[00:00:00] Renata: This episode is brought to you by reset your career, a workshop, and an action plan designed to put your career back on track.
[00:00:09] Renata: Welcome to the job hunting podcast. If you are a new listener. Welcome. I’m so excited to have you if you’ve been listening for a while. Welcome back! It’s so nice to have you here.
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[00:01:39] Renata: I get asked a lot by my clients how it’s like to work for myself and how it compares to working for a company. We discuss these two options regularly when I’m working with clients, future goals, and career plans. So today, I wanted to [00:02:00] share with you my personal experience working for myself, which I’ve been doing since the beginning.
[00:02:06] Renata: Of 2019. So that has been a year and a bit before the pandemic hitters, and comparing that with my previous experience, being an employee from 2002 until the end of 2018. So before 2002, I had my own business as well. So I had my own business from 93 to the year 2000. That was in my first country. Then I took a year off, and I just studied in 2001.
[00:02:41] Renata: And then I started working in 2002 again. You can learn more about my career story by watching. I have that episode also in video or listening to this episode, number 62 of the job hunting podcast, and I’ll put the link to the blog on the episode show [00:03:00] notes. The blog has the audio file and the video on youtube if you’re interested in finding out more about it.
[00:03:06] Renata: My career and how I ended up being a coach. And, I also recorded, I think it was the beginning of last year. I recorded an episode on how to transition from a corporate job to being a business owner. So that’s a different topic, you know what I did? Step-by-step, okay. Have 10 different tips on how to do that transition as smoothly and successfully, hopefully as possible, as you can.
[00:03:34] Renata: And that episode is number 79, and I will also have a link to it in the episode, show notes.
[00:03:41] Renata: but this episode
today
[00:03:43] Renata: is different from the first stew. It’s a comparison of both lifestyles, you know, working for yourself versus working for a company and having a boss. It’s also important to know that I am in Australia. So [00:04:00] sometimes I may use lingo or terminology that has to do with how we do things in Australia.
[00:04:09] Renata: You may need to translate some of these concepts to your local situation wherever you are in the world. This podcast is now listened to in so many different countries. So I, I hope you understand this. I, you know, it’s hard for me too. Keep acknowledging that all the time, but I hope that you will be able to translate that look.
[00:04:29] Renata: And if you have any questions, you can always reach out to me, sign up for my newsletter and reply back when you get a newsletter if you have any questions or if you want me to talk about any other specific topics on this show, or you can also reach out to me in. On any of my social media platforms, you know, I’m very active on my Facebook group.
And I am also active on Instagram and, of course, LinkedIn, and you can reach out to me [00:05:00] anywhere, Twitter, tick, dog, you name it. So. let’s start from the beginning with a bit of background first. So I set myself up as a sole trader many years ago. So here in Australia, a sole trader can be somebody that works for themselves, and they don’t need to set up a full company to do so many.
Let’s say carpenters or. Plumbers or even consultants are sole traders. They don’t need to set up a full long company to start working. It means you can have an ABN, which is short for the Australian business number, and that then creates that identification of your business to the government and the community.
[00:05:45] Renata: And you will need to have an ABN for tax purposes so that you can pay taxes on the money that you’re earning as a. Sole trader. You need to use that in included in your invoicing to your clients and [00:06:00] other activities, for example, here in Australia. And I don’t think that that happens in many other countries.
[00:06:06] Renata: Definitely not in the US that I know of. For you to have an Australian domain name or dot com dot edu, anything with edu In the end, you need to have a name. So for all of those reasons that I just listed many years ago. Oh gosh. I don’t even know when it was, you know, I’ve had my own personal ABN for a while because even though I had, jumps.
[00:06:35] Renata: Wanted to have that opportunity to maybe do a bit of consulting on the side or have a client to coach on the side and didn’t happen as often. But at least it was there, you know, and, and I felt good about having it. So that’s why I had an ABN. It doesn’t cost you anything to say. Correct me if I’m wrong.
