Do You Have the Right Attitude to Be Self-Employed?

The single most important characteristic that will guide your success as a worker who writes your own paycheck is your attitude. Because quitting your job and becoming successfully self-employed requires a major shift in thinking. As you develop an entrepreneurial attitude, you'll be surprised at what you can make happen.

When you're setting out on your own, you may not feel at first as if you have what it takes. But, guess what? As you make a mental shift to working for yourself, you will find abilities you didn't know you had.

That is a real shift in thinking for anyone who has been at the mercy of someone else for a salary. But it's a powerful shift. Your entire identity and self esteem is often wrapped up in what you do at work. You're an accountant, or a vice president, or a machinist, or a sales rep. When the employment rug is pulled out from under you, your first challenge will be to convince yourself that you can create for yourself whatever you were receiving from your work: meaning, status, respect, power and other rewards.

That will require a healthy dose of self-confidence and self-knowledge. It means you must cultivate an attitude that says you appreciate who you are as a person, not as a job title or a role. You will begin to believe in yourself and your talents.

The shift is so powerful that you will develop the confidence and assurance to trust that life will work and respond to you. One of the greatest benefits of being self-employed is that you will have the opportunity to develop this inner source of strength. To begin adopting a powerful attitude, think about the type of person you want to be and then start acting as if you already are manifesting those characteristics to help you become that kind of person.

As your own boss, you will have to make tough decisions. It will help to have an attitude that says you are willing to stretch, to build on what you already know how to do. Your attitude is every bit as important as hard work. Change your thinking and challenge your self-imposed limitations. If you are determined to succeed, you will be able to acquire the information and skills you will need in order to succeed.