Should I Consider Owning My Own Business?

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Over 600,000 businesses are started each year, according to Inc.com. Owning your own business is a test, not truly of character, but of aptitude and personality preference. There are many types of brilliant thinkers in the world and not everyone is qualified or comfortable going into business for themselves. When one becomes an owner, he or she assumes total responsibility; this means a large financial risk. This also means a significant time investment and fewer opportunities to “coast” on the company’s money—speaking of sick days and vacation.

A manager in essence works several jobs in a day since he or she is the one that attends to the details of operating a business. You might say that the owner spends less time on the tasks that he or she enjoys, and more time on the minute details that creates the logistics of a successful operation. Income is sink or swim and at the end of the day, issues of authority (firing or refusing to hire) are not the enjoyable power trip people imagine them to be. Everything that you do has to be done and you assume responsibility over everything that you cannot delegate.

Some Good News for Owning Your Own Business

Don’t take this honest list of disadvantages to mean that entrepreneurship is a lonely narrow path to oblivion. On the contrary, some people love the lifestyle and they love the cons too because self-governing and self-starting is in their blood. They enjoy the challenges. They want to assume responsibility financially and administratively. They accept full failure only because they want full glory. They are brave people, and not necessarily only abstract or convergent thinkers. The key concept is independent thinking. The independent mind can adapt to running a new business from the ground up, while the supportive personality prefers to follow an established protocol and refer back to written instructions. The supportive employee is protected from financial risk and enjoys greater liberties on company money.

What to Prepare For When Owning Your Own Business

While you probably have heard of the risks involved of owning a business, the thought of hard and thankless work might not have been properly emphasized. Company owners, even small company heads, have to learn bookkeeping skills, inventory control, advertising, and marketing techniques, market research, and office management.

If you enjoy the pressure of being in charge, then you might actually find that you have a great thing going. Company owners make their own money. They also have job security and total creative and financial control, something that is practically impossible in a team environment—even if you are a manager.

Owning your own business will teach you a plethora of business lessons and in a variety of disciplines. You will get to connect to your customers on a personal basis in a way that company protocol from a larger business would not let you do.

Should you consider this drastic life change? Absolutely, everyone should find the time to think existentially and introspectively and determine if this is truly in their character. Only by asking questions do we figure out the answer with ourselves.