I’ve been floundering in the sea of self-employment for about four years now. The good news is, I have stayed afloat and I am learning how to swim. Here are four hard-earned lessons self-employment has taught me:
1. Don’t take it personally. When my services are not chosen, it can feel as though I have been personally rejected. I finally realized that my services are pretty much like a widget on a shelf. If a potential buyer is looking for a widget, the buyer will pick me up and examine me. I’m red, but the buyer wants blue. I am 120 volt, but the buyer wants 220. I am 2” in diameter, but the buyer wants 2.5” in diameter. The buyer puts me down and picks up another widget. There’s nothing wrong with a red, 120 volt, 2” widget. It’s just not what the buyer wants. Note to self: it is not all about me.
2. Face mistakes and learn from them. It’s easy for me to cringe when faced with my mistakes. Looking back, they seem so obvious. Most of them stem from impatience or fatigue or carelessness or misunderstanding. Most of them could have been avoided, if I had just paid attention. It’s very unpleasant for me to realize I have cost myself a job because of a character flaw or oversight. But that unpleasantness causes me to be much more aware the next time I am in a similar situation, and eventually those mistakes teach me to take a different and successful approach. Note to self: pay attention.
3. If you aren’t the right price, they aren’t going to buy you. Back to the store: it doesn’t matter if I could get $35/hr in 1990. It’s not 1990. I can price myself at $35/hr all day long, but unless the market will bear it, I won’t get it. I’m the same type of buyer: I am absolutely not going to pay $4 a roll for paper towels when I can get them for $2.50. Note to self: price to the market.
4. If you don’t have the right skills, they aren’t going to buy you. Not only do you have to have the right skills, buyers have to know your skills are desirable and worth paying for. That’s why tech skills sell so much better than language arts skills. Most English speaking people (myself included) think they speak and write terrific English, whether they do or not. Most people who don’t speak English as a native tongue know they need help with their text, but really have no way of knowing whether your English is terrific or not. By contrast, everyone knows whether or not they have tech skills and everyone knows they are worth paying for. Note to self: get more tech skills.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Temping has a new face
When we first arrived back in Texas, I knew what I wanted to do: I wanted to temp. I liked the idea of working for a company for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months, and then moving on. Temping seemed to offer a perpetual honeymoon with any employer, that shiny new period when work is interesting, people are polite, and office politics and company viability aren’t things you have to deal with.
To my dismay, I discovered that temping, as I defined it, no longer existed. Instead of interviewing with the temp company and then being sent out on assignment, I found that most jobs being offered were temp to hire. Naturally, since they were looking for a long term employee, those companies wanted someone with more experience and background than I had. I have plenty of experience and background, but it’s all language skills and legal-niche experience and background; there just aren’t all that many legal firms looking to hire an estate planning paralegal on a temporary basis. As you would expect, nobody called. What to do?
A friend of mine called me about online work and directed me to a site called oDesk. That’s where all the temps had gone - online! Since finding oDesk, I have also found a site called Elance, and I’m sure there are others. To get started, I posted a profile, set an hourly rate, and started scouring the jobs listing. Jobs were listed in every sort of category. Thankfully, “technical writing” was one of them!
Potential employers from all parts of the globe post job notices for everything from copywriting to SEO to blog posting. The jobs are short term, long term, and everything in between. Most of the pay rates are laughable (paying less than $5 an hour, and obviously targeted to the third world) and some of the job descriptions are questionable, but there are enough reasonable offers to keep me fairly busy.
As time goes on, I am accumulating a whole new set of skills – not my work skills, but my skills in managing my time and dealing with employers from all walks of life. Many of my clients speak shaky English (granted, they speak much better English than I speak Arabic or Russian, etc.) and have different mores. I have made lots of mistakes, but I learn from each mistake. I am learning not to take rejection personally (I hit on about 1 out of every 20 applications) and I am learning what new skills are in demand.
I like working online. There are some drawbacks, like the fact that my office is the boat cabin, and the fact that I spend one to three hours a day applying for jobs rather than working. But it’s great to be temping, just as I expected.
To my dismay, I discovered that temping, as I defined it, no longer existed. Instead of interviewing with the temp company and then being sent out on assignment, I found that most jobs being offered were temp to hire. Naturally, since they were looking for a long term employee, those companies wanted someone with more experience and background than I had. I have plenty of experience and background, but it’s all language skills and legal-niche experience and background; there just aren’t all that many legal firms looking to hire an estate planning paralegal on a temporary basis. As you would expect, nobody called. What to do?
A friend of mine called me about online work and directed me to a site called oDesk. That’s where all the temps had gone - online! Since finding oDesk, I have also found a site called Elance, and I’m sure there are others. To get started, I posted a profile, set an hourly rate, and started scouring the jobs listing. Jobs were listed in every sort of category. Thankfully, “technical writing” was one of them!
Potential employers from all parts of the globe post job notices for everything from copywriting to SEO to blog posting. The jobs are short term, long term, and everything in between. Most of the pay rates are laughable (paying less than $5 an hour, and obviously targeted to the third world) and some of the job descriptions are questionable, but there are enough reasonable offers to keep me fairly busy.
As time goes on, I am accumulating a whole new set of skills – not my work skills, but my skills in managing my time and dealing with employers from all walks of life. Many of my clients speak shaky English (granted, they speak much better English than I speak Arabic or Russian, etc.) and have different mores. I have made lots of mistakes, but I learn from each mistake. I am learning not to take rejection personally (I hit on about 1 out of every 20 applications) and I am learning what new skills are in demand.
I like working online. There are some drawbacks, like the fact that my office is the boat cabin, and the fact that I spend one to three hours a day applying for jobs rather than working. But it’s great to be temping, just as I expected.
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