[00:06:57] Renata: I don’t think it costs anything. I will put a link to the [00:07:00] Australian government website explaining what an ABN is and how to get it and why to get it so that you can go and check it out because this is not, of course, expert advice on setting up. ABNs, I am not a financial advisor. I’m not an accountant.
[00:07:15] Renata: I’m somebody who did that transition a few years ago and is sharing with you. My personal experiences and what my top tips would be for you comparing life, working for yourself versus working for an employer. Eventually, I decided I wanted to go full-time working for myself. So that story has been told many times on this podcast, and in the previous episodes that I mentioned before, So I’m not going to go into it in detail, but once I made that decision, I then decided to, first of all, set up insurances and those are public liability and professional [00:08:00] indemnity covers.
So I decided that I needed to set up insurance to start working with business clients. So those are a public liability and professional indemnity in Culver’s, and it’s straightforward public liability. Culver’s you, when let’s say members of the public are injured by any site of work that you do or fall ill or have any damage?
[00:08:30] Renata: Look, I didn’t think that I would need that one, but it’s part of that. Contracting outwork. As soon as I became a consultant working for myself, I locked in a client for three months, and one of the requirements was that I had those two Culver. So I had to have it, you know, the second one was called professional indemnity.
[00:08:53] Renata: If I make any mistake or there’s any negligence in my work, then the client can [00:09:00] Sue me. And I’m, I have that insurance that covers me in case that happens. So that one, I’m like, yeah, maybe who knows. I may need that. Thank goodness I never had, but it’s one of those expenses you need to consider when you’re opening up your own business, especially, you know, if you’re transitioning from corporate work like I was into becoming a consultant, you need to have.
[00:09:22] Renata: If you listened to our episodes on becoming a contractor or an entering executive, there are a few, but I can think of specifically number 78, and I’ll again link it below in the show notes. If this type of work interests you, you then know that you will need to set up those two Covaris for yourself. So when I decided I wanted to become an entering executive, that was at the beginning of 2018, and it was part of my idea of having this portfolio of opportunities.
[00:09:53] Renata: I will seek my own contracts and consultancy work. I’m also signing up with a few [00:10:00] recruiters who I know. Work with entering executive placement. And when I was filling out the paperwork to work with them, or when I was having meetings with them, they were asking me, do you have public liability and professional indemnity cover?
[00:10:16] Renata: So I was glad that I had already organized those because it was like, yep. It’s another box that I ticked. So it was good to have those. Most business clients, as I said, will require those Culvers, and I needed them to invoice my first clients. In fact, it’s better to know what your ideal clientele will need in terms of minimal Culver’s.
My first grant was from a very big organization with very structured procedures and policies. For example, they required every consultant to have a minimum. I can’t remember now, let’s say $20 million or $10 million Culver, and one of those, and then like [00:11:00] a 5 million on the other. So. I called the financial department of that organization.
[00:11:05] Renata: I asked what the needed, even before the contract was locked in. I just wanted to anticipate it. If I want to work with companies of this site, then that’s the sort of covert that I needed to have. And I was then talking to my insurance broker and finding out, you know, the most affordable one at those Kovar levels for me.
[00:11:28] Renata: So just a tip there for you. and then after that first client, that lasted three months and having those conversations with recruiters that, work with entering executive placements, I had decided I actually wanted to change my status from sole trader to becoming a company. So my company is. Pty Limited.
[00:11:53] Renata: And, I wanted that perception and that reputation of being a proper company. I [00:12:00] wanted to be taken seriously by my clients. Not that sole traders aren’t very much they are, but I wanted to be a company owner, and I wanted to compete with other firms that were established as companies. And I knew. At that stage, what I wanted was to scale eventually.
[00:12:20] Renata: I wanted to be at par with my competitors. At the time, those competitors were consultancies. I focused on consultancy work, and those consultancy firms are, of course, Companies. So I didn’t want my proposals and my invoicing and the perception out there to be any different. So just to give you an example, I’m sure I’ve mentioned this in previous episodes.
