Gobliny Advice After One Year of Self-Employment
Happyyyy New Year's Eve, miscreants! 🎆
I'm sure this year has been full of ups and downs for all of us, but I hope now that the valleys are behind you, you can *checks notes* climb the mountains of . . . not peril. Don't do that.
*Squints, throws paper* It's done, you done did it. Count your wins, dammit.
For those of you who do and don't know, I officially self-employed, uh, myself late last year.
After leaving a well-loved but unfortunately underpaid library job, 2024 became my first full year working solely within the confines of my gobliny abode, muttering to myself between the tippy-taps of the keyboard and venturing out only for errands because why the fuck would anyone leave except when they have to?
I may have had multiple reasons for abandoning the general public.
As unconventional as my path has been, I'm told there are folks who wish to chase the solitary freedom, so . . . I will do my best to lay out what worked for me, revelations and stresses along the way, and keep it real with you because I don't do BS.
Onward.
Disclaimer: No two paths are the same, and not every piece of advice will work for every situation. I can only speak from experience and encourage everyone to do their own research before making life-changing decisions.
CONTENTS
Starter Pack
Time Management
Work Boundaries
Mindset
Goblin Life Starter Pack
I laid out the first steps I took in my post A Goblin's Practical Tips For Self-Employment, so if you're entirely new or you'd like a good foundation for the stuff I'll tackle below, I recommend starting there. Because . . . confession, I accidentally rewrote about half of that post before realizing, Wait a minute, I've already told them all this. 🤨
So shoo. Go do your homework then come back.
Got those steps down? Cool cool.
Now that the basics are covered, here's some fun and maybe not-so-fun stuff I've encountered while doing The Thing™.
Your Time Management Maybe Sucks Now, Sorry
Thought you'd be better at managing your time when you had all of it in the world, eh? Get in, loser, so did I.
Turns out, if you're the goal-oriented mastermind that got yourself into this mess, or you're just now experiencing free time from a life of nothing but hustle, you'll run into two problems.
1) All those administrative, maintenance, communication, and marketing tasks on top of your actual job? Those are yours now, and if you're like me, you think you can't rest until they're done.
Which is . . . a neverending cycle, because surprise. Those go on as long as you're working, silly.
2) Your body needs rest, the traitor. At least, mine did. Years of pushing through worsening chronic fatigue and other symptoms after Covid, working my ass off at multiple jobs, never giving myself free time because I wanted to be self-employed tuh-day, Junior . . . yehhh, those catch up to you the minute you have some peace.
I slept. A lot. More than I've ever slept in my life, and I know part of it's health-related (check your iron, kids). But I think even without chronic issues, I would've caught up on all those sleepless years. It really put a dent in my plan to take off running with so many goals, and for once I had to pace myself.
Shit sucks, bro.
If that sounds like you, you might want to factor in extra rest no matter how energetic you normally are. Schedule off days and force yourself to stick to them. Find time management tools that work for you and break your weeks into manageable tasks.
Some of my favorite time management resources have been planners, timers, and the pomodoro technique. Giving myself concrete goals to check off, a calendar to visualize deadlines, and daily timers for stopping points have been instrumental in making the most of my days.
Boundaries
If there's one thing I'm vehement about, it's boundaries. But trust me, you'll find plenty more that need to be established throughout your new lifestyle.
Personal
The people closest in my life are super understanding of my time and space, but I've heard from friends or encountered from less-close people that some folks equate working from home with you always being available.
Which is . . . not the case. So if you know someone will assume you can drop what you're doing anytime, they can walk into your workspace at any point to chat, or generally refuse to understand that you still have a job, establishing boundaries ahead of time might be a good idea.
I prefer "hiss, go away," but whatever works for you. It could mean enforcing an office time and space, scheduling breaks on public calendars, or silencing phones and other contact during certain hours.
Professional
You'll also need boundaries with yourself if you struggle with the aforementioned need to always be working (or vise versa) and professional boundaries with how and when people contact you, how much you can take on, where your part of a job ends, and being firm on prices you feel are fair and sustainable.
I've had to adjust some of those because I want to deliver an unrealistically perfect product and I feel inherently awkward asking for money (it's so much simpler when someone else handles your paycheck).
This has unfortunately led to me taking on extra work without being asked, quadruple checking work I could have double checked, and not being clear on where my portion of a project ends so that my labor extended into tasks it didn't need to.
Which has all, of course, been my doing. My clients have been wonderful and insistent on stopping points and making sure I was paid for any extra work a project needed.
Since this won't always be the case, I encourage continuously updating your contracts to your expectations and workflow, researching fair pay and standing by it, clearly defining the parameters of your projects, and setting office hours that you honor like any job.
Mindset
I also was not prepared for the mental & emotional labor of untangling from toxic work culture now that I'm free to do so, and oh-ho-ho what the fuck. I salute anyone who's content and well taken care of at their job, but even at the best one I'd had, there was the expectation of working for almost nothing.
So . . . is trading relative stability for the risky venture of self-employment worth it?
To me it was, but I can't answer for anyone else. I thrive in flexible environments where I can work at my own pace and balance creativity with necessity. I decided ages ago that I'd gladly trade money to not mindlessly work my life away, and I can't ever see going back.
It takes a certain mindset to be happy with that kind of instability, and it's one each person has to arrive at on their own. I'm one of those weird people who's always known what I wanted and squints at anything traditional or expected, so I can't guide anyone on "getting there."
I can, however, say that you only get this particular life once, and certain things feel reeeaally inconsequential when you look at the bigger picture.
I might stress myself with deadlines, taking on too much, and overplanning, but I've not once been unhappy with my decision, and I can adjust course as needed. I'm my own boss, damn it.
My advice? Figure out what's most important in your life and prioritize it above all else, to the most reasonable extent you can. And remind yourself nothing is set in stone.
Not even enchanted swords; people keep yoinking those.
Enjoy this gobliny rant? Let me know what topics I should tackle next in the comments below, and feel free to sign up to the Goblin Newsletter for bonus content, post notifications, and sneak peeks!
Until next time, miscreants. 🤍