Pros and Cons to being self employed

I thought I would share with you my pros and cons of being self employed. I have been self employed for just about three years, for me it seemed like a huge and scary jump but it has actually been the best step I could of made and has allowed me to be involved in lots of different creative projects and has developed my design skills further as I am now not only able to work freelance for other designers but I can set my own briefs and really push my work experimenting with styles and techniques as I am my own boss.

Pros -

- I am able to set my own work schedule with flexible working hours 

- I have the ability to work from home which means I can just roll out of bed into my studio

- No Boss- I only have myself to answer to 

-I work only for me , I work a lot but I know that what I do is for myself, all the work is for my own good and knowing that it is much easier to work all night long.

- I get all the credit. When you have a boss the credit goes to them when you work for yourself it all goes to you! I get to hear first hand all the lovely feedback

- You will learn everything - As I am my own company , I have learned to be my own IT , marketing, design  and sales. I learn so much more working for myself then I would ever learn as an employee.

Cons-

- Not being able to switch off - Even though one of my pros was the fact that I can plan my own working day I do often find it hard to switch off and I can never really fully leave my work at work.

- I am my own boss- This can also be a con, as technically I can tell myself to have the day off or take a longer lunch break, sometimes when motivation is low this can be a con!

- Working alone- I found working everyday from my studio alone to be incredibly lonely and for someone that suffers a lot with anxiety this does not help.

- I do everything myself- This can be extremely over whelming as I design, make , promote and post all my products and sometimes this can all get on top of me and if anything goes wrong I am always to blame.

I feel like at the moment I have the perfect balance and a couple of things that have helped me would be having my own studio - even though this is still in my house I am able to shut the door and keep it separate from my living space. 

Another thing that has helped me massively is having a little job on the side, just a couple of days a week helps me have more of a routine and having worked on my own for a couple of years from home It actually made my anxiety a lot worse, I found myself going days without actually speaking to anyone and just working away in my own little world so personally for me working completely for myself didn't work, but now I have that balance I am much more productive and motivated to work on my own projects. 

I hope this was helpful to anyone thinking of going self employed! It was definitely worth it for me now I can see all my work starting to pay off . I am able to create the things I want to create and put what is in my head into reality.

 It is just about finding a balance that works for you.