I have a problem with patience and I blame my parents.
As the baby of the family, I got my way more often than not. From a young age, I learned how to manipulate the ‘rents. If I wanted something, I wanted it NOW. I didn’t want to save my money for the prize. What a silly notion. That being said, my parents never taught me to save money.
Mom and Dad never told me to save at least 10 percent from every paycheck. I learned this much too late and have suffered for it in my adult life. And, as such, the same is becoming true for me in business.
When I talk to potential clients, I expect them to decide right then that they’ll hire me and I’ll start work immediately. I’m learning that business doesn’t work that way. It can take six months or more to sign a client. That’s a long time for the impatient. A lot of time goes into landing a client. As I’ve written previously, it’s about relationships. Relationships never happen overnight, in business or otherwise. It just seems like it should move along faster when money is involved, at least on my end. Looking at it from the client perspective, I see why waiting is important. I’ve been waiting to upgrade my iPhone until I know I won’t miss out on the latest and greatest model. But when it came to revamping my website, I met my web designer at an event, liked him, and hired him almost immediately. As you can see, he did an awesome job.
Transitioning into self-employment is not an easy task. I scoff at those who say otherwise. The job is never done. It’s also not great for one who’s slipped into slackerism. I’ve barely managed my own life, yet having businesses that rely on me to manage their blogs and social media has done me well. It’s forced me to release the organized person I’ve kept bottled up for the past several years. Now, I’m just hoping the patience will come with it.