The Positives and Negatives of Being Self-Employed

I started this blog when my daughter was six months old, as a way to share my thoughts online and do something for myself that I enjoyed. But I also always intended to try and make some money from it and hopefully make it into my job one day so that I could stay at home with my children and work around them.

Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash

I had a very different blog before this one so I already knew what I was doing and could set it all up myself quite easily and knew a bit of (very) basic code so that I could sort any small problems out myself. My first experiences working with brands early on were mostly on reviews and then it did take a while to actually start making any money from it.

But I have been registered as self-employed for a few years now and even though it can vary a lot from month to month, alongside the freelance writing I do I now make a decent income. A lot of work has gone into it – there is a lot more to blogging and earning an income from it than just sitting down and writing a post; I work hard and don’t take holidays unless we are actually going away somewhere but I absolutely love it and I am so grateful that I get to do this.

Being self-employed and working from home can be really wonderful, but it can also be really hard at times. So I thought I would share my favourite things and least favourite things about self-employment and working from home.

The Positives and Negatives of Being Self-Employed

Things I love about being self-employed

Being able to work around my family

If my daughter has a show at school or a sports day, I can very easily be there to see it. I don’t have to get permission from anybody and I don’t necessarily have to work a longer day to make up the hours I’ve missed.

I also get to do the school run every morning and afternoon and can take my daughter to the park after school if we fancy it. I still sometimes have to work once I have picked her up, but she is usually happy playing or doing some drawing or crafting, or watching tv.

I can take birthdays off and go on holiday or for a spontaneous few days away at any time of year; it’s so brilliantly flexible and I love that about it.

The comforts of working from home

I can wear whatever the hell I want all day at home, I don’t have to dress up for anyone or wear heels and no-one will frown at me for wearing leggings and slippers (except maybe my cats). I can make a cup of tea whenever I want (a lot), and I don’t have to check if everyone in the office wants one first, including grumpy Janet in the corner.

The unlimited earning potential

I love that to a point, how much I earn is down to me. I don’t have to wait for someone to give me a promotion, it is all down to me. The harder I work, the more money I can earn, not just time-wise, but the amount of effort I put into promoting my blog or reaching out to PR’s and brands affects how much I can earn. That’s also a bit scary too and makes it harder sometimes, but I’d much rather have it this way.

If I keep growing my blog and working hard at it, then I can ask for more money for brand work as they are likely to get more from it, so it really is down to me how much I can earn, and there isn’t a limit to my earning potential.

Things I don’t love about being self-employed

Working evenings, weekends and lack of holidays

I work at least a bit of pretty much every evening and weekend because there is always work to be done, and I don’t usually have a full day to work because of when my daughter finishes school. I would like to get to a place where I take most weekends off, but at the moment I just have too much to do and I hate getting really behind. I’m writing this on a Saturday for example. A is outside washing the car with her dad, and I’m missing out on that fun (ha!).

I do make sure that we have plenty of afternoons out together and I never miss out on us doing things with friends and family, but I do wish that I didn’t have to sit and work at the weekend. I could do with the break, especially in the evenings, and I’d love to generally have my laptop switched off by 6pm.

I don’t ever take holidays unless we are actually going away somewhere, as all it would mean would me getting behind, feeling anxious about the fact I’m not working when I have work to do, and not enjoying my time off or relaxing. I’m generally alright with that as I love what I do and I want to do well at it, but it is hard sometimes when other people are having a week off and loving it and not feeling guilty about it at all.

Having to do all of the admin 

I am obviously responsible for all of the admin that is required as a self-employed person. I have to be organised about writing down all of the details for my paid blogging work, as well as my freelance stuff, I have to do invoicing after every job or I won’t get paid, and I have to do my fun old tax return at the last minute every February.

None of it is fun, and it actually takes up a lot of time but it has to be done and I have to be organised about it, otherwise, things will go wrong and I can’t keep track of how much I’m earning.

I also have to send and reply to emails A LOT and it can get quite overwhelming sometimes. I want to get better at only checking them at certain times and not in the evening at all, but I’m always hoping for a really exciting blog opportunity to come through so I can’t help it! Plus, unfortunately, it is sometimes just the way it is and I do need to be in contact with a PR for something with a fast turnaround for example.

It is very hard to switch off

That leads me on to my next point, which is that it is very hard to switch off from work. I love my work so it does make it easier, but we all need a break sometimes. I need to be posting on social media throughout the day or responding to people, I do need to be available to a PR sometimes, and often a day out as a family is for the blog and I need to be taking pictures and posting on social media. It is totally worth it of course, but it does make it hard to escape from and just completely relax and not think about the work I need to do.

The distractions of working from home

It is very hard to ignore the washing up, piles of laundry that need doing, and the mess that quite often surrounds me. But I have to if I actually want to get any work done. If I just think that I’ll do a bit after the school run then an hour has suddenly disappeared and I’m just pushing back the time I have to work and I end up feeling pressured and stressed and get even less done.

I try to do it so that I have a ten-minute break every so often and stick a load of washing on, the next time putting the clean washing out, another putting some dry clothes away, but it can still feel like I’m spending too much time on housework and not having enough time to work.

It is great that working from home means that I can do some housework if needs be, if we’ve had a really fun and busy weekend and the house is a tip I don’t have to come home after a long day at work and start hoovering (although let’s be honest, I very rarely do that during the day). But being at home does make it all very hard to ignore and it can end up stressing me out and eating into my working day.

No job security

I have no contract or anything that says I will definitely earn money in six months’ time or even next month. It is pretty scary not having any job security or knowing how long it will last. As well as that it can also be hard not earning a set wage every month and knowing that I will always have that. If I don’t work, if I’m ill or go on holiday, I don’t get paid. If it’s a quiet month then we have a lot less money that month and that is hard. It makes it hard to budget and plan ahead. To me, it is still worth it, especially as I can earn a good income doing what I do and I think I have the right personality for it, but the uncertainty can be scary.

Sometimes I do forget to appreciate the fact that I get to work from home, and all of the benefits that brings; it’s easy to get used to the good bits of our life and stop appreciating them isn’t it? But I am so grateful to be able to do it; I know it’s not for everyone and I also know that unfortunately not everyone who wants to do it can, so I know I am really lucky to have a job that I can do around my daughter that also earns me a decent income. I really love what I do and right now it works for us, there are tough bits to it, but for me, the positives really outweigh the negatives and there’s nothing else I’d rather do.

Do you work from home or would you ever consider it? I’d love to know what you think in the comments.

This is a collaborative post. See my full disclosure policy here.