[00:12:47] Renata: My first Stender out to a client, I competed with Deloitte. My company was brand new and very tiny. Still, I liked that idea that the client was considering both my work and [00:13:00] the work of consultants at Deloitte, which is a very established global consultancy company. So I think that it worked well for me to seek out a company.
[00:13:09] Renata: It is expense. You have to set it up, but it was worth it for me if you want to have a look at my—company’s website. I have two; I have Renata bernarde dot com. I’m going to talk about it in a minute. But the first west website and company name that I established was pantala. And that website is dot com dot au.
[00:13:35] Renata: And I am in the process of changing that website. Quantity of it, so that it’s not about business transformation consultancy, which is what it was originally to become a business to business career support service for when companies make roles redundant or do layoffs or. We can [00:14:00] step in to support their executives or professionals during job transitions, a support staff that is going through promotions, internal job applications to reduce turnover, and, you know, retain that high-quality talent.
[00:14:16] Renata: If they’ve grown out of their jobs, I have already started working with, companies doing all of the above. And I like the idea of using the corporate punk Talla brand for that business-to-business work and model. Career coaching brand, which is my name Renata Bernarde Natty to work directly with you.
[00:14:36] Renata: You know, my listeners and my private clients, and to do this, you know, transition and establishing what your goals are and what you’re trying to achieve, the most important thing you need is a business. And then, you know, access to insurance, it was through an insurance broker and then setting up a company.
[00:14:58] Renata: I needed a tax [00:15:00] accountant to support me, depending on your business. You may need a bookkeeper. If you have too many transactions, I didn’t, you know, I would have fewer clients. And that meant in just the accountant working and supporting me and myself using, I use zero for example, which is a very good platform for.
Small businesses and then a marketing plan, you know, a branding plan, how am I going to find my clients? What’s my online presence. I don’t think every business necessarily needs a website. I think that that’s a mistake to just jump on the idea that you need a website, but definitely understand what online presence your business will have.
[00:15:41] Renata: What type of online presence is more aligned, not only with your business but where your potential clients are, where do they hang out? It could be that you’re establishing an e-commerce business. So it’s Amazon or Etsy, or maybe just the landing pages enough, not a full-on [00:16:00] website or perhaps just the LinkedIn company pages.
[00:16:03] Renata: And I have the LinkedIn page, but I also have a website, but you don’t necessarily need to have that in the beginning or wherever, to be honest. In fact, I believe that simpler is better. But I had a website. I have a social media plan, and several systems in place and software’s in place a newsletter and I’ve always wanted to grow a subscribers list.
[00:16:24] Renata: So I had control over my connection with my, network and. Didn’t rely solely on, let’s say LinkedIn or other social media platforms to connect. And I had a blog because I felt that the blog was the way that I, and the collaborators that were consulting with me could showcase that we were thought leaders, that we were ready to support our clients.
[00:16:49] Renata: And a blog was the same show in Miami. We also had to set up templates for proposals, slide X for presentations. The list just goes on and on. [00:17:00] It’s a lot of work setting up your own business. Most importantly, I needed to reach out to potential clients and potential collaborators to pair up with me. If I had A big contract that needed more than just my expertise.
[00:17:13] Renata: So in terms of business development and seeking out opportunities, that usually takes 70% of your time or more, if you’re starting out like. And like 30% of your time will be dedicated to actually doing the client work. If you have any client at all, when you get a big client, then that kind of shifts, you have to maybe spend 70% of your time doing the client work, but you really cannot ever stop doing business development because when the client work that you’re currently doing ends, you need to have more clients in the pipeline.
[00:17:53] Renata: Different for different types of businesses, but it gives you an idea of how to keep that [00:18:00] flow, right. And how to make sure that your, business is always, floating and surviving the seasonalities of client. Then towards the end of 2019, I did a 90 degree turn towards coaching. And then when the pandemic hit that then turned into 180, turned towards coaching.
[00:18:25] Renata: I went from being a consultancy with a growing number of clients, a growing number of prospect warm, Potential clients that we were very hopeful for in terms of locking them in, into any 22, having nothing, you know, the work that we were doing just did not suit the environment that was created during the pandemic with all the offices closed, everybody scrambling and trying to keep the.
