do, whether that's in social media. Have two mobile numbers. One is for business and one is for social, and remember to turn that phone off. It's a lesson that I am slowly learning myself, much to the delight of my wife, who probably gets quite irritated with the amount of time that I spend

on my phone. Force yourself to work office hours. Now, you might not necessarily do a 9 to 5, but give yourself a start time. Give yourself an end time for every day, or as many days as you need to work. Schedule breaks, arrange network meetings at breaks or at lunch. Project, manage your own workflow, plan what needs doing, how and when, and schedule your time to achieve this.

If you're working at home, create a dedicated space in your house that is your office space. Now, you're probably all listening to this and thinking, well, that's easier to say. You know, we get client calls all the time. We've got lots of things coming to our in-tray. You know, time management is an easy thing to discuss and say,

not always easier to actually implement. Well, I would agree with you and I fall a victim to that myself. For me, though, if you've got an idea of what your end destination is, if you've got an idea of where you want to end up, then that gives you the focus and the route map that you've got to take to get there.

So, focus and clarity helps with time management. We're coming towards the end on this week's podcast episode of I Hate Numbers on personal and emotional risks, lifestyle implications, lifestyle changes. We've talked about risk registers. We've highlighted the key personal and emotional risks you're likely to encounter in your business.

I want to give you one last practical tip, one last takeaway for something that's very easy to implement in your business. I said at the beginning of the podcast, and it was a bit of a spoiler alert, is that you need to think of yourself as a key employee of your business, and what all companies will do with their employees is to draw up a contract of employment. Draw up a contract of employment for yourself as though you are employing the most important person in the business, the top position in that business,

which obviously you are. This will focus your thoughts on how you manage your working days to achieve your goals. Consider what you would expect from a great employee. Typically, that work contract with yourself will include your job title, your routine place of work, the routine hours you're expected to work from Monday to Sunday,

bank holidays, perhaps scheduled breaks. What's your annual holiday allowance? What resources will be provided by the business to help you? Telephone, laptop? What expenses and pay you're going to be budgeting for? Your benefits. What other benefits that your business will provide for you? Pension contributions, professional development plan.

That contract that you make with yourself and your business makes you accountable, gives you a framework, gives you accountability, and it gives you a commitment. You are committing yourself to make a success of your business. When you've written up that contract, ask somebody in your business network to review it.

Ask your numbers person to review it, to have a look at it. Does it match up with the reality of what the life of a self-employed business person looks like? Let's wrap up the show. Let's just summarise what we've talked about. We've talked about looking at the key personal and emotional risks in your business, from instability, going into self-employment for the wrong reason.

We’ve talked about career and personal growth. We've talked about the lifestyle impact that it will make. We've talked about how you can actually manage some of those risks here. Separate email addresses perhaps, separate phone numbers, bit of a discipline, a bit of a structure, project managing your workflow.

We talked about focus. We talked about knowing what your end destination in your business is. Therefore, that will help channel and manage your workflow and your framework. And we've talked about making a contract between you and your business. Think of it like an employment contract. I wish you well in your businesses.

My decision 25 years ago plus to make that jump, to make that leap into self-employment is one that I don't regret. It's had its highs, it's had its lows. I've made mistakes. I've had risks that I've not anticipated fall upon me. Would I change it? Not one bit. Would I change how I did that? Possibly, but you know, where you are in your business cycle,

where you are in life is as a result of those trips, those hazards that you've experienced. Hope you all got some value from this podcast. I'm not going to be embarrassed and say I'd love it if you could review it, download it, share it with your friends and colleagues. Until next week, ciao. We hope you enjoyed this episode and appreciate you taking the time to listen to the show.

We hope you got some value. If you did, then we'd love it if you shared the episode. We look forward to you joining us next week for another I Hate Numbers episode.