“I started my own business so I could work half-days whenever I wanted.
Nobody told me that I would have trouble figuring out which twelve hours a day to work!”
Self-employment can offer many advantages for professionals who have specific goals and the self-discipline to execute them, among them: being your own boss, controlling your schedule, working when you choose, and providing the products and services you select.
Sounds great, right?
Well, yes. Unless you need employer-paid insurance and retirement benefits, a consistent income, colleagues for collaboration and connectivity, or capital for start-up costs, advertising, and other expenses.
When you work for yourself, you become a one-person operation…unless you hire employees. You are, effectively, the departments of operations, marketing, accounting, technical support, scheduling, and research and development. In practical terms:
You’ll schedule the work that needs to be done, and not just the tasks that you enjoy the most.
If you need to get the word out about your services, YOU are the one who will put together your marketing/PR plan…unless you pay someone else to do it for you.
YOU are the one who gets to figure out how to set up and input information into your accounting software, send invoices to clients, collect fees, wade through endless government forms related to incorporation and taxation at the local, state and federal level…unless you pay someone else to do it for you.
When your computer crashes, or you need to upgrade hardware or software, or you need to navigate changes in technology, YOU get to deal with it…unless you pay someone else to do it for you.
YOU will answer the phone and schedule your own appointments…unless you pay someone else to do it for you.
If business requires that you research changes in the market or develop new products, it will be your sweat equity…unless you pay someone else to do it for you.
Still interested? Check out this quiz from Entrepreneur Magazine to see if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.