Business - Satisfying Your Personal and Professional Needs - What Do You Want to Do?

As a solo professional, you have the ability to tailor your business to meet your wants as well as your needs. I have found that there is great freedom in knowing that I can choose the type of clients, hours of work and areas of focus that will bring satisfaction to my day.

A couple of years ago, I realized that there are some things that only I can do because of my knowledge, skills, abilities, and credentials. For example:

THERAPY - I am a Registered Psychologist and Registered Social Worker who has certificates in several specialties. I cannot hire someone to do the assessments or treatment that my clients need.

SPEAKING - When I am contracted to do a presentation or workshop, I am the one who is responsible to do this. The organization expects me to be there and offer my best to the audience.

WRITING - Although some people have a ghost writer, I feel that it is important for me to do all the writing for articles and newspaper columns myself.

Sometimes I hired or contract to do activities that are not in those areas or to support me in those roles. If I find myself constantly working on projects outside of these three roles, however, I need to be thoughtful about this and adjust accordingly.

What are the things that you want to do? Do you want to write a book, offer speeches for cruise lines or limit your work week to three days? What you want to do and what you need to do can be very different but, when you have your own business you do have the opportunity to create a world where both needs and wants can be satisfied. The key is in the planning!