I have been in 3 corporate jobs so far.
In the middle of them, I have made more money from freelancing than monthly salary. Though this is a monetary (and important) reason, there are several other reasons why I’m never going back again.
- Slogging year long, only to leave your next year’s increment to be decided by the boss’ mood in March end. I once had a very good friend in one of the jobs whom I told my “not so good” boss gave me a hike of mere 6% for slogging throughout the year. Their response? Should be grateful for it. Okay I am. Now I will think about myself. And I did.
- Control over your time. In July, I only had 4 work calls, 3 of them were with people I knew I am not working with, immediately. Yet what charged me up was – the small number of calls and the knowledge that they ain’t going to say “I have this problem in life so I screwed up” which is a huge energy drainer.
- Working for someone else. Especially if you are passionate and dedicated, there is always going to be a mismatch between you and the rest of the team, often where you have to replace your expectations of them levelling up with making yourself “patient”. While patience is an important life and work attribute, sometimes top performers have to wear it in disguise so that their boss who loves not-so-top performers sees their patience.
- You must do better. Or you are slacking.
- Limited number of leaves. Or even if unlimited, it comes with a lot of guilt because no one else is. (Okay, maybe this is self-created, however, I think leaders should take a lot of off to set the standard for the rest of the team.)
- You are a slave if you work on the weekends. And a crook if you take an off during the week.
- You can’t be truthful. Most people cannot accept the truth, even if it is stated with respect.
The most important reason being, as a service providing solopreneur, you work with people who are willing to grow – which is an important mindset. Very few people have that in jobs.
