There are many advantages and disadvantages of being self employed. Since I am self employed, I choose to focus on the good points. One of the great perks of being self employed is the flexibility in scheduling your time. You are not restricted by the traditional work hours of 8-5. You can do what works for you. If you are a night owl, you can work till 3 in the morning, and sleep in. Or wake up at 4, so you have your afternoons free. Yesterday was an example of my new found flexibility as I took the afternoon off to take my family to the A’s game. We were joined by my friend who also had the day off and his daughter.
I did’nt have to clear it with anyone, or take a vacation day. I just went. The freedom to do that is nice, but it meant I had to juggle my time. The good thing with my work is much of it is talking on the phone, or communicating by email. I do have to meet people on occasion, but not that frequently. As long as I have a cell phone, and Internet, I can work. I did take a few phone calls during the game, but it did not distract me from having a good time. The weather was warm, but not too hot, and I could work on keeping my Hawaiian tan. Even though, the A’s lost, it was still a very enjoyable afternoon.
I also took much of Friday off to spend time with my daughter Mia, while Mom and Marcus went on a school field trip. It was a good time of father/daughter bonding, and I am thankful my schedule allowed for the time. I don’t get to spend that much one on one time with my daughter as I do with my son. Part of it is she is a little younger, but part of it is also Marcus seems to like more of the things I enjoy such as sports. Its easy to hang out with Marcus because he likes going to the Cal football games, and spring training, all the things I enjoy. With Mia, she is a budding artist, she loves arts and crafts, and drawing. Things that I’m not really good at, or have that much interest in. Today, I had the chance to go to one of Mia’s favorite place, the art museum. The art museum in Oakland is a place where kids can drop in and do all kinds of crafts and painting. Basically, make a mess and we don’t have to clean it up. Mia would go here every day if we took her. She loves the painting, and making things. And, she always gets paint all over her….and me. It was fun being with Mia, and seeing her in her “element”. Even though, I’m no great artist, I think Mia could be, because she loves it so much. It was just fun to see her having fun, and learning new things. After the art museum, we had lunch together in Chinatown and went home for a nap. It was also a good day, but it also meant I had to return phone calls and emails late in the day. The flexibility of using your time is great, but it can get tricky sometimes as the the line between business and family time is sometimes blurred. Sometimes when I am with my family, I spend a lot of time on the cell phone at the expense of paying attention to them, and other times I am interrupted by kids when I am on the computer or phone. We are still working out the boundaries of home and work, but overall it has been a pleasant problem to have.
