THE phrase “being your own boss” sounds exciting — doing your own thing, answering to no one, taking control of your destiny. But going it alone in business takes a certain amount of stamina. Not least because you won’t be alone.

Fay Schopen, a freelance journalist, says that she went from having one boss as a staffer to having four or five at a time — all with their own way of working, all believing that they should be her top priority.

Simon Juden, a freelance management consultant and chairman of the Professional Contractors Group, says: “You can work for a variety of clients, each with their own culture: one day a formal public sector organisation, the next a new media group.” Apart from the wardrobe considerations you will need to call on all your soft skills to juggle projects successfully. “You will need to relate to clients whatever their background,” says Juden. Working on your own also requires a degree of honesty — you haven’t got a team to hide behind. You need to tell clients about your skills and limitations, he says.

You also need to be disciplined. David Andrews, a freelance business development director, says it can be difficult to feel that you are giving a client the attention they deserve if you have to say “no” because you’re working with someone else, but it has to be done. Multiple clients also bring the potential for conflict of interest: “You have to be whiter than white when it comes to this conflict, otherwise you’ll lose clients,” Andrews says.

Geoff Jones, a self-employed IT consultant, says: “You have to be able to juggle a number of projects but be able to focus on any one at a second’s notice.” Jones says that the period when he is finishing one project and negotiating the next can be particularly challenging. But the overlap is essential unless you want work to dry up.

Working for yourself can be a lonely experience, especially if you’re used to brainstorming ideas with work colleagues. Even if you work in a client’s office the chances are that you will remain an outsider. On the downside this means eating lunch alone. On the upside “you don’t have to get involved in internal politics unless you want to,” Juden says.

To balance the demands of working alone but with other people, and being your own boss but working for everyone else, you’ll need a split personality or, as Seven Suphi, a self-employed life coach, puts it: “You need to be flexible. You need to be introverted and extroverted.” You need to be able to solve problems on your own and to enjoy networking with others. Networking is vital not just for your sanity but for support and to find work. You can’t be your own boss without having your own work.

But despite the contradictions most people seem agreed that going alone is worth it. “It is the best thing I ever did,” Jones says. “I’m my own boss. My future and how well I do is dependent on my own efforts.” In other words, you’ve no one to blame but yourself.

SOUL TRADERS

MOST free-spirited individuals crave the excitement of a varied career, including a stint working for themselves.

How we do this varies: from entrepreneurs eager to exploit a niche in the market to freelance contractors taking charge of their working lives.
Whether you toil alone in your spare bedroom or employ an army of workers in a factory there are some common skills and qualities that you’ll need to succeed.

Over the coming weeks we will talk to entrepreneurs to glean an insight into what makes them successful. This week we spoke to the Professional Contractors Group (www.pcg.org.uk), David Andrews at Kalpana Consulting (www.kalpana.co.uk) and Seven Suphi at Odyssey Solutions (sevensuphi@ odyssey-solutions.com).

Next week: finding the perfect partners

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