Self-employment and the importance of a day job

Long before I started working for myself, I worked full-time in a non-creative role. When I started the business, I decided to continue working full-time as I knew it would take some time for the business to grow. Aside from this, I realised that the business may not necessarily generate regular stream of income like my day job and I needed the regular income to pay the bills. It's simple, paid bills leads to a clear head and having a clear head gives me the freedom to create.

Living in London, means seeing almost three-fourth of your income go towards rent, so it's safe to say, having a day job makes good business sense for a small craft business like mine. Even when I make little to no sales, I am still able to create work I enjoy and not create work just for the sake of making money. In the process of creating work I enjoy, I've had some work commissioned which ended up being more rewarding than the crafts I made to sell.

My decision to be self-employed and have a full-time day job, is by no means unique to me, as most of the self-employed people I know do exactly the same. Without the privilege of a day job, I don't think I would have been able to set-up a business, let alone run and maintain one.

I have learnt through my day job the art of self-discipline, as no matter what happens, whether good or bad, I must show up and deliver the job I am paid to do. It means even when I've had a busy week crafting back to back, attending workshops and fulfilling orders, I still have to be on my utmost best when I turn up for work, no matter how tired I am.

I have also adapted the discipline I gleaned from my day job to my craft making, as it has helped me immensely, especially when working to strict deadlines. Personally, I find that it is a necessity to have a day job until the business grows and one is in a position to give up the day job.
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