When I was in high school, I was very lucky to have parents that could be very involved. They were right there helping with the band all through football season. They attended countless events with me. I rarely had to ride the bus home from any given number of things, because they could come pick me up and get me home hours ahead of the rest.

They were able to do this, because they were (and still are!) self-employed. Running their own business allowed them the flexibility to adjust their schedule as necessary to attend things with me. (Well, things that didn’t land between January and April 15th, aka “tax season.” More on this later.) They didn’t have to ask a boss for time off, nor did they have to negotiate with a co-worker to “trade shifts” with them. No, they simply had to make up the time spent away from work at another time.

I think it was this flexibility that I witnessed with my parents is a big part of my determination to create the same lifestyle for myself. I want to be there for my kids when we have them, especially with the far-from-normal work schedule my husband has. I don’t want to pay for daycare. I don’t want to answer to “the man.” I want to to rely strictly on myself to make my living.

It’s a little scary, though! There is no guaranteed paycheck at the end of the week or two weeks. There is no guaranteed work ahead of me the next day. There is only the work I pursue and that I make happen for myself. If I fail, I can blame no one but myself. If I succeed, I can take credit for it myself and thank those around me for having patience with me and for cheering me on this path.

Within that, though, there are a couple of concepts that I think can be hard for others to understand sometimes. The biggest of those, that I want to talk about tonight, is the discipline necessary to work from home.

It’s very easy to get wrapped up in housework or other personal projects, leaving the paying work to wait for another day. However, leaving that work for another day means you’re even further from being paid and you’re closer to losing a client.

I’ve discovered that for me, personally, I need a solid game plan for each day that I work. A list of goals to accomplish along with a set amount of time I must focus on work. If I got over that time frame, great! But I can’t not put in x-number of hours in the day. Otherwise, its too easy to suddenly put the job completely on the back burner.

Along with getting wrapped up in housework is this: “Well you work from home. You have time to do that.” or, “Well, you can go do that. Its not like you have to ask off from a boss.”

Remember what I said about my parent’s being there for me through the years? The latter claim is true. You don’t have to ask off from a boss. You are your own boss, and within that you have to weigh your own ability to take time off. You have to ask yourself for time off, in a way!

Tax Season, for my parents, is the time of year that as their own boss they tell themselves, “You can’t take that time off.” April 15th is a solid, hard deadline that they must make if they want to keep their clients happy, and, within that, stay in business.

I often tell my husband that I have personal deadlines set each day/week/month that I must accomplish. When we have a lot of things we want to go and do in a week, I have to figure out how to juggle those deadlines and determine if I can afford to take the time off to go out. Oftentimes, its not a problem to make adjustments and go. Especially since I am such a night owl and can easily work through the night. However, there are times when I have to say, “No, I can’t go do that.”

Tonight is one of those nights. There is an event going on downtown that I’ve looked forward to for almost a month. But I’m sitting here tonight, looking at the list of projects on my desk (especially looking at the ones I’ve had to keep putting at the bottom of the list for months!) wondering if I can truly afford to go. Not only is the cost of going a factor, but the lost hours as well.

So here is where the hardest part of being self employed comes in: keeping the discipline to get the job done versus following the urge to go play instead. I choose to follow my discipline and get the job done; there will be more nights to go play ahead whereas there is only one deadline to make.