3 Things I Learned From Working For Myself That I Wish I Knew Earlier

The pleasure and the pain of leaving my 9–5 and becoming a creator

I jumped into entrepreneurship in the same way you go to a restaurant with the intention of ordering the same thing you always do but changing your mind last minute and ordering something you would never have thought you wanted.

I spent my teen years working in restaurants, going to college for something I wasn't even remotely interested in, and then working in a cubicle that ate away at my soul for 8 hours a day.

Fast-forward to 2019, when I decided to become a food blogger, then starting a YouTube channel, and finally embracing my true identity of being a writer.

It's truly been a whirlwind of events, but they all led me to finding my purpose in life.

There are a lot of things I still don't know, and there are about a billion things I wish I had known before getting started that probably would have made it a smidge bit easier.

At the end of the day, all I can do is pass on what I'm learning and hopefully have someone feel a little less alone in their journey.

With that being said, here are a few things I've learned throughout my journey of working for myself.

#1. It's going to be really lonely.

I'm a natural-born introvert; I could spend the whole day alone, not text or talk to anyone, and feel good.

I often take myself out to restaurants and coffee shops and have no problem asking for a table for one. I've always thrived in my own independence and solitude. I never felt lonely or like I was missing out on anything.

However, that changed when I started working for myself. I don't feel lonely because I can't hang out with people; I feel lonely because it's hard to find people that are like-minded, which means it's really hard to connect with people.

I'm lucky to have a partner who is on a similar journey as me, and he makes my life significantly better, but there are times the two of us wish we had people in our lives that we could really talk to and get past the boring surface-level conversation.

When I think about the company I want and the friends we have, I feel a pang of sadness envelop me because I want wholesome conversations. The kind that open my eyes rather than make me feel like sitting at home binge-watching The Handmaidens Tale would have been better.

It's hard to find people with who you can have a genuine and inspiring conversation with. While we both have great people in our lives, we often find ourselves feeling empty after investing time into them.

It feels like the conversations are never stimulating, and sometimes it just feels like a wasted evening.

I felt this frustration for a few months; I remember telling my partner that even hanging out with one of my closest friends doesn't feel good anymore, sometimes it feels like outside of him, there's no one else to talk to that truly understands how I feel about what I'm doing.

There's plenty of research that has shown that entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey.

I wouldn't change anything about what my life looks like right now or the decisions I've made to get here, but knowing that it's okay to feel this way would have saved me some heartache.

There were times I felt like I just didn't belong with people or like I couldn't relate to anyone, and that was hard.

Now I remind myself that in time, the right people will come into my life. People that I will be able to have like-minded and intellectual conversations with.

All good things take time and require sacrifice.

#2. Pivoting is natural and something you will have to do.

In an article on Forbes, pivoting means:

"A pivot means fundamentally changing the direction of a business when you realize the current products or services aren't meeting the needs of the market. The main goal of a pivot is to help a company improve revenue or survive in the market, but the way you pivot your business can make all the difference."

I've been pretty stuck in my ways of growing my business. I would listen to podcasts or read articles that would offer advice on what to do in the stage of business that I'm in, and I'd refuse it or skip because I thought my way was better.

In reality, if you want your business to grow and be successful, you have to be more than okay with changing the direction of your business, even if you're comfortable doing things your way.

I was more than comfortable creating only one style of videos for my Youtube channel; I thought to myself, if others are producing this kind of content and not steering towards any other kind, why do I have to?

When you take a step back from what you're doing and what everybody else is doing, you gain clarity on what you should be doing in order to reach your goals.

#3. It's never going to get easy no matter how much money you make or how long you do it — but it does get more rewarding.

I remember I kept telling myself, one year, one year, and I'll start making X amount of money, and it'll get easier.

It doesn't get easier because the more you accomplish, the more you want to expand on your goals and aspirations. If you can meet one milestone, why stop there?

And just because you're meeting one milestone while working through five conflicts doesn't mean you'll have those exact same ones when you're trying to meet your next milestone. You'll most likely have more, and they'll probably be even more complex.

One of my favorite podcasts is called The Skinny Confidential; they cover a variety of different topics ranging from entrepreneurship, health, productivity, and more.

The co-host once said, "When you become rich, you don't all of a sudden have zero problems; it's more like instead of one air conditioner breaking, you have seven that break all at once. You just have the money to solve it quicker."

The same goes for your goals; when you reach one, it doesn't mean the next one will be effortless to obtain, it might be a little bit easier since you've laid down a foundation, but issues will still arise, they'll just be different ones, and you'll be more equipped to handle them.

Right now, every day that I invest into my business, my monetary value grows, my skillset strengthens, but so does my desire to make bigger goals because I see the difference I'm making in people's lives.

I see the positive comments, the messages of gratitude, even the little things like people asking me for book recommendations get to me.

There's no better feeling than knowing there's somebody out there whose life you're impacting in a positive way.

This is an ongoing journey, one that I will be on for the rest of my life. Maybe you're in the same boat, and you feel lonely. Your friends don't get it; maybe your parents don't even get it.

I get it. One day like-minded individuals will walk into your life and make you feel understood and like everything you've done up to that point was all worth it.

Maybe you've been in a stagnant position, feeling like you're plateauing. You're scared to change directions because what if it gets worse? But have you thought about what if it gets better? Don't be scared to pivot, and don't be afraid to continuously set bigger and better goals for yourself.

You never really know what you're capable of unless you push yourself.