My husband & I are quitting our jobs next week (don’t worry, our boss already knows). I’m really excited. And I’m kind of scared. We’ve worked together for seven years and had salaries and great medical & dental benefits, retirement, pension, etc. His new job: starting his own business with no regular paychecks, no reliable income, no benefits, no retirement, no pension…at least not yet. And we have two kids. (That’s my job.)
Even though I have my nervous moments, overall I’m really really REALLY proud of him. He is one of those wonderful kinds of people who is pretty much good at everything and who loves to help people. In whatever job he’s had before, therefore, he has been quite happy just meeting others’ needs. It’s really a fine and dandy thing; I’m just telling you all of this so that you’ll understand what a big step of faith in God it is for him to start his own business, doing what he loves most and what he does best.
As we’ve been making this transition, I’ve realized that owning your own business has its perks and its liabilities. One of the best things, in my opinion: flexibility. One of the worst things: insecurity.
I’ve concluded that most jobs have just one or the other. I have a lot of friends whose husbands’ work hours are not very flexible, but most of them can count on a payday every other week. I think we’ll find that the opposite is true when owning our own business. I also know that starting your own business is rumored to have an extraordinary workload in its germination stages. Well, I’m interested to see what this new chapter will bring to our family. I suppose I just need to be thankful for what I have and trust God for what I don’t have. And if you have both flexibility and security in your job, consider yourself doubly blessed.
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2 responses to “A New Job: Hello Job Flexibility, Goodbye Job Security”
i definitely can say that this can change, over time, that one can increase the stability and actually have the flexibility decrease. freelancing changes as you change it, if that makes sense and there’s an ebb and flow to all of it.
wish you and your husband the very best….!
Thanks, John, for the encouragement! We’re definitely still figuring out all of the boundaries and best-fits for our little family as we transition to this new kind of job.