The 36-Hour Day
with Amy Urquhart
I’m Amy and I’ve spent the last three years trying to strike that perfect balance between being a wife, mom and professional career woman. I’ve decided that I’ll never perfect the art of “having it all”, but this blog is a chronicle of my attempts to continue to do so. I’m a blogger (my personal blog about Canadian home life is Hearts into Home), gardener, college instructor, wife to Graham and mom to Nate. If you’re also a working mom who finds there just aren’t enough hours in the day, I hope you’ll enjoy this column!
Read her blog at Hearts into Home.
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Have you ever tried to think of a word that you would never imagine being used to describe yourself? For me, that word is entrepreneur. The word always seemed really exotic to me. I can recall my grade nine business teacher, Mrs. Bezaire, using it to describe people who ran their own businesses. I sat there in that classroom wondering why anyone would want to do such a thing when there were big companies like McDonald’s and Sears to work for.
Later on I fell in love with a man who owned a seasonal small business and although I could certainly appreciate that owning his own business was satisfying and appealing to him, I still didn’t really understand why a person would rather be responsible for generating his or her own income. It seemed much more safe and secure to work someplace where a steady pay cheque would be issued on a regular basis. I kept thinking that it would be much better for one of us to always have the kind of income that was steadily reliable and provided by a big company with a well-known logo.
Recently I decided to dig further into the idea of running a business. When I Googled the term, I discovered that the very definition of entrepreneur can include a scary, financial risk factor:
The last couple of years have marked a transition for me out of my financial comfort zone into running my own business. Now that I’ve had a taste of working for myself, I understand much more clearly why Graham loves it so much. I get to decide how my day will be spent, which tasks I’m going to tackle, and I’m responsible for providing great customer service to the people I deal with on a daily basis. While it is a bit scary sometimes to rely only on myself to be successful, I’m surprised to discover that I love every second of it.
Image source: work.chron.com
Do you work for yourself in some capacity? What do you love about it?
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What I loved, setting my own hours around my clock, not an employers. This generally meant starting work around 10 or 11 am and often working into the night.
What i hated, invoicing for my work despite the fact I never had an issue being paid you had that “what if…?” Also, down here in the States, HEALTH CARE. The cost for 2 people for 2 people was just shy of $1000 month, or 3/4 what it cost me for rent! Ultimately I just couldn’t afford to not have an employer.
Mich | March 8th, 2013 at 5:31 pm
I hate the financial insecurity, but I just can’t give up the time freedom! If I want to take a nap or take a vacation, I can - and I don’t need to ask anyone’s permission but my own!
Miss Britt | March 11th, 2013 at 10:42 am