Recently a colleague sent me a print screen picture of an article he had read about the “most happiest employees”. For the “most happiest jobs”, this list cited Software Engineers/Developers, Sales Development Managers, Systems Integrators, Consultants, Artists, Coaches, I can’t quite remember the other two or three. Me, being someone who believes there are very few people who actually love and enjoy their work or jobs, I couldn’t help but wonder what these stats were based on or what commonalities there were between these positions.

Even though I didn’t look for the article to read it, it hit me: the time freedom! It must be the flexibility and the freedom these guys get. For the salesman, so long as he meets his objectives or weekly quota before the deadline, he is free to do whatever he wants. The Systems Integrator and the Software Engineers can perform their tasks pretty much from anywhere (home, office… )

Most people who work the popular 9-5 routine jobs are not really happy, lets face it, and I mean not necessarily happy with their jobs. Yes I do have a job, I work, among other things, I write job ads and descriptions in French as well as in English and I love what I do. But, would I rather spend those 40 hours a week focusing on my own projects and business(es) instead of 5 or 10? Heavens yes! Would I rather have the freedom to spend those hours how I want and not how a company or someone else’s business imposes me to use them? Heavens yes, yes and yes!

Now you might be saying “But Ariane, people with high paying jobs are the happiest”. Don’t even get me started on this, but just so to leave you with something for your mind to chew on: people with the high paying jobs are not only the ones with the most debts, but they are also the ones who pay the most taxes. And guess who isn’t paying a lot of taxes? The owner of the business they work for! And that, my friend, is the secret they’ll never want you to know. I know this because my accountant just summarized my business as well as my job income revenue tax filings: the business side, beautiful! The job income revenue side, well lets just say Canada’s “Uncle Sam” will pay himself some of my tax returns first, before he hands the rest to me.