Healthy Employment

I Wish I Had Gone Self-Employed 40 Years Ago for Three Reasons.

Until recently, I didn’t know self-employment could be extra beneficial for health and well-being.

A Profound Perspective on Lifespan

Determined by genes, human life is limited. The known oldest person is believed to live 122 years. The average life expectancy for the 21st century is under 80 years.

Considering these statistics, I feel as if I have wasted more than half of my adult life working for the sake of survival in the corporate world.

Despite the many benefits gained from working for large business organizations, I began to regret my time there, as I felt like I had wasted my skills, time, and efforts.

For example, I earned money to pay bills and save a little for retirement. However, considering the traded time and tremendous effort I positioned, the value looks negligible.

Even though money is critical to survival, it is not enough for health, well-being, and life satisfaction.

Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs indicates that happiness is not solely determined by financial well-being.

I know people with millions of dollars in bank accounts live miserably. Yet, these people suffering from health conditions are willing to give all their wealth just to get their basic health back.

I’d like to give a snapshot of my perspectives on transitioning to self-employment in a neutral way. My goal is to give generic ideas that might be customized by some readers in similar conditions.

Causes of Long-Term Tenure in the Corporate World

From my experience and perspectives, three universal threats cause stress and anxiety in life. Our imagination of the future creates the major cause of anxiety.

Anxious thoughts can produce tension in the body and brain. In addition, they can accumulate if not addressed timely.

As I explained in this article, we face three universal threats: lack of information, fear of uncertainty, and loss of control.

These three psychological threats unconsciously or unknowingly pulled the powerful strings of my psyche.

I always wanted to work for myself, even during my childhood. However, these psychological constraints and my economic conditions caused additional delays.

In my younger years, I lacked information about alternatives other than working in a corporate environment to earn a living.

The fear of economic uncertainty ruled my decisions. I did not want to lose control of my finance and experience a miserable life.

Observing many small businesses bankrupt in those days created fear of self-employment.

Besides, I did not have adequate funds to start a viable business. There was no Internet in the first two decades of my work. Personal computers were limited.

In addition, the cheer factor in the corporate environment, like accolades and awards, entertained my psyche, boosted my ego, and dimmed the lights to see the accurate picture.

In hindsight, they were ephemeral, leaving me with empty feelings.

Three Benefits of Self-Employment

Since my retirement from the corporate world after 40 years, I have experienced several benefits, which I categorized under three headings.

Listed below are three reasons why I wish I’d started my own business 40 years ago.

1 — Owning My Time and Efforts

When working for corporate organizations, I traded my time to earn income. I had to work at least 40 hours weekly from 9 AM to 6 PM for five days.

In addition, I spent several hours during the weekend preparing for the work and improving my skills. So, I had very little time for myself and my family.

Although I spend time delivering my job, I don’t trade my time anymore. I sell my outcome, which is usually reusable. There is a subtle yet profound difference in this point.

Now I own these 40 hours and have the liberty to choose working hours.

Rather than trading my 40 hours for a salary, I now allocate my time to produce desired results based on my goals.

For example, I spend four hours finding contracts, ten hours doing actual work, and two hours on follow-ups.

So this time allocation equates to two working days a week, giving me three additional days to use for further business or enjoyment.

My point is I have the freedom to choose based on my needs and goals.

2 — Having a Sense of Freedom

I didn’t know about the sense of freedom until I finished my job. Then, I thought I might get bored and miss the spirit of the corporate environment.

One week was enough for me to understand the value of freedom. When I woke up on the first day, I felt tremendous freedom. Having all my time at my disposal gave me joy.

My psychological stress started declining. The brain can get more creative when the mind and body are less stressed. Reduced stress allowed me to experience a euphoric state more often.

As I already know how to enter the flow state, my creativity and productivity are further boosted. Forty hours almost equate to 400 hours mentally.

I don’t have to commute several hours to work. I don’t have to worry about the expectations of managers, clients, and colleagues. I simply set my own schedule based on my thoughts and feelings.

Being my own boss was the first time I truly sensed the freedom in my life.

3 — Earning More Income in Less Time

Paradoxically, the less I work, the more I earn.

I am not talking about easy money from unrealistic sources. I mean income from the same type of hard work with less time.

