The Myth of being self-employed

Patrick Ryan of Awakened Wisdom: A Guide to Reclaiming your Brilliance is sharing his insights with us today! This is the sixth stop on Patrick's 14 day blog tour to promote the launch of his new book. After reading today's article be sure to sign up for the book launch reminder here: http://ow.ly/1kB3m and then follow Patrick to his next stop at Charly Leetham's blog at: http://askcharlyleetham.com/blog/

Yes just imagine the freedom, the independence of being your own boss, get the credit, the reward and the fun of it all as well. I call all of that the myth of being self-employed. I have been self-employed practically my entire working life. I have created a variety of small businesses some of which went on to do very well, others not so.

I love being self-employed and I love myths. Myths are created from a mixture of dreams, reality, illusion and hope. Sometimes they teach us lessons and sometimes they inspire us. I hope that the myth of being self-employed inspires you and at the same time myths are created around the same version of the ordinary human facing great odds, passing through a series of tests, and in some myths coming out the other side of it with a great treasure of some kind.

The challenges that we self-employed meet present opportunities to develop our Selves, to meet our Selves. We do not really meet our Selves in the easy times. Don't misunderstand me, I like easy times. It is just that it has been in the challenges that I have had to really show up and discover what I have got. It is through the challenges that we become wise and strong and develop more of the amazing resourcefulness that we are. In Awakened wisdom I describe the Eight states of an Awakened Life. One of them is a good state of Being.

One of the big lessons I have learnt over the years is that it is wise for us to look into the nature of our relationships. When you are self-employed, your business becomes an externalisation of your state of Being.

In a good state of Being, we are asked to examine the nature and the quality of all our relationships in life. That starts with the relationship to our Self, our partners, our business and also our relationship with prosperity. Self-employed people have created a very direct opportunity to affect their prosperity.

As a coach, I have worked with many women who are self-employed. I must say that I hate to make generalised statements based on gender and yet at the same time there is some wisdom available to us if we are willing to look into it and of course we have to take it all with a pinch of salt. There are always exceptions. Here is one thing that I have noticed about many women who are self-employed.

Women by your very nature are givers and tend to give to relationships. Often giving more than receiving and often giving too much or not valuing what you are giving in a fair way.

Many women I have coached over the years really struggle with putting a fair value on their services. I would like to propose that if you are a woman who is self-employed that you revisit what you are charging for what you provide. Are you really satisfied with the rates that you are getting? Do they reflect your true value? Are you honouring yourself through them?

As self-employed people, it is important that we work towards yes' on all those questions. Of course you have to consider the market and what your clients can afford and at the same time remember to consider your Self.

I have known many women that have created amazing businesses and lives for themselves and their families. The myth of being self-employed is worth going for and I wrote Awakened Wisdom as a Guide that I know will support you on your journey of turning that myth into your reality.

Journey happily,

Patrick Ryan

www.AwakenedWisdom.com

How can you create a life well lived? Get Patrick's new book on 20 April and find out. To receive updates in regard to the official Amazon book launch, please visit http://ow.ly/1kB3m

Follow Patrick to his next stop at Charly Leetham's blog:

http://askcharlyleetham.com/blog/

From Slummy Mummy to Yummy Mummy

I remember how eye-catching the above title was when I read it as the subject of a talk aimed at Mums considering going into their own business. It's not mine but it encapsulates what I want to write about and that is about image.

For those of you that do not know me, I had two girls within 15 months of each other. That meant that any figure I once had just disappeared. As a consequence and due to being physically and emotionally exhausted post the second birth, I spent the best part of two years as slummy mummy. I lived in jeans and as I had told myself that I would not spend money on clothes in a size that I did not intend to inhabit for long, most of them were not in anyway stylish.

So what changed? Some things did not change much in that I am much happier in an informal environment and will still wear jeans frequently. Using my coaching techniques and my will power which can be formidable, I lost the baby weight and am now five pounds heavier than I was pre-children. Not bad when the experts say that one should expect to gain half a stone with every child one has! So that meant I was able to reward myself and buy some new clothes. And yet it was more than that, I realised that I was the face of my business and therefore it was worth getting dressed up and wearing make up for networking meetings and tweet ups. It also made me feel more confident. Around the same time I discovered eye brow plucking in a big way. I don't do it methodically but I swear it makes me look younger which, when everything else is going south, is a bonus! I also have a three year old who, when asked what she wants me to wear, always says a dress. Sometimes I comply but normally I compromise by going as far as skirt.

So that's me but I found something that is a bit of fun and can be used to help you decide who you are, so tick off mentally all the ones that resonate with you:

Slummy Mummy

1. You always wear the same clothes as they are practical, and often covered in food.
2. You may occasionally get to brush your hair before you go out.
3. You have turned up at a class only to find that it is half term and you had forgotten
4. You do the odd class only because you want to get out and meet people for your sanity
5. The house is always an absolute tip and you don't care - what is the point of tidying up when all the toys will come out again anyway?

Yumy Mummy

1. You are always perfectly groomed
2. You wouldn't dream of taking your children swimming yourself as you would mess up your hair - they have a personal instructor
3. Your children wear designer clothes
4. Your children have a strict timetable of classes from birth to ensure their education is top notch, they will never be allowed to jus play
5. The house is always perfectly tidy, and you would never know children live there

This post has been written for Josie's writing workshop and was inspired by Nicky's post, which when I read it, I knew that I just had to write my own version. So thank you Nicky and Josie for giving birth to this post so to speak.

To be or not to be: sole trader or limited company

I started this post last week and it was deleted by the man from Dell when he was fixing yet another problem with my laptop! The purpose of this blog is not to have a moan about Dell and their services - on that the less said the better. In fact is is part two on things you need to do when setting up your own business. Click here for part one. Duncan Brodie commented on that post that the first thing a new business owner had to decide was what business structure to go for. At the time that seemed fairly obvious to me but recently it became less so and therefore I thought I would share the process that I have been going through as it might be helpful.

For most small businesses the choice is between signing up as a sole trader or becoming a limited company. Initially it seemed pretty obvious to me that setting up as a sole trader was the way forward because I had very few overheads as a coach and consultant and limited liabilities. However that all changed when one of the organisations that I work for said that they would no longer work with consultants that did not have a limited company, after 31 March 2010.

Initially I was not at all keen at the prospect. It meant getting a memorandum and articles of association, filing a set of accounts once a year with Companies House - all of which seemed like more work. Now some weeks on I can see that it could make my organisation seem more professional. It could also have other benefits such as the payment of dividends to the Directors out of the pre-tax profits. That makes up for the £200 or so that most individual business owners choose to pay for someone to set up their business as a limited company with an off the peg set of memorandum and articles.

In short I am now seriously considering the idea of making Whole Self Leadership a limited company. It is funny how potentially bad news can act as an opportunity. However in my research so far, I have been surprised by the number of people who are sole traders and have not gone for the limited company option. What's your view? What choice did you make and why?