Becoming Your Own Boss

There comes a point in time when one needs to make the decision to be a worker or to be a boss.  If you want to be a boss you need to be willing to work for it. To become a boss one needs to be willing to take risks and to make sacrifices.  You will need to believe in yourself when no one else does.  You will need to be willing to give up your time, sleep, money and maybe even your social life in order to keep your business going.  You must be willing to hold responsibility for all of your decisions and actions and you must be willing to manage the consequences.  Now this may sound like a lot to handle but when you consider the reward, it's definitely worth it.

I have a technical background. In my past I've worked as a programmer, systems analyst, business analyst, and IT consultant. I've also done some web designing as a hobby.  To stay sharp in my industry, it's crucial to keep up to date with the latest trends, changes, and skill-sets.  I read a lot of IT related material from new articles, magazines, books, blogs, etc.  In doing so, I realized that that the skills that are need for my job today may not be relevant anymore in the future.  So in order to remain valuable, I decided that I needed to change my mindset.

Most people who have a good, or at least decent job, may find the idea or leaving that job very difficult.  When you've grown accustom to a certain environment and have built deep and strong relationships with others, it's tough to have all that come to an end.  However, you don't have to jump ship and leave your job to start your own business all at once.  You can start working on your business part-time.  Invest in yourself in your free time until you feel ready to become a full-time independent freelancer or business owner.  To get started towards that path, here are some tips I would recommend:

• Do your research and learn as much as you can about the subject or work that you want to pursue.
• Set small goals and attack each goal one by one.
• Write out a plan to help you achieve your goal.
• Network with people that can or will help you.
• Surround yourself with people who inspire you to be better.
• Find a Mentor that can help guide you through your journey.
• Have faith in yourself, in God and in your abilities.
• Invest in every aspect of your life.
• Do things that push you out of your comfort zone.
• Prepare to work hard and do not shy away from a challenge.

I'm not going to go into detail on these tips because I think they're pretty self explanatory but the one thing that I want to emphasize to you if you want to become your own boss is to take action, even if it's just small amounts of action, do something that will help you become the boss you want to be!