How to be Your Own Manager

One of the problems with working for yourself is that you have to be your own manager. In a way, you have to be two people at the same time, especially if your money making goals don't coincide with your freedom goals.

For example, I promised twenty-seven days ago to write 100 Hubs in 30 days. The employee in me thinks I have done pretty well so far, and if I just keep writing hubs, no matter how many, things will be fine, even though I don't manage to get to 100 hubs. I don't want the stress of the old 9-5 job. My customers - the readers - probably don't really care. In fact, they might even prefer that I don't get to a 100. Some may feel guilty for not being able to push themselves that much. Others won't want to feel obligated to read so many hubs. In fact, they probably wouldn't even notice if I didn't meet the obligation.

But if I worked in my former corporation, I know my manager would insist that I meet my goals. Why? Because I promised, and it reflects badly on my reputation and integrity if I don't give it everything I can to meet that goal. Sure, I could deliver 75 or 99 and still feel okay about myself, but I promised 100, and that number is the only one that will give me full satisfaction of having delivered what I promised.

But some things are not humanly possible, and I probably not be able to deliver the remaining 30ish hubs with the quality that they deserve. Something has to give. So a negotiation takes place, and as I mentioned in the How to Write a Hub in 10 Minutes, I have decided to give myself some leeway. I will provide quality writing in my hubs, but will add the photos, bling, edits, and links after the thirty days is up. That way you get all 100 hubs in 30 days, along with all the information you would get if I had all the time in the world. And I get a little bit of a breather, and a more reasonable goal in which to complete it.

Since I worked for a corporation, the first and main priority was to make money for the shareholders. We were told over and over again that our business was to make money. As employees, we were hired to make money.

We were getting paid to work. We could not sit around and chat. We had to be at our desks and working at 8 o'clock, and we could not leave until 5 o'clock, even if we finished our task a few minutes early. We were welcome to stay over those hours, but we had to be productive while we were there.

As an employer, you have to set the standards of your workplace. Sure you will probably be more flexible than the regimented 8 - 5, but if you give your employee too much slack, then you will not get enough work done to be profitable.

A manager has to set firm goals and priorities and convey them to the employee. Deadlines, even though that are arbitrarily set, are helpful in keeping the employee on target and at the right pace. The manager must insist that the deadlines be met and find a way to motivate the employee to meet them.

Don't let your employee walk all over you.

On the other hand, if the manager is too strict, the employee is likely to give up or quit. Since there is only one employee, that will be detrimental to the firm.

The manager must be reasonable with their goals and priorities.There must be breaks and time for lunch. If the employee wants to take some time off to attend her child's school event, she should be allowed the flexibility to go. But she should also tell you how she intends to make up for the time, or otherwise get the job done.

Even though you are self-employed, you need to be sure that it really is employment. If you are an electrician, and haven't received any work for the day, you need to find productive use of your time. This means you are either studying and learning more about electricity and electrical repair, or you are calling your customers to see if they need any work, or can refer you to anyone who might need electrical work.

If you are unemployed, your job is to find employment. You need to be scouring the want ads (in the paper and online), working on networking, and polishing up your resume.

If you are writing online, you need to be researching topics, writing, or out taking photos or doing something you are going to be writing about.

You decide how many hours you are going to devote to your business, but once you make that decision, you need to make yourself accountable for those hours. If you allow yourself too much flexibility, you will wind up at the end of the week with no work to show for it. Instead of having to write three hubs a day, you might just wind up with needing to write 30 hubs in three days, like I did.

Being self-employed, it can be difficult to find the right balance between creating a profitable business environment, and remaining flexible enough to still enjoy the benefits of self-employment. In order to be profitable, we have to be our own manager and create goals and deadlines, and firmly but sweetly insist they be met.