The 3 bosses of every self-employed business owner

As all smart business owners know, you must always put your customers first.  Ray Kroc says, "If you work just for money, you'll never make it, but if you love what you're doing and you always put your customer first, success will be yours."

Who exactly is Ray Kroc?  He's the man who brought success to McDonald's.  How some business owners/service providers ever got to the point in which they believe they can dictate the success of their own businesses without putting the needs of their customers first is beyond me.  

In my book, customer always go first.  Even if their needs don't align with my wants and needs, I still put them first.  In doing this, I've learned that making money and running a successful freelance writing business isn't as hard as a lot of writers make it out to be.  

Customers want top-notch service around the clock.  If a self-employed person's schedule conflicts with that of customer's, then so be it.  A self-employed person IS replaceable.  As a freelance writer myself, I'm well aware that my services can easily be replaced by someone else.  

And as contrary as many self-employed people believe, the self-employment industry still means that you will have bosses, with your number one boss being your clients and customers.  

Let's take a quick look at the three bosses that I answer to as a freelance writer/copywriter. 

Deadlines

Deadlines scream my name from the time I get up until the time that I go to bed.  I fully understand if I don't meet a deadline, then I won't get paid for the work that I've completed.  No matter the industry that you're self-employed in, deadlines largely influence your ability to maintain success, and they are in fact one of your many bosses. 

Paychecks

Everyone wants a paycheck.  It doesn't matter the type of services that you perform, if you want to get paid, you must commit yourself to your work and provide top-notch services to each and every client.  If you don't, then you can't blame your clients for not paying you, which means you don't get a paycheck.  

Clients

Even if you went into the business of being self-employed because you thought it was a lifestyle full of unicorns and rainbows, I'm the bad news bear who is here to tell you that being self-employed doesn't mean you're your own boss.  Your clients are your bosses.  Whatever it is that they want, you must provide it to them.  Otherwise, they're not going to pay you.  And unless you're running some type of multi-million dollar business and you have the funds to hire a lawyer, when it comes to getting funds from a client who you haven't pleased, you're pretty much out of luck. 

The Takeaway

Even as a self-employed individual, your deadlines and paychecks are your number two and three bosses because in order to meet their needs, you'll first have to satisfy your number one boss, which just so happens to be each individual client.  

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