I’ve been raised in a family where having home-based businesses are common, where 9-to-5 jobs aren’t the usual. My late grandma used to import Hawaiian fertilizers and repackaged them for Philippine consumption, my mom had her flower shop, my dad his photography studio. Heck, even my mom’s brothers are pilots. Though they are still employed under an airline, their jobs aren’t what you’d call a regular “9am to 5pm†job.
As you can see, it’s quite clear why I would have a profession where I had no one to answer to except my clients. I already mentioned it before, I tried working for a company—a call center to be exact—but it didn’t suit me. I was (and still am) used to being “around†entrepreneurs, so the idea of working for somebody else’s company didn’t give me any satisfaction. It’s like what my mom said, “the highest ‘position’ you can ever attain as an employee for a company is ‘President,’ but you can never be the owner.â€
I knew there would be risks and sacrifices before I took the leap of running a home-based business full-time. But I did, because I knew I could hack it. I knew I could be responsible enough to manage my time in order to meet deadlines. I knew I could handle the obstacles presented by unavoidable bouts of laziness.
My weird, nocturnal lifestyle for the past three years has been both a cause of pity and envy from my college friends who are employed in companies. They envy me for the simple reason that I have total control over my salary and working hours. But they also pity me because I’ve turned down invitations to outings and bar-hopping due to impending project deadlines.
Running your own business is both a blessing and a curse (oh crap, don’t tell me this is another Spiderman analogy?!). Yes, it’s true you don’t have anyone to answer to but your clients. But it also comes with a price: you can’t just forget about your job when you’re at home, because your job is at home.
Sometimes I myself envy those with 9-to-5 jobs. At least they can forget about their work the moment they step out of the office. But then, I still can’t ignore the entrepreneur in me. I just can’t bring myself to enter the “corporate world.â€
I was whining to Abe a while ago that sometimes I really wish there will come a time when I will open my inbox and see “No unread messages†upon login. But yes, he’s right. It’s part of our curse as netrepreneurs—the only time you’d probably see that day is when you’re already out of business.
Every single day of the week (yeah, even Sundays), I get all types of emails—sometimes personal, but most often than not, work-related or blog-related. Unless I email all of my clients regarding a planned vacation way beforehand, a disaster of an inbox will await me when I get back.
In about four hours from now, I will be leaving for a long weekend in Puerto Galera with my husband, Marc and his office colleagues. Abe is once more correct in telling me that I need to give myself a break, but I’m not really that prepared to take it. I think I only had peace of mind when he told me that Puerto Galera has internet cafes (yeah, I know, I’m such a geeky spoilsport). At least if GPRS fails me, I still have a backup in answering emails 😛
But then again, maybe the beach will relax me enough to distract me from work. Hopefully when I get back, my bitchiness will go down a notch 😀
Awww… you do deserve a break! Enjoy your getaway girl! 🙂
You should try three days of internet-free life. Liberating! =)
Hallo, sorry to have to contact you this way, but I’m afraid manolo is bugging me about the site. So you can reach me at my email and we can go over the things we hafta go over to get this blog up and running again.
I see our errant former web designer is in your link list. So I suppose he could help pass the reigns on to you.
Thanks!
do enjoy your break and relax— life is not about all work.
This is what I have observed so far as I deal with people, and I can not fathom– those who are in the corp. world would love to get out and be their own boss. But those who have their family or own business would like to join the corporate world.
enjoy the break…
also, read e-myth revisited my Michael Gerber… Good stuff for netrepreneurs…
Enjoy your vacation and do post some pics when you get back :).
Everything as it’s pros and cons, I guess you just get to choose which one you like to do best.
I can totally relate to this entry. My father owned his own furniture business in the Philippines for many years. My Mom dabbled in small entrepreneural ventures too (food-related).
For years, I did the 9-5 thing (made my way to management) until I realized I couldn’t take the stress any longer (the hours, the office politics, the load). A year and half ago, I transitioned into working at home. I even managed to get my former employer as a client.
It was kinda sketchy for the first few months, trying to figure out what I was doing. Working at home, managing my time, trying to tune out the distractions at home while working (oh yes, so many — it’s called the TELEVISION, family members, refridgerator and XBox games)… and the irregular sleeping patterns (working late to finish something and then sleeping late into the morning). So far, it’s been OK, but I always change… maybe I’ll go back into the 9-5 rat race, but that day is not now. Not yet.
Yeah a blessing and a curse… I went the opposite route, which I think is less common. I started my business before working for others.
When in college we started a company, sold it after 5 years, then stayed on as employees for 2 years. After that I still went on to work for (but not found) more startups. My current job is for a startup as well.