How Do You Measure Success?
Does money equal happiness? A new study by CareerBuilder, an online job search site, finds that equation isn’t necessarily always true.
“While compensation is definitely important, workers don’t necessarily equate success with hefty incomes,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources for CareerBuilder. “Often you’ll see intangibles such as the ability to make a difference, a sense of accomplishment and work/life balance eclipses the size of a paycheck in what matters most to workers.” —CareerBuilder
The study was conducted by Harris Interactive and included more than 5,700 American employees across a variety of industries. Here are some of the figures that were found:
- 75% of respondents do not feel that they need to earn six figures to be successful.
- 28% of respondents said that they would feel successful earning between $50k and $70k.
- 23% of respondents said that they would feel successful earning less thank $50k.
- 1 in 10 respondents said they need to make $150,000 or more to feel successful.
- Men were twice as likely as women to say they would need to earn six figures to be successful.
Success, to me, is a combination of money and personal satisfaction—as I’m sure it is with many other freelancers. Of course I feel like I am doing a good job when I am bringing in money. It means I can help provide for my family, pay bills, take a vacation, and all that other good stuff that comes along with being paid. But success to me is more than money. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be a freelancer and run my own business.
Here are some other ways I measure success:
Personal Happiness
I have worked for some really horrible bosses where I dreaded getting up and going to work each day. One of my most recent full-time jobs was with a company that was slowly going out of business due to financial issues. We didn’t know when the company was going to cease to operate, and the date seemed to keep changing.
Needless to say, morale at this company was dreadful. I spent a good four months not knowing how much longer I would have a job. Sometimes I didn’t know if I was going to get paid. I was a stressed-out basket case. This experience was a driving force behind me moving into the freelance world more seriously.
Of course, I have my good days and my bad days—but someone else (like my former boss) doesn’t control my happiness. I am in charge of my work, which is still a little stressful at times, but overall brings me much peace and satisfaction.
Making my Own Schedule
If I’m not feeling well, I don’t have to call the office and ask if I can work a half day from home. I just do it. If my sister is in a pickle and needs someone to watch her girls for a couple of hours, I can gladly help out. If it’s a nice day and I want to spend the afternoon reading a book at the beach, it’s my call!
This doesn’t mean I’m not making up the time I took off to do these fun things, it just means that I can move some stuff around and not have to ask permission or feel guilty about it.
The down side is that I don’t get paid vacation or sick time—but the tradeoff is worth it to me. Plus, working as a freelancer, I don’t feel as though I need a vacation or a day off as much as I used to working for someone else.
No One Takes Advantage of Me
When I worked for the boss I mentioned above, I used to have to take on more and more responsibilities and projects without being compensated for them. I was hired to do one job, and by the time I left the company, I was doing at least three. I never felt that my salary adequately represented everything I was asked to do, which did absolutely nothing in terms of motivation.
Now, as a freelancer, I choose what projects to take on and have a say in how much I get paid. If something doesn’t seem worth it to me, I can say no. I can also ask to be paid what I am worth and negotiate with clients. This freedom makes me feel powerful and in control of my life—which is a really great feeling.
These are the three ways I measure success—I’d love to hear how you measure success for your own freelance business. Please leave a comment below.
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I agree to all 3 points. Thanks.
Many do measure success by money and net profits, which is fair in many cases. But when you are building products for the user instead of for $$$ you have to measure success in user happiness.
How many people are reading your blog/magazine/website each day? How many members can you get actively participating in your new social network? Startups tend to focus on money but beyond that point you always strive for success in user experience.
It all depends, most if not all cultures believe that marriage and having kids is success in life. However times have changed and money speaks volumes now. If your a simple guy, success is defined by your own self, how happy you are, if you live to please others and your parents then it may be other things. I have seen that even among families, success is based on who makes the most money or runs the most profitable job.
Totally agree with your three measures for happiness! It sounds like your 9-5 work situation vs. your freelance work situation now was/is a lot like mine.
This is the point of a TED talk by Daniel Pink (I think) on how people get more job satisfaction by working how they want to work and what they want to work on. No amount of money can motivate someone to do their best if they’re surrounded by people they dislike.
Congratulations to Ms. Brooks for escaping the rat race!
Fantastic list! I would add that working from home let’s me spend more time around pets and/or loved ones! For me, having my dogs around the office makes me feel less stressed. Aside from their companionship, and how they make me laugh throughout the day with their silly antics, they are also great at reminding me to take a breaks and get outside for a walk or a trip to the park at least once a day.
These are the three ways I measure success as well . . . and a little bit of money, which in NYC means over $70K.
I’ve worked for the biggest hard head boss over the past 5 years. I started a blog community and made a service from it, sine than I’ve grown the business to have over 170 customers and it’s just rocking right now in growth. I know how you feel Melanie Brooks no one will ever take advantage of us again.
agree with all the 3 points..but yes money is definitely imp. to some extent
Great Post. As long as I can wake up every morning and not jump into a car heading for 8 hours of mundane tasks, then I feel a sense of being successful.
I measure success by the amount of free time I take back for my life. The equation is simple. The first step is to make the same amount of money freelancing that I do working for someone else…but in less time. And more importantly, I choose the time I want to spend working, instead of having it dictated to me by someone else.
For a night owl like myself, it means I spend my days doing what I enjoy, and my late nights, early mornings also doing what I enjoy.
While money is a great measure of success, it can be a less than accurate measure of what truly matters, especially if one spends so much time making money that they never actually get to enjoy their money.