Learning to be an Unployee

When you are a self employed person, or you are an owner of a team-based business, NONE OF THE EMPLOYEE RULES APPLY. You are an Unployee. (Isn’t that great? Self-employed = UNployee. I’ll be here all week, folks.)

Remember last week when I told you to have two conversations – one with your boss and one with your employee?

That was good, eh? This week – DITCH IT.

Because you are neither.

Some of the ways internalized employee culture affects the way we live our Unployee life are necessary because our culture is driven by employee-culture.

For example: My hubbs is a knowledge worker employee; his hours are Monday-Friday. My children are in public school. We have decided that we want to have dinner as a family as often as possible, and we want weekends to be “family time”. Therefore, I generally hold “business days” – M-F, weekends off, holidays off.

Experiment with being an Unployee.

As we prepare for Quarter 4, I’d like you to experiment with being an Unployee. 

Not to be confused with Unemployed, mind you.

Follow along as I guide you through this experiment.

To embrace the Unployee lifestyle, try this

• Lose the deadlines. Employment thrives on deadlines. What if you just … didn’t? Would you really never get anything done? I doubt it. Allow things to get done when they are done.
• Teach whenever the hell you want to. Want to teach at 7am? Do it. What to see a client at 11pm? Go for it. Want to stick to 10am-2pm? Do it.
• Take weekdays off more often to do things when the rest of the world is working. Grocery shop on Tuesday mornings. Replant the garden on Thursday afternoons. Stay up late and sleep in on Monday.
• Play with your money. Your income will not be as consistent, even though your bills may be! You likely won’t be able to create money plans the way employed people do – so don’t! Set up several savings accounts and hide “extra” money (yes, even just $10!) in them. Make more money one month? More in savings. Less money one month? Less in savings.
• When you need to think, take yourself to the beach, walk over to your favorite coffee shop. Make this a habit rather than a “nice to be able to.”
• Live a life that is free of pressure to produce. Do less.
• Go to McDonalds Drive Thru for a Diet Coke when you’re in the middle of writing an email to your client or your list. 😉

Let it take time to become an Unployee

It will take a while to name what being an Unployee looks like for you.

It will then take a while to unlearn the patterns and be intentional about spreading your Unployee wings without any sort of guilt and shame.

Ultimately, the Unployee lifestyle is one of taking personal responsibility more often for the good things, and allowing those choices to determine next steps, rather than a heap of “have to’s”.

Your desires will lead you – you’ll learn to make friends with the desires that have so often been characterized as “wouldn’t it be nice if..’s”

You’ll desire to create a new lesson structure.

You’ll desire to create a new class or group program.

You’ll desire to have a more productive workflow.

In these desires, your choices about what to take action on (tasks and such) will become clear – if you want it, you will do what is required to get it. No pressure needed. No timeline imposed.

The Unployee Life is one of enjoying and showing up for desire rather than “clocking in to make a buck.” Everything truly important gets done. Everything comes more naturally.

And oh, what freedom to thrive that will be!

Let me know how it goes.