This was a follow on article from an advert I did for the tax agent I use called Hnry.

It was super cool to do and this gives a little bit of who I was and why I became a PT in my 30s.

Here is the direct link, and I’ve made a copy below too.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/130832880/why-this-teacher-isnt-regretting-quitting-his-day-job

Personal trainer Carl Rein says being self-employed has freed him up to spend more time with his family.

Leaving behind a career as a teacher is one of the best decision Wellington personal trainer Carl Rein says he has ever made.

The self-employed gym buff spent eight years working as a high school teacher in England and could feel himself burning out, so when he returned to New Zealand he decided to leave it behind.

“I’d got to the point of teaching where I was aware of the fact that I was starting to burn out.

“I didn’t want to close the door on teaching – it was something that I did enjoy, it was just a case of I knew that if I didn’t take the opportunity with moving back to New Zealand to explore a new career then I might have found myself in a situation where I would have had to leave teaching because I just couldn't do it any more,” said Rein.

He did a part-time personal training course in the evenings and on the weekends, fitting in study around looking after his young family during the day while his wife worked full-time.

Now three years into being self-employed, the coach based out of Oni Personal Training’s studio gym said a lot of the fulfilment he got while teaching was also there in his work as a personal trainer.

“I’ve got an eight-year-old and a five-year-old. With a young family, if a kid is sick and can’t go to school it is relatively easy for me to contact whoever I’m working with that day and reschedule to look after my family, and put them first, versus with my experience teaching in the UK, unless hell was freezing over I had to be there.”

Rein said he loved the flexibility of being self-employed and being able to set his own hours of work.

In hindsight, he said it was much easier to be self-employed than he thought it would be.

“Cons, you don’t get holiday or sick pay, but the pros for me are huge. I set my own hours, I get to spend more time with my family, I feel I’ve got a lot more control over what I get to do and who I work with. I’ve got a lot more freedom of choice, and I get out what I put in because it’s my business; if I’m putting lots of hours in, I’m the one who gets the rewards.”

Rein is estimated to be one of tens thousands of New Zealanders in recent years who had made the switch from a 9 to 5 or salaried work in favour of being their own boss.

Sole traders make up nearly 20% of New Zealand’s workforce, or around 400,000 people, and include self-employed tradies, creatives, health professionals and consultants who work for themselves.

Software accountancy firm Hnry said its own business had tripled in size just this year alone and was bringing on more and more clients who had become self-employed.

“This is something we started to see in the early stages of 2020 when Covid hit,” said Hnry chief executive James Fuller.

“A lot of people who are uncertain about their future are looking to take a bit more control about how they earn.”

In 2020 there had been a flurry of Kiwis turning to self-employed work largely because of redundancies due to disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

However, it recent months more Kiwis had made the switch to self-employment in anticipation of more redundancies in the forecast recession, Fuller said.

“A lot of people are saying self-employment gives me control and flexibility to go out and de-risk the way that they earn.”

This year Hnry had signed on over 70,000 new sole-traders.“It has never been easier for people to earn independent income and a lot of people are looking ahead to next year and starting to make plans, both alongside a salaried job or a full time endeavour,” he said.

“We’re seeing a real acceleration of people looking to get into self-employment – the pandemic really pushed things and we haven’t seen any slowdown at all. People realise that it is very easy to go out and earn independently and they are looking to take opportunities to apply their skills in a number of different areas to earn a good income.”

Hnry launched in Australia at the start of last year and said the same trend had accelerated across the Tasman.

Rein said making the leap into self-employment was scary at the beginning.

“Once you get going it is actually a heck of a lot easier than it looks from the outside. It’s just a case of finding your way.”