Rarely do successful businessmen and women candidly talk about the failures and obstacles that they encountered in their journey of starting and running their business to success. Often what people see are successful people who quit their jobs and open their businesses. Yet there are so many challenges that people who quit their job to start their own business face.
The result has been a misguided narrative about running a business, which makes many people call it quits at their jobs without much considerations of the ups and downs of running one’s business, only to give up along the way. Many are blinded by the great benefits yet for every benefit, there is a downside that may not be apparent.
So what can you expect from quitting employment to start your own business? In this post, I have detailed what to expect when running your own business. The information is very important especially if you are new or yet to start your business.
Read: How to Start and Run New Business when Pregnant
In this post…
Great Freedom And Independence
Tips On Managing Your Own Business
Unexpected Things That Happen When you Start and Run your Own Business
1. After Starting your Business, You are the Boss and the Buck Stops with you
Exciting huh? You are the boss and you call all the shots when you are running your own business. There will be no longer anyone putting demands and expectations on you as compared to when you are employed. Whatever you do is absolutely up to you because this is your business. This is a very big advantage of running your own business.
The independence includes the hours and days you choose to work, your products and services, your choice of employees, and your office location, among other things. You will be the only person issuing commands and directives especially if you have employees working under you compared to when employed.
However the downside of this aspect about quitting employed versus running your business is the responsibility. Since you are your own boss, you will take responsibility for your every action. Your employees will wait on you to give directions on most tasks in the office. Most people starting their own business do not expect this and issuing directives when your business is in dilemma becomes a challenge.
Most importantly you will be held accountable for each and every single decision and action you make about your business. Unlike before, the success or failure of your business is on you! As a business owner, you are the business and this is a major weakness you need to be prepared for.
As the boss, you will be called upon to solve issues on competition, employees, bills, breakdowns, employee problems, and customer problems, which can be quite stressful. While you may not have expected this when starting your business, you will have to do the unpleasant tasks, like firing employees.
Read: How to Run a Business with your Husband
2. No Guaranteed Returns as you are Financially Vulnerable
There are many financial benefits of running your own business. It sounds good to be the owner of a business as it means that you get to keep the majority of the profit. As such your earnings in your business are high compared to what you can get out of employment.
As your own employer, you get to keep the lion’s share after taking care of the expenses the business has incurred. As such you are more likely to make financial headways in your own business than in your employment.
However in comparison, you bear all the financial risk. While you were cushioned in your employment, you are now exposed. While your salary was guaranteed, it is no longer the same with your business. It is a major set back of running your own business in comparison with being employed.
While making profits and losses in a business is normal and expected, many entrepreneurs do not expect that it can be constant and prolonged.You will have financial vulnerability, especially in your first few months/years until your business stabilizes. In fact, little to no income is what you should expect in your first year of business.
You will have cases of good revenues and others with total losses. As such you will make good money in some periods and total losses in others. Many also don’t expect that at some point you even stand to lose all the investment you made in your business.
Read: Reasons you Need to Keep your Job
3. Self-Employment Comes with Great Freedom & Independence
Being your own boss comes with a lot of freedom and independence. This is a major reason many give up their jobs for starting their own businesses. You don’t have to report to work if you don’t want to.
You can take a break and go on vacation if you feel like it. You can report to work at any time of the day among others. You simply run your business your way without answering to anyone.
Further, you as the owner can live an easy lifestyle in terms of flexible working hours, and location among others. The flexibility is a major pro and advantage of running your own business compared to being employed.
But having this freedom in running your own business can also be demanding. When you want to start, run & grow a successful business, be prepared for a demanding workload! Running a business, especially on your own is very demanding.
Most time, you will be expected to put in more hours than normal. In fact, many business women do not expect that they will be putting in more work hours in your business than they would in employment. You will find that you are frequently working outside office hours to serve your clients.
While you have the freedom to take time off, the work needs may prevent you from doing so. As a result, you end up so exhausted and lack time for yourself. You will find that managing a work-life balance while running your own business is a big challenge.
Read: Making Time for Yourself While Working
4. You can Face Intense Market Barrier with a New Business
As a business owner, you will likely get personal satisfaction from working in your own business. This is because as a business owner, you have a chance to start a business in the field you love and enjoy.
You will not have to put with a career and job that you hate. You have the chance to follow your passion and in life and this is a major advantage of running your own business in comparison with being employed.
You’ll be able to optimally use your skills and knowledge and get satisfaction from implementing your ideas and watching your business and projects grow. Unexpectedly, it may be what attracts you to owning your own business in the first place and can greatly propel your business to great heights.
The downside of this freedom are the difficulties you may faced in breaking even in the market. Marking a curve in the market is hard. It is not always that any business can succeed in a market.
What makes a business successful is being able to stand out in the market against all the competition and meet an unfulfilled need in the market. What is unexpected is that it does not always happen that what you like doing and you are passionate about is a good business idea.
It simply satisfies you but may fail to make it as a business. In addition, it may be a business in a competitive field where it is difficult to make a mark.
Last Word
Success is for people who dream and actualize their dreams. Most importantly success is for people who push for their goals against all adversities. What am driving at is that these challenges in self-employment should not stop you from going after your dreams.
So start your own business if it is your goal. Experts give a secret that what is critical is remaining objective all the time and finding effective solutions to these challenges.
What can you learn from running your own business?
What can you change to make the journey more pleasant?
The road to success has both ups and downs and you can safely sail through as long as you are anchored by your determination, which is all you need to run a business successfully.
- Develop a concrete business plan
- Practice accountability, and transparency
- Remain focused and objective
- Hard work and consistency
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