Turn your flaws into virtues

I had a few flaws as a W2 employee:

• I didn't like to work on assignments I didn't want to do (and often not do them)
• I wasn't a team player
• I had lots of new unwelcome ideas to make things better at the company

These were flaws because as a junior employee, you are expected to simply be reliable and do the work. I was a bad junior employee.

However, as a solo 1099, these became virtues:

• I only choose projects I want to work on, meaning I can do better work
• I can work independently, which means I make progress faster
• I try out new ideas all the time with my clients and my business, some of which yield results

If you feel bad about yourself because you don't have certain traits or have some big weaknesses, see if you can change your environment or work structure to suit your particular combination of aptitudes, desires, strengths, and weaknesses.

If you do it right, you'll change the story from "I'm a bad X" to "I was in the wrong situation and now I'm good at Y."

Want the full playbook? Check out Going 1099.