Unlike others I miss nothing about the traditional workforce. Self employment is more fulfilling and you maximise every minute of every hour of every day.

Delta Goodrem might have recently released a song called Dear Life, but I want to start a blog called Dear Australia, or more importantly, it's called Dear Australian Business owners and staff members.

Here we go then.

Dear Australian Business Owners and Staff,

We have a problem that we need to talk about. It's a problem that nobody really seems to talk about, or if they do it's one you don't truly understand until you leave the corporate 9-5 world. What a way to make a livin', barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin', had to include those lyrics in this blog as they sprung to mind and now I'm listening to Dolly Parton's song.

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked, what we really need to talk about is the issue of productivity.

Now I'd been in the workforce for ten years prior to starting my own business, which was actually started completely by accident, or like most people, it was a planned accident. Until I started my own business I worked for employers who were so wasteful with resources.

I used to work an eight hour day and really only did about one or two hours of actual hardcore work.

Now that I'm self employed I work 16 hours, full on 16 hours, that's once you take into consideration a two hour break for the gym and a few hours for sleep, or as was the case tonight, a half hour sleep before getting stuck back into work.

Productivity is such a huge issue. People are so wasteful with their resources, and it's only when you start running your own business that you see this. People do not set their staff true targets. I'm not sure if the world is full of bad managers or if when you're an employee you simply don't care, and that the moment you become self employed you suddenly do.

The reason I'm blogging about the issue of productivity in the first place is I just read a blog written by Sydney copywriter Kate Toon. Her blog was about things she missed about the workforce and it got me thinking about productivity because she was talking about how she would often take extended breaks.

When you're self employed you simply can't do that. Every minute of every hour of every day is costing you money, and if you're not working that hour that minute then you're effectively losing money. How much money you lose will depend upon what you charge for your services or product, depending of course on the field that you are in.

When you're self employed you'll even be concerned about the time you spend on phone calls because although that has the potential to generate you an income, it generally won't. Generally phone calls will cost you money because of the lost productivity you have while you're on the phone. When you're on the phone you can't do the jobs you need to do which means you need to work longer hours later on.

You see, when you're self employed there is nobody to cover for you. You have to do it. If you get sick then you've got to work. If you're tired, you've got to work. Even if it's your birthday or Christmas Day that's right, you'll still have to work. When you are self employed it is much like the social media meme says, you work 70 hours a week so you don't have to work for someone else.

When you do work for someone else you will be pigeon holed. You're either position x or position y or a or b or c or d. You're not all of the above. You perform one business function and that is all. You don't have the choices you do when you're self employed.

Unlike Kate Toon, I don't miss being an employee. I love being in control. I love that I choose what I earn and what I charge. I love that I am in charge of my future. Like a lot of self employed people, I ended up setting up my own business after years of thinking about it but the real trigger was when I was made redundant in November 2015. It's not until you have no money, and no control of your future that you will make a decision to either continue letting people control and determine you're future, or you'll take back control yourself.

The only thing I do miss about the workforce is that I had a separate place to go to. Now my office is right next to my bed which means there is no escaping. If I have work to do and it's 3am then I am going to get out of bed (as I've done) and do it because I have the time and inspiration. There's no way a sane person would get out of bed and go to the office if they worked for an employer. They would leave it until tomorrow. When you're self employed if you want to succeed then there is no such thing as procrastinating. You will do as much as you possibly can in one day otherwise that's lost time you could be spending generating new business and extra work you have tomorrow.

I also miss not having business expenses. When you're self employed you will account for everything. If you had a pen while you were in an office you wouldn't care if you threw it out. When you work for yourself you won't even want to pay for printing let alone actual set up costs like equipment such as a computer or photographs (if you're a web developer or graphic designer and work with stock images).

Other than the financial cost I don't miss anything about the traditional workforce. Once you've tasted the freedom of being your own boss you can never go back.

And that's what being in business is about. It's about being extremely motivated and driven to succeed. It's about making the most of every opportunity. Being in business gives you a thrill that being an employee never did, and never will do. When you're your own boss it's exciting and thrilling. It's like being on a constant buzz not knowing what tomorrow's going to bring.

Some people of course aren't cut out for business ownership, but those who are should enjoy it otherwise they should get out of it. That buzz isn't just about the big things like bringing in big deals. It's also the little things like getting business cards, or as was the case with me earlier this week, setting up my proper official business email and the bigger momentous activity, like planning for your first staff member.

Business ownership isn't for the faint hearted but those who are right for it will have a lot of fun. It's like nothing else.