Photo by: Lumaxart, via Flickr

What works better for you, being self-employed, making your own hours, being your own boss, or being in an energized office where you can collaborate in a hands-on environment and work as a team?

I know some brilliant, knowledgeable communications pros that are freelancers. They love being self-employed, and they are great at what they do. However, it has become very clear to me, for a few reasons that freelancing is not for me.

I am currently looking for the right opportunity, and because I want the right opportunity and not just a job, I am doing freelance work now on a project basis and writing for Examiner.com.  Just like most of us, I too have to pay my mortgage every month and take care of my family, so something is needed for the meantime.

With this said, what brought me this clarity was working in the self-employed capacity for the last three years. Prior to this I had always been in in-house positions, and have always loved the hands-on environment. Things that bothered me and had me thinking maybe I was more suited for working independently was simply the politics of it all. The rumors, the back stabbing, and the blatant laziness and sub par effort that was just accepted.

I have learned that there are two core parts of my personality that make me not the best fit for freelancing.

- The fact that I am loyal to a fault
- That I thrive when working in a hands-on environment.

For the first two years that I was self-employed I worked technically as a freelancer but with only one company. Therefore, the loyalty aspect of my personality did not cause issues. I only had to be loyal to this one organization and thereby the clients of the organization that I worked with.

This position at the time worked out great for me, I had the opportunity to stay home with my son and watch him grow, an option I did not even know existed with my first two. I did not need nor really want a 40 hour week at that time.

However, when I did become ready for a full time schedule, I realized I would need to look for other freelance work. This would not work for my personality, I work for people not companies, and the people I work with is what motivates me to keep giving my best. I feel that when I spread myself too thin I am not able to give my best, and it just becomes work on a project to project basis, and not something I am really involved in or invested in.

The other reason is something I have been missing for a while, but it has become impossible to ignore over the last six months. This is the need to work with others, to wake up in the morning and be energized at what the new day holds for me, to be able to come home and spend quality time with my family, because I now have that work-life balance that was missing before.

I really feel lucky to have experienced both, being employed and being self-employed. Although there are things that bother me about both worlds, the experiences of both have brought me clarity. It has made me see, that the moments when I am at my best, when I am the happiest, are moments when I am part of a team, part of a bigger picture that I can touch and feel. I am so anxious for that moment, that moment when I am part of a team again.

Where do you prefer to be? Working for yourself or in-house at an organization?