Get a real job!
How often, you know, have we heard it that spouses say to someone who becomes self employed in sales and they're on commission, and eventually the spouse says, hey, it's time for you to get a real job. I've heard that so often over the years from people who came to work for me, if they were struggling or whatever certain spouses would always say that and it's a terrible thing but then when you try to understand what are they trying to say, where is it coming from, what's it about. And so I wanna talk about getting a real job. And so for some reason, people think that being self employed is not a real job. And I guess they consider it unstable, they consider it uncertain, you're on commission, there's no guaranteed income, there's no consistent income.
Kenneth Holden:So everything about it to an outsider looks highly unstable. To in today's world with the age of the video era since the pandemic has happened everything's on Zoom my business became like 100% digital it opened up an incredible amount of and it introduced a whole pile of problems and so it's very interesting but you get to work from home so every single person I hire in my business now they actually work from home 100%. Our meetings are from home. Their client meetings are from home. They make their sales from home.
Kenneth Holden:Everything's from home. They don't have to go anywhere. They don't have to go outside their house. And, of course, that's not necessarily always a good thing, but it does open up a very unique business opportunity. So people, instead of having to work 30, 35, 40 hours a week because the travel time was eliminated to go see clients, now they actually get to do it from home.
Kenneth Holden:And, yes, people still complain. It's funny. People still find a way to find pitfalls and potholes rather than silver lining and opportunities. The human nature tends to look for the negative and focus on the negative. We have to minimize that, but where do these spouses come up with that?
Kenneth Holden:I'm gonna give you some ideas because when people become self employed, they have these crazy notions that they're gonna take as much time off as they want. They're gonna have independence and freedom in their schedule, and all of those things are 100% true. You do, but it's that exact same flexibility that actually destroys their opportunity because somehow or other people think there's a magic pill or a silver bullet in becoming self employed. So when you do, sure, it does open up the possibility for independence and freedom in your schedule and all those different things, but those are the things that kill people and I'm gonna share with you why. And so a job, if you're gonna do well, business, any kind of business, you have to work hard.
Kenneth Holden:You won't get ahead unless you work hard. And so the whole notion that becoming self employed and not working hard and being successful, they simply don't go together. If you're gonna be successful being self employed, you have to be predictable. You have to have all kinds of different things, and you have to work really hard to get ahead. We all know the sales cycle is all over the place.
Kenneth Holden:We know that we don't know which week, which month, which customer, which lead is going to turn into something valuable. We know that and this is why your predictability is so important and direct sales businesses are very transactional you only get paid when there's a transaction so it demands continuous engagement. What does that mean? Means you need office hours, it means you need and you need to publish them, you need accountability, a buddy, you need morning routines, you need to get dressed for work, you need to go into your office, you need to set boundaries, all the normal stuff that a normal business would do for you. When you come in, you have to come to work, you have to check-in, you're given your office or a cubicle or an area to work, they define all the rules, you have to follow them.
Kenneth Holden:When you're self employed, you still have to do the same thing, but you have to establish your own office hours and you have to keep them. So where I think a lot of these spouses that actually probably sometimes have legitimate statements is why don't you get a real job? Number 1, if you're not successful yet and you're in your pajamas all the time when they come home and you don't have any structure, of course, it doesn't look very stable and that's where it obviously comes from. At least if you're not successful yet, but they see that you have office hours, that you have structure in your schedule, that you have fixed hours that you work, that you're up in the morning, you're not sleeping in every day, that you're not in your pajamas. I know some people love to get into their pajamas and solve them.
Kenneth Holden:There's something about human behavior and psychology. No. I am not a psychologist, but I do listen to podcasts and read books from experts. There's something about getting into a work mode by getting into work clothes. Now that might still be a pair of jeans, we'll put on a dress shirt.
Kenneth Holden:The idea is to get up in the morning, get into the office, have work hours, publish your hours, set boundaries, tell your spouse when you're working, make arrangements for kids, do all the normal stuff a normal person will do. You're still working less hours, but having that schedule and those morning routines and getting your coffee and setting the boundaries and being in your office, it shows that you are committed. It shows that you're serious. It it has all the optics of looking like a real opportunity. So many people are suffering from this criticism for the simple reason that it does not have the appearance of any structure.
Kenneth Holden:Now it's also true that if you don't have published hours, you don't execute, you're not predictable, you don't have morning routines, you're not in work clothes, you're not doing everything you're supposed to do, you probably will fail because in order to succeed, you have to put in the time, you have to put in the effort, you have to be committed to continuous improvement and being in the office and having office hours and maybe connecting with a friend on Zoom and having some accountability structures ensures that you're going to become successful because it guarantees that you're going to have the behaviors you need in order to succeed. But when you're skipping days and skipping hours and shortening work schedule and not taking it seriously or waking up in the morning and not feeling like going to work and lying down till the feeling goes away, it was meant to be funny. So if you're doing all of that, no wonder you're failing, because life is about discipline and character. So to succeed in self employment is no different than being employed except you're also the boss. So, sure, when necessary, you can take time off.
Kenneth Holden:If you have a child graduating from high school, you can sure amend your schedule to go. But these are important exceptions, not frivolous exceptions. A lot of people have frivolous exceptions. Oh, my favorite movies out or the weather's not nice outside or I don't feel like working today. Those are not the same things as I'm going to my child's high school graduation or elementary school graduation or a special event or a special, concert or something of that nature.
Kenneth Holden:These are important infrequent things that occur that are fully just publisher hours, establish make your office make it beautiful. Make your office really nice so that you actually enjoy being in there. Publish your offers, your hours, let other people know your schedule, have someone keep you accountable, set boundaries, get dressed for work, have a morning routine, just like you did when you went to an office. You went by Tim Hortons or Starbucks, you got your coffee. Everything was set up on a schedule and a routine, and it got you into a certain rhythm.
Kenneth Holden:You need the exact same rhythm being self employed and you're going to enjoy the business more. You're going to become successful and your spouse will not need to tell you to go get a real job.