[00:18:54] Renata: Just regular business going. And those sorts of new [00:19:00] shiny objects of the consultancy that we were offering just were not a high priority anymore. So I had already started with the idea of using 20% of my time to do career coaching. And I decided that that was it. You know, I have, I actually have nothing else to do.
[00:19:21] Renata: I can try really hard. To continue, you know, growing my consultancy when I know that I am tiny and small, and it’s just a very difficult environment right now to be connecting with people when I can’t be face-to-face with them. When I had already launched the podcast, this podcast in October, 2019, and I could then grow the support for career coaching, which I felt more compelled to do.
[00:19:51] Renata: I felt like people were losing jobs at the beginning of 2020, and I wanted to serve people. I wanted to help, even if I [00:20:00] wasn’t paid, I just want it to be there for the professionals that I was worried about and concerned about. And even though I did not start from scratch, I still had to work very quickly to communicate the new vision of what I was trying to do.
[00:20:16] Renata: I had spent almost a year, more than a year, communicating that I was establishing myself as a consultant and all of a sudden I did a flip and that is really risky. So I added, you know, a blog to the podcast. I transitioned all of my energy and efforts into these new coaching services. I created the LinkedIn audit.
[00:20:42] Renata: I created the reset your career. You know, I ran it for the first time at the end of 2019. And then I decided that that had to be a service that I did regularly that was offered on demand. Whenever people needed it. I also created group coaching. So I [00:21:00] try to create a range of services that would serve different, investment appetites and different types of requirements and things that people needed to help them get a job.
[00:21:15] Renata: So that’s where, you know, kind of the background of what I have at the moment. And now I, I wanted to talk to you. The reasons why I love working for myself now and why that suits me. And then I wanted to tell you also the reasons why I used to love working for others in the past and why that suited me up into, 2018. So let’s talk about.
[00:21:46] Renata: So, okay. Or reasons to love working for myself? Well, the first reason is I am my own boss. Now I know you’ve heard that. And a lot of people dream about being their own boss. Wouldn’t it be great. [00:22:00] It’s not exactly what most people think it is. It’s not like you’re going to be your own boss and you’re going to be successful right off the bat.
[00:22:10] Renata: There’s still an awful lot of work to do. And it’s a very demanding your own boss, which is yourself needs to do a lot of work to get your business up and running. But at least I control that work and I love it. And I’m very passionate and I want to succeed. You need to be very determined and be able to make the decisions without consulting others.
[00:22:35] Renata: Sometimes you can still consult others, but if you will do that all the time, it becomes impossible to work for yourself. You need to have a very strong vision of what you’re trying to achieve and you can’t rely on motivation alone. You know, sometimes you wake up in the morning and you’re not inspired.
[00:22:56] Renata: You’re not keen to work. And because you don’t have to [00:23:00] physically get out of the bed. Hop into a car and drive to an office. It’s easy to just give up, you know, you have to have a vision and a routine and discipline, and to be very determined to be your own boss and not. give up on it. It’s hard.
[00:23:17] Renata: And as you probably know, many new businesses fail because for several reasons, but I know that this is not my first business either. You know, not only I had a business from, like I said, 93 to 2000, but even before that, I had little businesses since I was. teenager, you know, I, I was a nanny. I used to do chocolate at home.
[00:23:42] Renata: I used to, oh gosh, I used to run a child care in my garage doing summer. So I knew, I know it’s, it’s not easy. And I knew it was not easy. I didn’t have any romantic visions of being my own boss, but still right now, it [00:24:00] really suits me. And I’m very humble about it. I love it. I’m very grateful and I know that I need to, you know, be determined and persevere at all times.
