Of course there will be hard work involved in starting and running a business, but let’s talk about the benefits, and why people own businesses.
1. Set Your Own Hours.
Of course this is the one we hear over and over and over. While it is true, I’m going to tell you, yes, you can pick the hours you work, whichever 16 hours of the day you want to! 🙂 I’ll warn you that you will expect more out of yourself than any boss ever will. When my kids were younger, I had an embroidery business I ran from home. Now they laugh about falling to sleep with the sound of the embroidery machine running. I found I could get a lot of work done after they went to bed.
2. Create Jobs
As I mentioned before, I had an embroidery business while my kids were growing up. When they wanted a new car, I put them to work doing several big embroidery jobs, and they bought their own car. While they didn’t work for me full time, there was always something for them to do to make money. Creating full time jobs can also benefit the community.
3. Doing What You’re Passionate About
There’s a saying, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” This isn’t totally true, but it sure does make work a lot more enjoyable. I always told people that I didn’t work…I played. Can you imagine being excited about waking up and getting to work? It’s possible and it happens.
4. Having a Sense of Accomplishment
It’s so satisfying to build a business and help it grow. Just knowing you’ve had obstacles to get past, but you succeeded is a feeling like no other. You begin to understand that you are competent and can do what you want.
5. You’re The Boss
You are the one who makes all the decisions. While this may be somewhat scary at times, you also know that any success you have is directly because of your own decisions and not someone else’s. You don’t have to ask for sick time. If you’re sick, you take the day off. We know how important good customer service is, but if there is someone you find impossible to work with, you can point them in a different direction. After all, you’re the boss.
6. Be Pro-active Instead of Re-active
In a job, you’re told what to do and you react. In your own business you can be pro-active. You decide what’s best for the company and don’t have to wait for upper management’s approval. You just do it.
7. Your Children Will Learn How to Be Successful
Your children will watch you succeed and get through difficult issues. They won’t be afraid to take that step themselves. It will be an education of observation that they can’t get in school. They’ll know what it takes to be successful.
8. Job Independence
Your job will not depend on a company managed by someone else. You’ll be in control.
9. Spend More Time With Your Family
Since you can pick the hours you work, you can make sure to be there for life’s important events. I know of one young couple who wanted to be around their little boys all the time, so they chose business over other jobs. It really is about what’s important to us.
10. You Don’t Need a Degree
For most businesses, you don’t need a degree. Don’t get me wrong. Knowledge is invaluable! So often, we can learn what we need to know from diverse sources. You can learn anything you don’t already know! Get online and do research. Take online courses or ask someone more experienced than yourself. As long as you’re capable of learning, you’ve got this.
11. Tax Write-Offs
Often people misunderstand what this actually means. It doesn’t mean that your tax write-off is free, it means that you won’t be paying taxes on the amount of money you spent on the tax write-offs. I worked for a company that took us on “research” trips every year and wrote it off on their taxes. We would go and learn about something related to the business and the rest of the trip was like a vacation. Of course that’s just an example. You’ll want to talk to a tax professional about what you can and can’t write off.
These are some of the benefits of owning a business and there are many more that are different according to the individual. So what are you waiting for?