I was talking with some friends recently and one of them said that it must be great running my own home business because I’m basically the sole “executive” of my own company. It struck me as an incredibly funny thought because I feel anything BUT cut of the executive cloth. Despite the fact that there are individuals who make a whole lot of money using the same skill set I possess (money I am NOT making), I really don’t think of myself as the bossy, organized, high powered, executive sort. And, I am really not.
I think of myself more as a grunt or a clerk in my home business. I think I am what my grandmother used to call “chief cook and bottle washer”—the person who does everything and anything since I’m the only person who can do it. It is my business after all. There is nothing about trying to get work done in your pajamas while booting three snarky teenagers out the door to school and dealing with a clogged sink to keep a person’s self identity in perspective.
And yet, we ARE doing the job of executives. We are running businesses and keeping a zillion juggling pins up in the air at once. Think about it. If you were doing what you do in your home business for a more traditional employer—what would your job title be? Would you be a president? Vice president? Some other executive somebody sitting in a glass office with a fancy door? While I take great comfort in my earthy approach to earning a living, there are days when identifying as an executive could be a well-needed boost to my weary self-esteem. Why not? Why not consider myself an executive running my very own business? It’s not like there’s anyone around to question my self-appointed authority (unless the kids are home, that is.)
See Also: What Happens When You Don’t Want to Have to Work That Hard?
One of the Best Things About a Home-based Business–Autonomy