Starting your own business may be something you have been thinking about for awhile, or it may be a new idea that you are considering to try and make work fit into your life better. If you’re considering becoming self-employed, here are a few perks to help you make your decision.
When you first start a business, yes, you need to put plenty of hours in to grow. However, you’ll be able to choose when to work those hours. For example, I tend to work in the mornings and the evenings, so that I can enjoy being outdoors in the afternoon. Nothing made me resent work as much as driving home on a beautiful evening, only to have the sun set just before I actually arrived at home.
If you’re a parent, you may be finding that being in the office from 8:30 to 5:30 plus commute time just doesn’t fit with when you want to spend time with your child. Working for yourself means you can set aside time to spend with children, and schedule your work hours around daycare.
In some industries, working from home seems to be a given these days. But for many of us, accountants included, it can be hard to find a company that will let you work remotely. I love working from home, which is part of why I chose to start my own business. In addition to being more quiet and comfortable than the office, I also save tons of time not needing to get dressed up in work clothes and drive into work each morning. I’ve even lost a few pounds and saved some money, since I don’t go out to eat with coworkers at lunch time. 3) Do the work you love
You can craft your business around the work you love to do. Are you passionate about certain types of projects? You can build a business around that focus point. Of course, when you’re starting out, you might want to take on a variety of projects anyway, as you’re building your business, but this stage will also help you learn what kind of work you really like to do.
As the boss, you get to choose whether to hire someone else to do the unavoidable tasks that you don’t want to do. You can hire a virtual assistant to help manage your email, or a bookkeeper to take care of your receipts and data entry into your accounting system.
Starting a business is a risk, but the upside is the opportunity to make more money than a salary would provide. Since your employer is not keeping some of the profits of your work for themselves, you should be able to earn more than as an employee. You’ll need to understand your budget and your financial results (we can help with that!) to know where to spend and where to save. You may want to consider hiring employees of your own, to increase the earning capacity of your business.
If you are self-employed, you are no longer beholden to a company that could choose to restructure and lay off workers, or that one boss that just doesn’t like you. Yes, you’ll need to keep your clients happy, but if one client or customer isn’t a good fit for your business, that’s okay! You can replace them with customers that do love your product.
As an employee, you might be moved from client to client as you develop your skill set. Most likely, a higher-up at the company would be in charge of managing the client relationship. When you work for yourself, it is both your responsibility and your benefit to be the one to maintain those client relationships. When you work for yourself, you get to choose which clients you’d like to work with, and helping your clients with their personal development or to grow their own business is incredibly fulfilling.
As a business owner, you will have no choice but to grow your skill set. You’ll need to learn to sell to customers, manage employees, become an expert in your field. Personally, I love to learn things, but running my own business helps motivate me to actually sit down and focus on what to improve each quarter.
How your business grows is up to you. Maybe you have big dreams and want to grow quickly, or maybe you just want to make some side income and test the waters. We can help you with the financial side of your business. Schedule a free consultation today to tell us about your business!