Finally some nonsense about work and motherhood. Or at least… that's how I interpret this topic 😉 . Of course not, because it can just as easily be about the self-employed person 'husband' than about the self-employed person 'mother' of course. But the fact remains the same. Or ... maybe it bothers the self-employed mom even more than the 'daddy'.
It all sounds fantastic… being self-employed. And yes, it is! I will be the last to deny this. It's great, it's exciting, it's versatile, it's… exhausting. Yes, that too . You can get a lot of energy from independent entrepreneurship. But I wouldn't want to give them a living, the self-employed who are dead tired at the end of the day. And when you come home as a mother and the private worries are still waiting for you there, you understand how that balance works.
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Self-employed people experience more tension in the relationship between work and family than people who work for a boss. It sounds like the ideal picture:you are your own boss so you can decide for yourself when you work, right? However, in practice this appears to be somewhat different. Self-employed people experience more tension in the relationship between work and private life than people who work for a boss.
Read also: work-life balance, how do you do that with more children?
I understand that now. If you work for a boss, in nine out of ten cases the door will close behind you around 08.30 in the morning and you will go to work (don't quote me on half an hour, huh). At 17.00 the toko closes and you go back to your private worries. As a self-employed person, that is often different. At least, that's how I experience it. This week Frank shouted 'you should take it easy'. But that's easier said than done. I can slam that door shut, but all that work keeps racing through my head. Work out an assignment here, clear your mailbox, send an invoice there, and so on. So I continue until late at night to get rid of a few things.
Bloggers who blog full-time are in principle also self-employed. Part-time bloggers may also be, but for the sake of convenience I will assume that they blog more in the hobby sphere than the full-timers. What about the work-life balance for bloggers?
Lately I've been hearing more and more noises from full-time bloggers who don't like it anymore. Which are temporarily kind of 'through'. This undoubtedly also has to do with the balance. As a freelancer – and therefore also as a blogger – you really have to be at home in all markets. You don't have anyone to do it for you. You have to write the blogs yourself, do your own acquisition, edit, have technical knowledge to maintain your blog, etcetera.
Read also: my balance between work and private life is lost, the energy is disappearing
In addition, the life of a blogger largely takes place online and that he or she is confronted very directly with the competitors. Visitor numbers, invitations to events, whether or not to work with customers in a specific way… everything is weighed up by bloggers. Everyone has an opinion about everything and that opinion is loudly vented between bloggers themselves. And then you have to be pretty strong in your shoes to keep sailing your own course. Not to rush through and as a freelancer also take your private time instead of getting bogged down in comparing with others. Not surprising then – those temporary breakdowns.
Anyways… the investigations do not lie and research by Anne Annink shows that the self-employed are struggling. But the extent to which the work-life balance is a struggle for the entrepreneur differs per type of self-employed person. For example, entrepreneurs who have a customer-oriented company are less satisfied. Their work-life balance is skewed due to last-minute assignments, customers with unrealistic expectations and the feeling that they always have to satisfy the customer.
It also seems to make a lot of difference how a self-employed person started out:self-employed entrepreneurs who are forced to start their own business are more dissatisfied with the work-life balance than entrepreneurs who started a business because they saw opportunities.
Annink also noticed that in countries where greater equality between men and women is pursued, there is actually less satisfaction with work and private life. Entrepreneurs in these countries have the feeling that they must be a good entrepreneur as well as the breadwinner or a good parent. Entrepreneurs in other countries have their partner who takes care of the worries at home.
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In order to improve the work-life balance, the government should make doing business easier. According to her, it should become much easier to start a business, apply for a license or obtain financing. In addition, leave and childcare must be offered more flexibly, so that the self-employed can more easily combine their work with their family.
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