It’s great working for yourself. The office is your own, you make your own rules, your money is your own, you are your own boss…all good. Until 2020 hits and work dries up, and you are scrambling to keep clients, find new ones and wondering how you are going to pay your rent. All this is magnified when you are single and reliant on your income only.
It’s easy to get depressed and anxious in these circumstances. Running a business is tough at the best of times, but add a global pandemic into the mix and it’s a pretty bumpy ride. I have found myself envying those friends who work for others and have money coming in regularly. I have found myself wishing, at times, that I had a job and worked for someone else. Or even that I had a partner who was drawing a salary. Then I slap myself around the face and remind myself why I started my business. Freedom and independence.
I value freedom and independence highly. Maybe that is why I am twice divorced too. I find it difficult to adapt to another person’s way of living or working. I am better on my own, I know it. I just have to keep reminding myself that this pandemic will pass. Clients will return to work. They will send me work through like before. The unsettling thing is not knowing when this will happen. I have had days of staring at my inbox and not having one job come in. In fact, I have had weeks, no, months, of this. Luckily I have savings to get me through. I remind myself that it could be a lot worse, and it is a lot worse for others. People are losing their jobs and businesses and in some cases, their lives.
I’m trying to keep positive, although to be honest, some days I don’t want to get out of bed. But this shall pass. It shall pass. And once more, I will be grateful that I work for myself and that the office is mine.
Love Zita x