[00:24:13] Renata: the second reason why I really love working for myself at the moment is there is this possibility of earning more money than I would if I was working for a company. Now, this is not always the case, and it shouldn’t be the main driver for you to have your own business. I think there are other reasons that are most powerful, that can actually inspire you more and help you make that.
sort of jump from corporate sector to having your own business. And it also may take a long time for you to earn any money at all. Right. I was very lucky that right off the bat, I had quite a good contract for three months from. Duke. I, I left Monash in [00:25:00] 2000 in 18. That was November. I took a month or two off by mid January.
[00:25:09] Renata: That contract landed on my hand. I started in February and I went for three months. How lucky was that? Like that doesn’t happen often. I think it’s not luck so much. You make your own luck and I network. Coffees. And I explained to people what I was trying to do and end up that happened. But you know, you have to, be prepared for it not happening because even though you may be ready to consult, maybe people don’t have to budget to get you, even if they want you, they may want you six months from now or a year from now.
[00:25:43] Renata: You know, it might take a long time for you to earn any money at all. If you are in a lower salary range, I have read quite a few articles showing statistics that you can earn up to 45% more. If you’re [00:26:00] a contractor versus doing the same job as a salary worker. And I can see why I believe this is probably because you’re compensated for not having the traditional benefits, like sick leaves and.
[00:26:13] Renata: Magical insurance I know is a big in the us. So because of that, you might earn more under a contract. I’ll put a link in the show notes for you to have a look at that. But if you are like, I was a more senior executive who has quite a good salary and you want to work for yourself, then it means potentially taking a substantial pay cut forever.
[00:26:39] Renata: If not, at least for a very long time, because you will need quite a few clients or very big. Contract to make up for the pay that you would be getting as senior, as exec. For me, it has taken three years for my pay to first of all, stabilize [00:27:00] it because it tends to go up and down a lot, you know, in the beginning when I was setting up my business, because let’s say you would have, you know, a good client for a few months and then.
[00:27:11] Renata: You wouldn’t have any, and I was still sort of trying to work out the breakdown between doing business development and doing client work. when you have your own business, what you want to do really is the client. If you don’t have any clients, you can’t do it. So you have to do the business development.
[00:27:29] Renata: You have to be a Jack of all trades, and we will talk about, you know, why it’s sometimes better to work for a company. So you don’t have to do all the things. And even if you hire out people to do it for you, you still have to, you know, be lead all these people in. Like that. So first of all, the payment to stabilize it to almost three years and for the payment to reach the same level, or even to be a little bit above what I was being paid before, again, it took [00:28:00] about three years as well. And I think that that’s super common and it’s to be expected. And I think it’s a privilege.
[00:28:07] Renata: To actually establish a business and be able to wait that long. And I think you have to kind of take that into account. If you decide to step down from your current job and set up your own business, whatever it may be.
[00:28:22] Renata: The third reason why I really love working for myself is having flexibility and balance in my life.
[00:28:30] Renata: So I set my own schedule. I set the hours. Coach clients. I’m very good at that. This can be a challenge at times, and it can be a challenge for some people. I can take a break during the day and go shopping or see a friend or I go exercise or go to a doctor’s appointment or whatnot. But that doesn’t mean.
[00:28:52] Renata: I have it easy it’s I still need to, to do work at some stage. So this morning, for example, I went to a doctor’s [00:29:00] appointment and it took most of my morning. So it means that I’ll probably be working a bit late tonight, or maybe I can finish early. The work that I have to do today needs be done.
[00:29:10] Renata: Right. So I can just, swap things around my schedule more easily. And having said that. I still work mostly normal hours. Now I could work different hours, right. I could work evenings or, you know, very early mornings or weekends, but I still work normal hours because most of my clients still work normal hours as well.
[00:29:34] Renata: You know, I have clients overseas, but mostly I feel like, you know, that’s the hours that my husband works and most of my friends work. So there’s no point in me working evenings. My husband finishes at 6:00 PM. So, that sort of good and bad. Like I’m showing you the good and bad of it. So the flexibility for me, I think will come to play now that the lockdowns [00:30:00] are kind of over and I can work from anywhere.