When I worked in a corporate environment, I got less than 10% of the organization’s profits earned from my clients. 90% value of the income I generated went to the company as they owned the clients.

Besides serving the client with my intellectual capital, I was also responsible for finding and maintaining those clients.

If I got lucky and the company made an outstanding profit, they gave me a 1% or 3% bonus on my salary at the end of the year.

In hindsight, the sheer role of the company seemed to create a false sense of security for me.

Now, instead of 10%, I have 100% value generation of my time and effort.

So instead of working 40 hours, I can create the same value in 4 hours with less stress and more joy.

How would I have acted if I had known these benefits 40 years ago?

I could have done two things differently.

Firstly, I wouldn’t have wasted my time getting a doctoral degree to shine in my job. Surely doctorate gave me discipline for advanced research to understand the body of knowledge better, but the time and effort did not yield a desirable outcome.

Since the market was competitive and I had more disadvantages than the typical employees at the time, I needed to demonstrate more skills to stay in the competition. This situation increased my stress.

Secondly, I would have set a specific goal to create a certain amount of income to support my self-employment in the first decade.

For example, I could have resigned after ten years when I saved some deposits for my business, allowing me to focus on my own business for 30 years.

Thus, based on my current findings, I believe the outcome could have been much better.

Unless we have wealthy parents or win the lotto, most of us need some deposit to start a good business and survive simultaneously.

So, the sweet spot, in hindsight, looks like a decade of work for others. Building the infrastructure in the process and gradually moving was a viable option. Of course, this duration might be different for other people.

I only provide a conceptual approach based on my experience.

Concluding Remarks

Even though I regret working so long for corporate organizations and enjoy self-employment at this age, this might not suit everyone.

For example, entrepreneurship caused serious health problems to one of my friends, as I introduced it in a story titled Naomi Sacrificed Her Health for Entrepreneurship.

Despite my social disadvantages in the beginning, forcing me to compete with natives as a migrant, I was also blessed to have an above-average IQ, EQ, and SQ that made my challenges easier.

Earning money is critical to surviving in this modern world. However, money is not everything. The important thing is to find ways to make money by spending less time and effort than needed.

In my case, I only gained 10% value of my time and effort. Thus, my regret is wasting 90% of the value caused by lack of information, fear of uncertainty, and loss of control.

If I had the capability of dealing with these universal threats four decades ago, I could have mitigated the risk by at least 80% giving me three decades to get 100% value of my time and effort.

I am grateful to create more time for joyful workouts, healthier eating, better sleeping, and having great fun while supporting my family financially through self-employment.

As a bonus, anything I create stays as my intellectual property. For example, I filed numerous patents during my employment which does not bring any financial value to me. However, all inventions and innovations I produce now belong to me.

Work and life balance are more critical for my health and well-being now.

Takeaways for Potential Self-Employed People

Based on my experience and observation of successful self-employed people, I offer a few takeaway points.

Working with freedom can bring physical and mental health benefits.

If self-employment is performed correctly, these people can have the freedom to schedule their time based on their lifestyle requirements and personal goals.

Self-employed people might face fewer toxic emotions as they occur more in crowded workplaces. For example, envy, gossiping, back-stabbing, and bullying are common in many workplaces.

Self-employment might reduce unnecessary stress and anxiety if it is done properly. However, self-employed people still need to deal with demanding clients and partners.

Thus, social awareness, emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility, caution, and diligence are needed. To this end, setting boundaries is vital.

An optimal approach to being creative and productive in personal business is finding ways to work in a flow state to maintain physical and mental health.

In a recent story titled “Secrets to a Healthy Self-Employed Life,” I provided insights from 40 years of employment in demanding workplaces, explaining the health and well-being benefits of self-employment after tasting it as a sense of freedom.

In addition, healthy, wealthy, and happy people taught me ten valuable lessons.

If you are into creating a writing business and gaining passive income, I wrote a new story sharing my decades of experience. I hope it gives you valuable perspectives.

How to Write Content to Generate Steady Income

With a sense of freedom and healthy lifestyle habits, I even have lucid dreams, giving me a profound perspective on life.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

Key Takeaways and Punchlines from My Stories Published in June 2023

As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters.

Petechiae, ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, Neuromuscular Dysfunctions, and urinary track disorders.

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Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.

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Sample Humorous Stories

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