The Scary Side of Self-Employment

Halloween isn’t exactly my favorite time of year. Scary movies, scary costumes, scary thoughts of my kid not looking before running across the street to the next house’s candy stash—it’s all a little unnerving.

This year, I’m facing my fears head-on by volunteering at local nonprofit theater organization’s “Zombie Fest” event. I’ll be dressing as a zombie. I’ll be assisting at a photo station, snapping pics of other people dressed as zombies. And I’ll be helping to set up and clean up after a showing of the popular cult classic Night Of The Living Dead.

My skin crawls and I get goose bumps just thinking about it.

Standing up to fear. That’s something small business owners and solopreneurs do every day. Starting and running your own business is a scary proposition. It’s an endeavor fraught with uncertainty and the unexpected.

Here are a just a few of the fears you face when you’re self-employed:

• Rejection
• Income that fluctuates
• Unreasonable clients
• Entering networking functions alone
• Competition
• Losing a client
• Cost of health care insurance
• No paid vacation
• Delivering your elevator speech to a roomful of people
• Scope creep
• No sick days
• Charging too little
• Trolls on social media
• Too little billable work
• Too much work

It takes courage, a willingness to work hard, and an overarching attitude of optimism to overcome these fears so they don’t disable you with dread.

As I don my zombie garb and go beyond my comfort zone this Halloween, I’ll think of you, my self-employed friends. Stay brave and show those things that go bump in the night who is boss.

Your turn! What other fears have you had to overcome as a solopreneur or small biz owner?