[00:30:03] Renata: And I plan to work from overseas in a couple of months, time, you may. Find out more as, you know, we, we get closer to that time when I will be traveling and visiting my parents overseas. And I think that that is amazing. You might be able to arrange that with your work when you’re working for a company as well, but definitely it’s so much easier working for myself.
[00:30:28] Renata: I don’t need to ask permission. I just do it. Figure out a way to do it.
[00:30:33] Renata: The fourth reason is I am way happier than I was working for a company. My last job in particular was really hardcore. I was stuck in a very difficult situation, trying to juggle too many complicated challenges and I was deeply unhappy.
[00:30:49] Renata: I only realized later it was the sort of work I usually you would seek to do. And I would put my hand up to do, and I really wanted that job. So [00:31:00] this is why it was hard for me to acknowledge that I was unhappy. I only acknowledged it after I was made redundant and I was unhappy. And I, I remember thinking about it.
[00:31:10] Renata: I’m like, yeah, I’m sad that I’ve been made redundant, but I. just set before I can, you know, I’m like, okay, this is weird. I’ve just realized that I wasn’t a happy. so for me, it was a great change to being control of my happiness and my wellbeing working for myself meant that I can make choices, which again is a great privilege.
[00:31:34] Renata: Maybe, all the first time self-employed people or business owners, maybe they can’t make those choices. They need to work with every client and accept every tender where I choose my clients or in the beginning, if I took a client that I wasn’t sure about, I knew that all I needed to do, if it didn’t work out is just step down.
[00:31:54] Renata: I wouldn’t. The pay, but I also didn’t have to work with them. [00:32:00] Right. It didn’t happen. But just having that freedom just made me so happy and I felt good about the work that I was doing .
[00:32:08] Renata: I also spent less that’s another benefit of working from home and working for myself. I remember that my redundancy package that I received from my last job lasted a very long time, and this was pre pandemic.
[00:32:24] Renata: A lot of people didn’t spend much during lockdowns, but even pre pandemic, you know, there was no commuting, no Petro, no. Train tickets, no eating out, or drinking coffees out. I didn’t even buy as many clothes because I didn’t have to. I always recommend my clients in terms of the redundancy packages, which sometimes can trigger, the idea of setting up a business.
[00:32:50] Renata: Or using it for something special. I always recommend my clients to go easy and not spend their redundancy packages. You know, like [00:33:00] no swimming pools, no big MBAs until you have secured another job. There are a gazillion things that you can do. To have a great sabbatical, a great break that doesn’t require you to spend excessive amounts of money and spend all your savings.
[00:33:20] Renata: You know, this idea that, oh, you know, I’ll just leave maybe three months, because I’m, you know, I can find a job in three months. You don’t really know that you can find a job in three months. Some people take way longer to find it. Right. So exuberance banding should always happen when you have income coming in, or when you have planned a break or a sabbatical accordingly, you know, higher career coach and make sure that you have this amazing opportunity to take a proper break, come back and not feel financially insecure.
[00:33:54] Renata: That’s what you don’t want.
[00:33:56] Renata: I am and have always been very entrepreneurial. [00:34:00] So that’s another reason to love working for yourself. I feel comfortable running my own business, creating my own plans. I don’t feel uncertainty and sometimes I do, but you know, nothing over the top. I feel you need to have real.
[00:34:18] Renata: Should spa. I think that that’s the best word to explain it. You know, like the Supreme self-confidence, you know, this cheekiness and really being quiet, and nerving, you know, Not necessarily extroversion. There are many ways that you can work for yourself and still be an introvert, but having that should spark that self-confidence being audacious and ambitious is really important.
[00:34:47] Renata: So, if you feel like you have those. talents or those, strengths, those streets and you within you then maybe having your own business is for you too. And then if [00:35:00] you’re good at planning and being organized, it can be more financially secure than having a job. What I mean by that is when you are working for yourself, you can notice the clients or the sales increasing and decreasing over time.
[00:35:19] Renata: And then once you notice that you make adjustments immediately to your budget, so that it matches the money coming in the. Very different from, let’s say, working for a company, having a salary every month, and then all of a sudden you lose your job. You lose your job overnight. Like I did, and you go, oh my God, it can be a shock.
