Reclaiming Your Crayons as a Solopreneur: Adding Color to your Professional Identity

One of my Google Plus connections made a really rather poignant statement when responding to one of my posts yesterday…

“After kindergarten, they take the crayons away, give us a direction, point and expect us to walk/talk that line. Many of us only know how to do that….many, I believe only know what they know, and what they have seen. It’s like they almost have to learn how to walk, think, talk, and relate to people all over again.”

As a former corporate employee, I think, in general, there’s a great deal of truth in what my Plusser friend wrote. When you’ve got a title assigned to you by someone else, and a job description that defines what you’re supposed to be doing day in and day out, it’s not too hard to lose sight of your unique qualities and the things that makes you tick.

I don’t mean to paint companies with employees in an unfavorable light; they need to have policies, processes and documentation in place to set employee expectations. But as individuals, we sometimes let those things overshadow our creativity and versatility.

We lose our crayons and the color they bring to our identities.

If you’re on the verge of deciding whether or not to pursue starting your own business, know that there are upsides and downsides in varying degrees. One of the tremendous upsides in my view is that you have the opportunity reinvent yourself. Using your own set of crayons, you color your future and how you want to live and work each day.

You need to do your homework and use good business sense as you launch a career as a self-employed professional, but as you work toward that goal, you’ll discover (or rediscover) innate strengths and skills that might have been dormant while fitting yourself into a role developed by others. Just be sure to keep an open mind – always – and don’t limit yourself by what you’ve been told you’re capable or not capable of in the past. Follow that simple advice and you’ll reclaim your crayons – and gain a renewed sense of purpose.

If you’re a solopreneur, please share your story about creating your own identity and purpose through self-employment?

If you work for someone else, do you feel like your identity is somewhat confined or do you have the flexibility to grow and evolve?