It was in the middle of February this year (2025) that I realised that I was no longer able to pretend that I was happy with my work/life balance, or indeed, not having the freedom I deserve to spend with my one and a half year old son and my Fiancé. I wanted the freedom to drive him to nursery on a morning, pick him up on an evening, or just keep him at home so we could spend the day together and form the bond which is too often left unnurtured between a farther and his son.
I was prompted to make a change due to the owner of the business I worked in (a family member) and I being unable to see eye to eye on the hours each of us should be expected to work. Ultimately, I wanted more freedom and expected to receive it so long as an acceptable amount of work was complete each week and in line with my wage. At this moment though, it became apparent that we would probably never agree on this point so a change clearly needed to be made. I chose to pursue self employment and since mid March of 2025 I have been enjoying my new found freedom, knowing I only have my immediate family and myself to answer to. It’s been Awesome.
Back at the beginning of 2023 I started doing some freelance Camera Operating work for Alpha Live. This work has seen me getting stuck into the world of motorsports all the way from junior karting across the UK right up to historic Formula 1 at Estoril. If I had more weekends spare it would be a job I would happily take up every week. The most important realisation which came from this is that, previous to my work with Alpha Live, I had no formal media training, just a passion to try something new and different, and that’s all I needed. This is the attitude I think is most important to allow anybody to take their work life into their own hands, because without it, I would still be stuck in a position of making money for someone other than myself, and lacking the ability to be in complete control of my own time.
Obviously, it isn’t all sunshine and unicorn farts. Sometimes it’s difficult and I do find myself worrying occasionally about how I will manage during quiet periods. Backup income streams and learning how to keep track of your income through spreadsheets are two pretty important things to get sorted ASAP and this has helped me greatly. I can see months in advance, what my balance will be in my bank account based on my current monthly outgoing and what I allow myself to spend. The spreadsheet can turn earning into a game to earn as much as possible as fast as possible, which gets me to my next point… burnout.
I let myself become burnt out after the first five months of being self employed. I was working most weekend, looking after my son for a couple of days through the week, doing delivery driving for another couple of free days, and I wasn’t really giving myself anytime to unwind. I have recently changed this and I now offer myself a full day to myself whilst my son is at nursery and my fiancé is at work. I also work less weekends which I can spend with the family and I have been focussing less on earning as much as possible. I am still trying to find the perfect work/life balance, but the fact that always puts a smile on my face is that the amount I work and the amount I spend in leisure are now my choice and mine alone. I recommend that you to go self employed and take control of your life too.
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