The Self-employed Vampire, I mean Qual researcher

Starting something new is never easy, especially in our later years. I like to coin my emotions right now as ‘Nervited’ – Nervous but Excited. No matter how successful you have been in the past, or how knowledgeable you are, you need to have a realistic approach to starting again. Being overly optimistic is great, but you need to be aware of the potential pitfalls and challenges ahead. Being overly pessimistic will never work for the self-employed, self-belief is imperative. I’m a firm believer that nothing good ever comes easy, you must put the hard work in, and I’m here for it, and ready for the task ahead of me. 

Some people are built to look for security and steadiness, but I revel in the unpredictable nature of being self-employed. Call me a sadist, but for me, the freedom and flexibility of working for yourself is worth the pain points. There’s a freedom in having no judgement for embracing life as well as your career, the two intertwining more organically than a more rigid ‘work starts at 9am and finishes at 5.30pm’ type situation, even though many days can end up like this.  Throughout my career I’ve always believed in flexible working, enabling you to do the things you need or want to do in and around work. 

Maybe I’m different to others, but it motivates me more to work the hours that suit, whether that be a 6am start when creativity strikes, or an 8pm moment of energy. I’ve always been slightly allergic to the 9-5 role. Of course, us Qual researchers can be like vampires, only starting work when the sun sets, so getting some rest and ‘time out’ in the mornings is vital for being at our best for our clients.

Its great to see that the market research industry has moved on somewhat from the horrors of working several nights per week running groups, as this was not practical in the long term, with many researchers experiencing burnout. However, despite huge strides in flexible working hours and WFH arrangements, I still think we can all feel the pressure to ‘be at a desk’ for several hours at a time. Sometimes, there’s almost a competitiveness too in terms of how long a day people have worked, as if it is a sign of dedication and success. For me, dedication and success are all about the quality and quantity of work achieved rather than the hours put in. Don’t get me wrong, we all have slow days where we drag things out longer than needed, but we should be working towards a better work life balance and those achieving that should be admired. Kudos to those of you - both individuals and companies who are genuinely making this happen. Undoubtedly, this will shape a better future work/life balance for the next generation.