The Financial Hurdle in Pursuit of your Passion
I was Unemployed in Des Moines for several months before we decided (myself and my husband) that I would become a Free Agent (independent professional). It wasn’t an easy decision to stop looking for a J.O.B. I actually kept my ears open for job opportunities for the first four months of being a Free Agent.
For us, the decision to become a Free Agent didn’t hinge so much on finances – which is a HUGE deciding factor for a lot of people. When you work for yourself, sometimes the path to stable income can be a rocky and uneven one.
Advantages of Being a Free Agent
Last week I wrote about the financial hurdles associated with being a Free Agent (independent professional). Why would anyone want to work for themselves?
- Diverse Schedule – My days are never the same. I don’t get up and drive to work, stay there for 8 hours and then drive home; I may have some “work-from-home” days where I don’t have any appointments I have to go to. There are other days where I hit every coffee shop in town for appointments and networking. Some people would see this as a disadvantage, however – they may enjoy sitting in a cube for 8 hours – not me…
- Freedom – To make decisions. I can choose to work today or not. I can choose if I want to reinvent a certain service offering and how. I can attend an all-day professional development conference without feeling guilty about it (or having an employer who won’t allow it). Do you have this freedom in your job?
Book Review: Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin
Seth Godin is one of my favorite authors. Tribes, the first business book I read after college, inspired me to become a leader; so I thought I’d 
give one of his earlier books, Free Prize Inside a try.
Free Prize Inside is divided into three sections:
- Why You Need a Free Prize
- Selling the Idea
- Creating the Free Prize
Seth argues that organizations need to be remarkable in order to survive; innovation is cheaper than advertising. The “free prize” is a soft innovation. Everybody within an organization can be champions of soft innovations which are the “clever, insightful, useful small ideas that just about anyone in an organization can think up.”
