JOBS RESOURCES
3. There’s less restraint on your creativity:
Did you ever have an idea for how to make
your job more efficient, or your company more
money? Didn’t it tick you off when management
either completely ignored it, instituted it without
giving you credit or reward, or, even worse, gave
the credit to that guy two cubicles over? With
your own business, you’ll be free from PointyHaired Bosses or restrictive policies, and you can
finally implement all those wonderful ideas you
had - and you’ll reap all the benefits.
4. You can set your own hours (well, to
a degree - you’ll see when I get over onto the
“Cons.”).
5. The self-employed are much better off
than the employed when it comes to taxes:
depending on where you live, you save come
tax-time on company vehicles (I bet you never
SAVED money by driving to work before),
lunches, and a host of other business-related
expenses.
6. The Power and the Glory: when you write
a successful report and stay up all night to finish
debugging that new software patch at work, do
you fully expect to wake up the next morning
and see your picture on the front page of the Wall
Street Journal? If you said “yes,” striking out on
your own may be a better route to take. When
you succeed on your own, all the accolades will
fall into you - instead of the blame.
Well, that’s most of the good stuff - but, of
course, every coin has two sides. What about the
disadvantages, the cons, to running your own
business?
1. The Hours: what was once listed as a “pro”
has found its way over to the con side. While it’s
true that you CAN set your own hours, you really
don’t have much choice in which hours are used.
In order to succeed on your own, you’ll find
that you require a HUGE investment of hours in
which you used to watch your favorite television
shows. As an employee, you may have worked 40
hours a week; as a self-employed entrepreneur,
you can expect to spend 80 hours or more, and
you aren’t even guaranteed that you’ll make any
money! Which brings me to the next con...
2. No Pay For You: as a young, self-employed
go-getter, you only get to enjoy any money when
your business is actually making it. Heck, most
small start-ups don’t even turn a profit for the
first year or two. Keep this in mind when you
start allocating funding for payroll and other
LSG
expenses - after all, entrepreneurs gotta eat.
3. Failure: there’s a statistic floating around
that says that four out of every five new businesses fail. I’m not sure that’s very accurate, but it
sure as hell feels that way. Most entrepreneurs fail
on their first go (the exceptions being folks like
Mark Cuban), so it’s more likely than not that
you’ll encounter this prospect. Don’t anticipate
failure, just be warned that it’s very likely.
4. Stress, or, “It’s All on You, Atlas:” like
the old god, you’ve got the whole world on your
shoulders when you decide to work for yourself.
It’s not going to be fun: you will be anxious, you
will be worried, and you may even get a little
paranoid, so if you can’t handle stress well, entrepreneurship may not be for you.
Keep these in mind as you decide whether to
start your own business, and take full responsibility in your d