Jul 18, 2007 0
My boss abuses me.. and I LIKE it
My nonrelated friend, Simon Young, just twittered “Friday! Just worked out how many hours I’ve worked this week, about to tell the boss where to go. Damn, I am the boss.”
I was listening to an interview on the Startup Studio podcast a couple of days ago, and the featured entrepreneur made the distinction that working for your self is not a job, it’s a lifestyle, a different way of living, with higher highs, and potentially lower lows.
I’m in complete agreement. I work harder now than I ever did while employed. I’m far happier, and far more satisfied. Not because my previous boss was a jerk (not often, anyway..), or because I’m making so much money (not yet, exactly..), but because I’m doing what I love.
Last night I was up until 1am, writing a custom SugarCRM script to import leads from a web sign-up form, into a random target list, and dealing with outstanding email requests. It was challenging and fun. On MSN, I saw two entrepreneurial friends online with me, one who runs a web development business, and one who’s an Apple consultant. Both told me that, like myself, they prefer to work late into the night, because they are not interrupted, are more productive, and have a permanent backlog of work to complete. I know Simon (above) also recently did a couple of “wee-hours” sessions, editing video and writing copy.
Why do we do it? Why do we abuse ourselves, working harder that it is legal to work your employees? Because we do what we love (most of the time), we believe in our company’s future, and we think our bosses are worth it. (and incredibly sexy!)