[00:35:42] Renata: So if you are good at paying attention to how your business is performing, or if you’re a freelancer or a contractor or a consultant, then you can make those adjustments. Regardless. I am all for building strong savings. I mean, regardless as in, you know, if you have your own [00:36:00] business or if you’re working for someone else, I think it’s really important for you to always have, that preparation and make sure that you never feel trapped in a situation that you don’t like, be it a job or a business that no longer brings you joy or.
[00:36:19] Renata: So, this is a good time to talk to you about reset your career because. This program to be ready for you whenever you need it. This means that you can go now to my website, and start doing it today. It’s a short program it’s fully packed with everything, you know, To start redesigning your career. I included four important masterclasses that I believe are, is sang show for him professionals in their mid career to track their goals and their aspirations to be ready to find jobs.
[00:36:53] Renata: Times of ambiguity. Like the times we live right now have a strong story and a [00:37:00] strong narrative to tell at job interviews and in connecting with their networks have the best resume And COVID letter templates that are. the ones that people expect to see in 2022 and beyond, linked in activities, checklists and a 31 day action plan that you can activate whenever you’re ready and start getting little soundbite tips.
tasks to do every day to keep you accountable for an entire month and build yourself a routine of job hunting and developing your career further and further. So please go to my website to find out more about reset your career. It’s a small investment for a professional working in the corporate sector.
219 Australian dollars, that’s approximately 155 us dollars at the time of this recording. If you think of it as a 31 day [00:38:00] project, that’s around five us dollars per day, which I believe is totally worth it. If it means you having a more sustainable successful career ahead of.
[00:38:17] Renata: There’s a link to it in the episode show. Now the final point I want to make about working for yourself is the potential tax savings and benefits that comes from having your own business. There’s a much greater range of tax deductions that are available to business owners. Many of the costs that are directly related to growing your business, such as advertising costs, business insurance.
[00:38:44] Renata: A portion or the totality of the cost to, let’s say of a new car or it equipment like computers, they’re all texts deductible to me. You still need to be able to pay for them in order to claim a deduction, [00:39:00] but it’s, you know, it’s something to consider and, yeah, I find it really beneficial. And you know, if you want to learn more, seek the advice of a financial advisor or
like
[00:39:12] Renata: I did a tax accountant.
[00:39:13] Renata: Now let’s look at the advantages of working for a company, which I have found that from 2002, up until 2018 suited me just fine. I really that’s all I wanted. Sometimes people used to say, oh, Renata, you had your own business before. Don’t you want to have it again? You know, especially my friends from my home country and my family who knew I was quite intrepreneurial.
[00:39:43] Renata: Frankly, I didn’t, I didn’t want to have my own business because of all the reasons I’ve already mentioned before. It’s not that easy. First of all, what I really enjoyed about working for a company where the regular paychecks, I was in no state of [00:40:00] mind to develop my own business. I had just moved to Australia.
[00:40:05] Renata: I had young kids, I wanted to buy a house. I wanted them to, you know, be able to afford. Toys and do basketball on weekends and whatnot. And the regular paychecks were important for me to set regular budgets, to know what I could and could not afford. And that regularity was so important when the kids were little.
[00:40:28] Renata: And when I was new to this country, the second reason was. You can focus on what you do best, or at least you can work towards it, right? Like when you have your own business. Yes. I love career coaching, but there’s a whole bunch of things that I do to set up my career coaching business. That I don’t love to do.
[00:40:50] Renata: And you have to have, like I said, real perseverance and grit to do all those things that are satellite to you, running a great business. In my [00:41:00] case career coaching that you may not like to do, and you have to have the energy and the enthusiasm and the time to do all of those things. And there were times in the past that I didn’t want to do them.
[00:41:15] Renata: The other reason to love working for a company is the comradery, the teamwork, your colleagues. Now we complain at times from about our boss and about our colleagues, but frankly, working for yourself is lonely most of the time. So at least in the beginning, if you plan to scale, Even forever, depending on what type of business you want to set up.
