
It’s Halloween tonight, which seems a good time to talk about fear. I’m not talking about the fear that comes from mysterious goings-on, creaking floorboards and unexplained noises in the early hours when no one else is awake. Oh no, I’m talking about something far scarier than that . . . the creeping dread that, one day soon, you’ll run out of work.
This is a genuine worry that most self-employed people, with a few notable exceptions, must learn to live with. When you’re not on PAYE, if you don’t have the security of a client contract committing to a fixed number of hours or days, life can feel very precarious at times. I’ve worked for myself for more than quarter of a century now and have the cobwebs to prove it.
In comparison to a day without paid work, ghosts and ghouls hold no fears!
How do you cope with the insecurity that comes from running your own business?