Getting sick sucks. It happens though and in the past, I would call in sick, go back to bed, suck back some cold medicine and wallow in self pity for a couple days until I felt better. Sometimes, gasp...I would call in sick because I was...well...sick of work. (Don't judge me, I have never claimed to be perfect.) This year, I struck out on my own...full of excitement about blazing my own trails, setting my own hours, picking and chosing my clients and generally making lots of money on my own terms, damn it. And it has been fun, and rewarding. But then I got sick. Before anyone despairs that I am terminally ill, please do not bother writing up my obituary quite yet, at times I feel I may die, but really that is more a ploy to get someone else to pour me another spoonful of my fantastic morphine based medicine as opposed to a genuine close to death experience. Now, all joking aside, what I ended up getting set me back a good 2 - 3 weeks and I am still recovering. It was a sobering reality check.
This is a reality for people who are self employed...we do not have sick days. We do not have back up, we do not have the luxury of calling in sick. I was fortunate enough to fall ill over the holidays and December was a slow month, so I did not fall as far behind as I might have had it been a busier month with more billeable days. It has created a viscious cycle though...I have to get work done in order to earn money and to continue to meet my obligations to my clients, but by working, I am unable to get the rest I need to properly recover...and so I simply am unable to get back to 100% as quickly as I would like. As I lay on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, and shivering with fever, I panicked...I realized I had no backup, and I was the product. And the product was vomiting and incoherent. Being sick was no longer simply a PITA, this was a serious business issue. There is no such thing as flu insurance for a small business owner, you just have to suck it up.
Add this to my already long list of reasons to eat well, exercise, and stay healthy. Maybe it is time for small business owners to bond together and form some sort of Healthy Nut group aimed at keeping those of us working bizarre hours in order to meet client need
This is a reality for people who are self employed...we do not have sick days. We do not have back up, we do not have the luxury of calling in sick. I was fortunate enough to fall ill over the holidays and December was a slow month, so I did not fall as far behind as I might have had it been a busier month with more billeable days. It has created a viscious cycle though...I have to get work done in order to earn money and to continue to meet my obligations to my clients, but by working, I am unable to get the rest I need to properly recover...and so I simply am unable to get back to 100% as quickly as I would like. As I lay on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, and shivering with fever, I panicked...I realized I had no backup, and I was the product. And the product was vomiting and incoherent. Being sick was no longer simply a PITA, this was a serious business issue. There is no such thing as flu insurance for a small business owner, you just have to suck it up.
Add this to my already long list of reasons to eat well, exercise, and stay healthy. Maybe it is time for small business owners to bond together and form some sort of Healthy Nut group aimed at keeping those of us working bizarre hours in order to meet client need
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