The Advantages of Starting Your Own Business

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The idea of starting your own business is very alluring to many people, especially those who have been living on yearly salaries. In fact, there are very limited rewards for our hard work when we are working for a Company. Starting your own business is not an easy quest. There are a lot of things to consider such as looking for investors, finding good distributors, marketing efforts with minimum cost, and many more.

David Karp, Tumblr founder and CEO, once said “Entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a want to create.” He believes that as long as you have strong ambition and willingness to make your dream becomes reality, you will be rewarded handsomely from your own business.

Below are some of the comments from business owners and experts about the advantages of starting your own business.

When you start your own business, you are really creating something from scratch, and if you solve a problem, provide a service or make a product that makes people’s lives better to the degree that they are willing to pay for it, you are really creating value in the world. Earning a dollar that you created out of thin air is more rewarding than earning a dollar being a cog in someone else’s wheel. Also, when you start your own business and it’s successful enough to hire people, you are really changing people’s lives. To me, when I hire someone, it feels like I’m taking on a great responsibility to make sure I make the right decisions to be able to keep providing for them and their families. It can definitely keep you up at night, and for me that responsibility is a reason to really give my all to the company. When you employ people, they are putting their trust in you, and I believe that there is a tacit contract that you will give them your best as a leader and steward of their career, stability, and livelihood. There are great risks in starting a business, not only the risk to your money and reputation, but also including opportunity costs of the salary that you are forgoing. But if it does work out, the rewards can be more meaningful than you can earn at a salaried job. Not only in terms of absolute dollars, but also in terms of career satisfaction. – Steve Benson, Badger Maps

[First,] “You’re your own boss”. You set your hours, and you don’t have anyone telling you what to work on next. [Second,] if you work from home like I do, my morning commute is to the coffee pot, and the only traffic jam I deal with is my dog and cat racing down the stairs. [Third,] I can do my job from anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. [Last,] I don’t have to worry about using up my vacation days or sick days. – Marry Ellen, Parker’s Voice

No more commuting, you are in control of your own schedule, and have the freedom and flexibility not to have to make tough choices but rather have your cake and eat it too. You are only doing the work you love, and working with only people you love. You don’t have to feel guilty thinking about home when you’re at work and vice versa. You are getting paid what you worth, and having the ability to travel while working, and no more wasted time! – Melissa Smith, The PVA

Starting your own business can be the best thing you do in your life, if you get out of your own way. What I mean is that many start it for the ego, and that is what adds to the 2-5 year failure of most small businesses. Rather, start off strong, with a solid yearly, monthly, weekly plan in the areas of finances, marketing, and operations and you will beat those statistics. Starting your own business is easy. Keeping it open and thriving is the tough part. The advantage is that your success all depends on the decisions that you make. The world can be at your fingertips. You can make your own hours and you can create your own destiny. – Bella Vasta, Jump Consulting

I would say some advantages are being able to set your own schedule. With 2 small children it can be tough working nights and weekends sometimes but if anything is important I will always be there. One example is that my 5-month-old son usually wakes up around 5:30 am and I spend 20 minutes every morning hanging out with him in bed. This is something that might never be possible if I had to set an alarm and be somewhere at a specific time. By setting my own schedule I can make sure to carve out quality family time every week. -Doug Darroch, 21st Renaissance

Some huge advantages of owning your own business:
The Thrill of the Chase – As a business owner, you are largely responsible for business growth. In my role, that’s business development in the form of new partnerships with industry leaders. Every new partnership is hugely rewarding and another chance to gain feedback on your product and learn more about future growth opportunities.
Variety – Being a business owner, every day can be a new challenge. This is the biggest change from being in a day-to-day position where your role is well defined. On any given day, you may have to tackle anything from IT to Marketing to Legal. It’s like a giant real-world MBA wrapped up in a jigsaw puzzle.
New Relationships – The best part of my position is the new business relationships. If you have a good product and can confidently show it to new business partners, the feedback you get that validates your direction and product is hugely rewarding. – Kelly Bedrich, ElectricityPlans.com

These are the advantages of starting your own business. Forwardly is great all-in-one accounting software for small business owners to run their entire business accounting from anywhere with absolutely no effort, try it out now and see it for yourself!