Year End

Today is the last day of the second fiscal year of my company. The detailed numbers are not in yet, but as far as I can tell, I have made a little profit – I hope my accountant agrees! That’s very good news because it means that my next visa renewal (due in July) should go much, much smoother than any I have done so far. In fact, this time celebrations are certainly in order, but I better wait for the final verdict of my accountant, due in some two months’ time.

Although the above sounds all nice and rosy, being self-employed is really hard work! It’s not so much the work that you actually end up doing (although I could certainly do without all the overhead on paperwork). The most difficult thing for me is getting customers in the first place. Word of mouth can only get you so far, and even then you still have to sell yourself. And that’s something I always had problems with.

I mean, I am very confident in what I know and what I can do, but standing there and telling people that I am great indeed is something that’s beyond me. Part of it is surely because I am a nerdy introvert; another part may be that if I am not absolutely convinced of something myself, it is neigh impossible for me to sell it.

There are people who could sell sand in the desert. While it would be interesting to find out how they do that, I’m not even sure I’d want to go down that path. On the other hand, being at least able to sell water in the desert should not be that difficult to learn, no?

Anyway, on to the next year – it can only get better!