I love working for myself. I get to decide my projects and my rates. I get to have a commute that is super short. I get to hang with my daughter over lunch.

The downside is that I work by myself 99% of the time. That means that I don’t have a bunch of coworkers looking over my shoulder during a failure which can be great since you just have to face yourself.

The opposite side of that is that you have almost no one around when you have a massive success.

Who celebrates with you?

It’s an awesome accomplishment when you get your first real client cheque and you should be celebrating it. You should be celebrating it with someone else though.

For me it started with my wife being around. We both decided that me freelancing was what we wanted and she celebrated with me when I got that first cheque.

Now it means that my wife celebrates with me (and we even have some real money to go out for dinner). To my wife I’ve added a Mastermind Group.

We all give each other advice and are around to celebrate the success of those in the group.

If you don’t have a partner that is celebrating with you, get them on board with your business.

If it’s just you, get involved with a group of other business owners (their field doesn’t matter really) and spend time caring about their business as much as you care about yours. Celebrate the success together and throw a real party.

Knowing that someone will be joining you in the celebration makes it so much sweeter.

When I launch my book about running a freelance business (sign up for updates) I’m throwing a family party. The kid will get a babysitter and I’m taking my wife out for dinner and a movie and a coffee.

Together we’ll celebrate the success and take a breather.

Make a big deal about your success and find people that will make a big deal about it with you. We all need a cheering squad around sometimes.

photo credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc