There have been days when I was ready to just give up on running my own business. Would it be easier to just collect a paycheck? Show up, do my work and then go home, never worrying about anything else?
And then I remember all the benefits to owning your own business. And especially #3. That’s the one that hooks me every time.
#1: You Are the Boss.
Instead of having a boss, you’re the boss. You decide the direction of the business, the hours of the business, who the clients are, where and how you work. You choose.
If you’ve ever had a jerk of a boss you know what it’s like on Sunday night. That feeling of dread that comes over you. Tomorrow it starts again. No matter how great the weekend was it can’t erase that horrible feeling of knowing what’s to come.
With your own business YOU choose. It often takes new talents to break out of old habits so you don’t just replicate the same job you hated. But the difference is that you have the control to do what you want to spend your days doing.
#2: You Are Building Your Own Asset
One of the questions I ask my clients is, “What is your exit strategy?” In other words, what’s the end game for your business?
We’re so conditioned to not think beyond the immediate paycheck (whether we write the check or someone else does) that we don’t think of the real value of the business.
The business itself. If you create something that provides net income, month after month, someone else will likely want to buy it from you. That’s especially true if there are systems that make the business work automatically.
You can either work to make that business more valuable so that you get that big payday at the end or someone else does.
The difference between the two is ownership. The owner gets the final paycheck.
#3: Flip the Earn Tax Spend Syndrome.
If you have a paycheck, you have very few tax deductions these days. Basically, it’s:
Earn
Tax
Spend
You get to spend what’s left after tax. Once you have a business, though, it changes.
Earn
Spend
Tax
As long as the expenses are tax deductible for the business, you pay tax after you pay for the expenses. If you don’t have a business, you pay taxes first. If you have a business, you pay taxes last.
That little trick can mean thousands of dollars in your pocket every year. My CPA firm helps clients figure out how to legally make this shift.
#4: You Are More Efficient.
Let’s face it, a lot of a job has nothing to do with the job. Want to work less hours? Be more efficient. But with meetings and emails and phone calls, it’s pretty much impossible.
The solution? Start your own business.
#5: You Choose Who You Work With
One of the best pieces of advice I got when I started my business was to fire a client every month. It sounds like crazy advice, but it is freeing. At some point, you love all your clients and you don’t need to fire any. But until you get that point, there is nothing quite like knowing you can get rid of that client who drives you crazy.
#6: You Can Start New Projects, New Connections, Build in a Non-profit Aspect
YOU choose. It’s that simple. You get to choose what your business will be like and what it stands for.
#7: You Will Make More Money
It’s that simple. Less taxes, more control, more time, more opportunities and a paycheck at the end when you sell the company. More money.
What about now? In tough economic times, you have less control as an employee. You may get laid off. You may get your hours cut. You have little control.
As a business owner, you do have strategies. How Will Your Business Survive the Coming Economic Storm? goes through some of those.
