Two years ago.. Recap

Sum up of my self-employment experience so far…

Almost two years ago I quitted my job and began my self-employment journey. Looking back, it was a very exciting and challenging one. Well in fact it still is. I don’t regret any of the decisions I made in my life. And this one is not an exception. I am really happy I have embraced my fears and insecurities and broke out of the old patterns. I won’t stop being thankful for everything I had experienced so far, be it my professional or personal challenges. And there are definitely more to come. I will embrace those as well.

So what have I learned so far and how I changed?

Here are some major highlights I would love to share with you:

1. Joy: I absolutely love my job and what I am doing! I have the chance to work on topics I really enjoy. I can spend hours reading books and magazines, capturing ideas and trying to include those into any of my concepts.

2. Growth: I constantly meet new and inspiring personalities who help me grow. Every training or workshop day is full of information and experience exchange. Every single person I work with adds value to my work. And some of them indeed impact my life.

3. Immediate Feedback: Every day of my work with my clients brings me insights and I get immediate feedback of how my work positively influences their lives, in one way or another. I also get immediate feedback what to change and what to develop. The best thing about feedback: I can incorporate it in my training or coaching on the spot. And this is so helpful!

4. Self-Organization: I had to learn to structure and organize my daily routine. Not that I have never done this before… However, being self-employed requires a way more self-discipline. You need to plan short-, mid- and long-term. Well… Long-term is quite impossible to plan considering the nature of my job. I also learned to be flexible and change schedule and assignments according to clients’ needs.

5. Limits: I learned to say “no” and got-to-know my limits… The point is that being self-employed means also being even more self-responsible for everything I do and say. This responsibility gained some higher level. Because at the end I represent my own product. I am my own company, with its services, profits and losses. I learned that accepting or rejecting a job has not only financial consequences, but it also effects my current and future reputation. So it is always a matter of HOW I treat my clients.

6. Development and self-reflection: I constantly develop myself and reflect on my own behaviors, emotions and needs. I am very conscious about them and I learned how to deal with some of my own patterns. My job helps me to accept me as a human being with all my imperfections. And these are ok. They also help me feel alive.

7. Financials and insecurities: The fact I don’t get a pay check at the end of each month still worries me a little. Well, my need for security is still very strong. However the experience of these almost 2 years shows that no matter what, if one door closes, there will be another 2 opening. It is all about some tiny bit of patience and trust in myself and my competences

8. Time: Don’t expect me saying I have more free time and space for creative thoughts than I had when being employed. If I sum up the hours I spend on preparing, running and following up my trainings and coaching sessions etc., it will be a t least the same amount of work I had in my regular job. The positive thing of freelance is a smarter time management (at least I hope so ). It means I can have more time during the week days or don’t always have fix hours. As an opposite, I may work on weekend or late hours. However, I am still the one deciding when and how to work.

9. Network: Network is so important. Without having a strong network of professionals, I would not be able to get access to many of the jobs I had so far. So I am endlessly grateful for every single person I know and everyone who helped me starting my own “freelance career”. I am grateful for the opportunity to leave a footprint on the path of personal development & growth of many people I am working with.

10. Challenge and again joy: My work is a constant challenge. It requires effort, discipline and good time-management. It also stretches my competencies and makes me acquire new skills and knowledge. It brings me to my limits and sometimes it makes me feel desperate. But above all it brings me joy and self-fulfillment. And more over not only does it make sense to me. It makes sense to people I work with.

11. Mind, soul and body: it is not a spiritual thing. It is essential to take care of your own well-being. Once you are at peace with yourself, you can take care of others. Sports gives me the balance. Yoga gives me peace of mind, focus and energy to face the challenges, come up with new ideas and accept the natural flow of life. It also gives me more trust in my gut feeling and the inner power I have.

If you want to learn more about the way I work, feel free to contact me. I am happy to share my experience and help you decide on your own path and gain more energy and self-trust.

#path #trust #self-employment #self-fulfillment #joy #grateful #coaching #training #consulting

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