For 30 years, Jeanne Yocum has been self-employed as a public relations consultant and ghostwriter. This Spring, Rowman and Littlefield published Jeanne’s first solo book, The Self-Employment Survival Guide: Proven Strategies to Succeed as Your Own Boss. Jeanne previously authored two books: The New Product Launch: 10 Proven Strategies and Ban the Humorous Bazooka: [and Avoid the Roadblocks and Speed Bumps Along the Innovation Highway]. She has also ghostwritten books on open innovation, strategic partnerships, and leading fast-growth companies. A Pennsylvania native, Jeanne holds a BA in Journalism from Pennsylvania State University and a Masters in Journalism from Boston University. After spending most of her career in Greater Boston and in Western Massachusetts, she now lives in Durham, North Carolina. She credits her parents for fostering skills that have enabled her to succeed as her own boss. Her mother was a high school teacher who led her to love writing. Her father was self-employed and served as her example on how to succeed out there on your own.   Key Takeaways: [1:23] Marc welcomes you to Episode 89 of the Repurpose Your Career podcast and invites you to share this podcast with like-minded souls. Please subscribe, share it on social media, write an honest iTunes review, or tell your neighbors and colleagues so Marc can help more people. [1:52] Next week’s episode is planned to be the fourth episode of the four-part series “Can Juan Repurpose His Career?” You’ll want to come back and hear the closing episode of Juan’s saga! [2:04] This week, Marc has an interesting interview with Jeanne Yocum. Marc shares her biography. [3:25] Marc welcomes Jeanne Yocum to the podcast. Marc says he relates to The Self-Employment Survival Guide: Proven Strategies to Succeed as Your Own Boss. For three years, setting up CareerPivot, Marc was going through much of the mindset described in the book. He sometimes thinks he works for the worst boss ever. [3:49] As her own boss, Jeanne indulged her own requests for days off, usually. [4:15] Jeanne had been self-employed for 25 years when she started writing this book. In addition to her own experience, a significant number of her public relations and event planning clients were self-employed. She also worked with self-employed graphic designers. [4:52] Jeanne didn’t find any books that addressed the nitty-gritty of running your business and the perplexing people problems you run into on a day-to-day basis. So she decided to write that book as a resource for others. [6:01] When Marc first got started he hired a business coach who walked him through understanding the types of clients he wanted and those he didn’t and learning how to determine the difference quickly. Marc has come up with a business model where he asks for a lot of his money up front. [6:33] Jeanne discusses the question of whether someone can succeed in self-employment. Everyone likes to think they could. Then they start asking about staying motivated. (Well, the mortgage comes due every month! How’s that?) [7:16] There’s a mindset that you do need, including some specific characteristics. Some of them can be learned. You can be great with your product or service, but are you great with the people issues? [8:04] When Marc got started, he was used to being an employee, not self-employed. It took him a long time to get the self-employment mindset. [8:24] Persistence, decisiveness, risk tolerance, self-motivation, confidence, and optimism are the six characteristics Jeanne recommends you need before deciding to become self-employed. [8:52] Most of us working for anybody else rely on someone above us to make final decisions. That is not the case for the self-employed. [9:22] Marc’s problem as a self-employed person was in being his own biggest critic. [9:37] Some people starting out lack persistence. It’s easy to get discouraged from people who are not interested or keep you dangling. Get used to rejection and get used to going