Things they don’t teach you running a business by yourself
After ten years of muddling through, I&#x27;m finally coming to the conclusion that I was never meant to run a business. By this point, the mere thought that I might give this up and work for a company that would pay me a regular salary and provide health insurance, where I would have colleagues who would support me and take care of all the things I&#x27;m no good at... just imagining that scenario brings tears of relief to my eyes.<p>I&#x27;m not a programmer: I work in publishing, promoting Chinese literature in English. I am supposed to split my time between actual translation and editing, and running projects to promote our books and publishing consulting jobs. Project management is horrible; continually worrying about the direction of the company is horrible; four and a half hours of writing emails in the morning is horrible. I am supposed to be spending half my time translating and editing, but it doesn&#x27;t happen. I am desperate to fuck off with a book and a dictionary into a quiet room and work, but there&#x27;s an endless number of niggling details to take care of.<p>If it doesn&#x27;t give you a high, don&#x27;t do it. If it takes your high away, DON&#x27;T DO IT.