[00:41:42] Renata: If you’re a freelancer, for example, working for yourself can be a very lonely experience. And I really enjoyed be with other people. I have friends that like me. You know, our new two alarm. I was, I’m not new to Australia now. I’ve been here for 21 years, but they are now [00:42:00] new to Australia and they’re working from home because of the lockdown and the pandemic and whatnot.
[00:42:05] Renata: And they really miss getting to know people and I assimilated and used to Australia, I think much faster because I had that collegiality, that friendship from my coworkers that help, you know, like when I didn’t know things, all of that was so important to me, both as an expert, as a mother, as an, you know, a professional up and coming, that was really ambitious.
[00:42:31] Renata: I felt like. Being part of a team was so great and I really loved it and I wouldn’t change that for the world. I’ve, I’ve enjoyed every moment and every job I’ve had, I really have even the ones that, you know, at the time didn’t look so great. Like I’ve learned from them, you know, and, and I am very grateful for all of those experiences.
[00:42:54] Renata: The fourth reason to love working for a company are the benefits that are part of your pay [00:43:00] package. And they were very important to me at the time. You know, sometimes it was. I don’t know a car or a mobile or a laptop or the opportunity to travel. You know, I’ve had a couple of jobs that required me to travel a lot and I loved it.
[00:43:18] Renata: Can I tell you how much I loved it, even though I had kids at home, you know, it was nice, you know, and I enjoyed it and the things I paid leave or the ability to buy more, leave. Take time off and have a great superannuation and all of that. And I will include here as part of benefits, even having redundancy packages from time to time.
[00:43:43] Renata: And I know a lot of people are scared of being made redundant, but from time to time, redundancies are part of your career. If you’re a white collar worker and a corporate professional, And they can help you a lot. you know, if, if you get a job a few months [00:44:00] afterwards and you received a great redundancy package that can pay your mortgage, that can pay for a family holiday, it’s quite an interesting idea that not many people think about.
[00:44:13] Renata: Another reason, the regularity of a schedule and the working hours. I remember being a mother and yes, working full-time was hard, but at least I knew the hours I was working and when, and I knew what I needed to do to organize for my kids to be picked up from school. And what time I need to leave all of that discipline.
[00:44:35] Renata: Was really important to me at the time. And I remember being a young mother with toddlers and a baby and having my own business back in the nineties when the kids were tiny. And I remember how hard it was and the irregular hours and, you know, having to. Deliver for clients when the kids were little meant that at times I was working long hours [00:45:00] or working weekends and doing things that I didn’t want to do.
[00:45:03] Renata: So I was grateful for the regularity of hours of my paid work. When I started working in 2002, up until 2018, and finally, you know, sometimes you are ambitious. What you want to achieve in your field or your sector, and those opportunities may only be available to you in paid work. Let’s say you want to lead lots of people or want to lead massive projects, or you want to be a leader of a specific industry or an area of expertise.
[00:45:43] Renata: It may be that this belongs to paid work, and you have to just stick to the corporate sector, non-profit, or public sector. sometimes the opportunity to travel, to receive an exciting promotion to work in an overseas country. [00:46:00] That’s all being part of a corporation or a global Institute.
[00:46:04] Renata: Sometimes those things you just can’t replicate when you’re working for yourself.
[00:46:10] Renata: So I hope that these tips and his sort of comparison from my own personal experience can help you decide now or in the future how you want to plan your career ahead. You want to do in the future for you, and if I can be part of it and help you in any way, you know that I coach, I have consultations, and I can do a LinkedIn audit for you.
[00:46:36] Renata: You can be part of my group coaching program coming up, but most importantly, right now you can go and do the reset your career program. Please go and check it out. Learn more about it on my website and I hope to see you next time for another episode next week, go to my website to [00:47:00] read the blog, forward slash blog.
[00:47:03] Renata: They’ll all the links
that
[00:47:04] Renata: I’ve mentioned today that these episodes are available in the show notes. Bye for now, and I’ll see you next time.
