starting a business Archives

The Dark Side of Being Your Own Boss

Being your own boss is probably something most people think about at one time or another. It may even be a natural human desire. If you have a job, you see things that happen at work and imagine how much better it would be if you were the boss. But as exciting as that thought may be, there’s the dark side of being your own boss.

What is that dark side?

Fully Embracing The Concept Of “Chief Cook And Bottle Washer”

When you work for someone else, the workload is typically distributed among several people. Each person has a specialty, but there are usually extra hands available to pitch in when the workload gets a little heavy. And sometimes new employees or even temporary workers can be brought in to help out.

But when you work for yourself, it’s all up to you. This is especially true when you’re first starting out in business. Though the responsibilities seem endless, there simply isn’t enough income to justify hiring others to help carry the load.

As your own boss, you are responsible for everything that happens in your business – from the most minute details right up to the heaviest tasks. You have to generate your product or service, market your business, maintain customer contact and support, fill orders, and handle all of the back office responsibilities that go with self-employment.

If this type of arrangement doesn’t set well with you, you have two choices:

Find someone to partner with in your business so that the workload is shared – without having to pay a salary, or
Learn to love and appreciate being an employee – though it may be tough, at least your responsibilities aren’t unlimited.

An Unlimited Schedule

Speaking of unlimited, one thing you learn early in the self-employment process is that your schedule seems to have no end! That’s not an exaggeration either. If working 40 or 50 hours per week on your job is tough, imagine working 10 or 12 hours a day, six or seven days per week. That kind of schedule is entirely possible when it comes to being self-employed.

One of the ways the self-employed manage to get all of the work done – without paying someone else to do it for them – is by working an incredible number of hours to complete all work that needs to be done. For example, you might spend the regular workday – Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 – doing the basic functions to keep your business afloat. This can include product production, marketing, dealing with vendors, and making sales calls.

Since you’re so busy during the day, and on weekdays, you might do all the administrative tasks in the evenings or on weekends. Sometimes you may even find yourself doing more substantial work nights and weekends as well, like making sales calls or designing marketing material.

When you’re your own boss, your schedule essentially has no time limit. You work as long as you need to in order to complete the work that needs to be done.

Cash Flow Insecurity

When you work for someone else, you get comfortable with the idea of having a fixed amount of income arriving at predictable intervals. You may be paid weekly, semi-weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly. There may even be predictable bonuses along the way.

But when you’re your own boss, there is no income except what you generate. That means that cash flow is a constant issue. There may be times when plenty of money is coming in, but others when it’s hard to come by. Many businesses are seasonal, and have to make their money when they’re in season to provide for themselves when they’re not.

It’s a juggling act, and you have to be able to create multiple income streams – as well as a decent sized cash cushion – in an attempt to even out your cash flow.

Paying Your Own Income Taxes

This is an issue that most people never think about when becoming self-employed – until it’s time to file their first income tax return. When you work for someone else and you’re on a salary, your employer withholds income taxes for you. Most times you probably get a refund when you file your return.

But not so when you’re self-employed. The only way that your income taxes are withheld is if you make regular income tax estimates. And that has to include a sufficient amount of money to cover federal income taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes (15.3% of your net income), and state income taxes. There’s nothing automatic about it – you need a rough idea as to how much money you expect to make, and then make estimates accordingly.

No Benefits

With the possible exception of cash flow issues, a lack of benefits is probably the biggest concern for the self-employed. When you work for a company, especially a large one, they will not only provide you with subsidized health insurance, life insurance, disability, and various fringe benefits, but they will often also provide you with the means to save for your retirement.

When you’re self-employed, none of those benefits are available unless you find a way to provide them for yourself. That will mean maintaining a private health insurance policy – which is never easy to get – as well as establishing and funding your own retirement plan.

Ultimately, you can do all these things when you’re self-employed. But it does take extra time, effort, and money to make them happen.

With All The Negatives, Why Would Anyone Want To Be His Or Her Own Boss?

I know what you’re thinking – why would anyone become self-employed facing all those obstacles? The reality is that not everyone can. Unless you are prepared to deal with the issues above and more, you’re probably better off letting someone else be the boss, then sit back, relax and not have to worry about all of this.

But some people are fully prepared to deal with it all, and there are compelling reasons for becoming self-employed that make working with all these obstacles well worth the effort:

The potential for unlimited income
Not having a boss to answer to
A chance to have creative control over your career
A more flexible schedule (despite the need to work longer hours)
Having more control over your income
Having a business to pass on to your children
The ability to live in a place where there might not be many jobs – thanks to the internet, many businesses today are completely portable

You have to balance it out. Some people are willing pay the price to gain the benefits of self-employment. But if you aren’t, that’s okay too. Stay where you are, and learn to love your job! Not everyone can or should deal with the many commitments self-employment requires.

photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net

Do you ever think about becoming your own boss? Have you given serious consideration to some of these obstacles?

You Don’t Have to be Rich to Live the American Dream

By Kevin M

The American Dream has always been a loose concept at best. But a lot of people are taking their cues on it from TV, and I think that may be the reason why a lot of us are just not feeling it any more. Let’s face it, on TV everyone is rich and they live lives that ordinary folks can only dream of. Most of us don’t feel that we can ever be a part of that, so the dream gets old and dies.

We probably need to get away from the visual picture of what the American Dream is supposed to be, or at least what it‘s morphed into. In truth, the American dream is whatever we want to be in our own lives. There are multiple aspects to it, most of which don’t require a lot of money at all, least of which being rich.

Be Free From Debt

Ironically, that may be the single biggest reason why the American Dream has died. Millions and millions people have gone deep into debt trying to pursue that TV image of the dream. TV isn’t real, but the debt accumulated to mimic the lifestyle is. We have to break free of that.

Living a life without debt is a true form of freedom, and freedom is a major component of the American Dream. By eliminating debt from your life, you eliminate stress and open up all kinds of other possibilities. Without debt, no one owns you, and you can do many of the things that you choose to do with your life. The strings that tied you down will have been cut.

Get Liquid

In the chase to have the physical possessions of the American Dream – house in the suburbs, late-model car and all kinds of technological gadgets – people have a lot of stuff, but not much money. An absence of cash is a major reason why people feel trapped, and even poor.

By getting rid of the addiction to shopping, eliminating debt, and becoming a systematic saver, you raise your liquidity. Liquidity means having the money that you need to do what it is you want to do, without having to borrow to get it.

The more cash you have in the bank, and the more you have in your wallet, the closer you will be to living the American Dream.

Have A Dream

Speaking of dreams – do you have one? We should always have a desire to pursue something that is bigger than we have right now. That doesn’t mean a bigger house or a more expensive car, but a bigger vision for ourselves. What do you want to be in your life? What do you want to accomplish?

The possibilities are endless, and by having a dream for ourselves we also have a purpose – a goal that we are striving for. It keeps us moving and hoping. As long as we can keep hope alive, we have a real opportunity to lead fulfilling lives.

Build Your Own Business

In recent years the real estate industry has done an outstanding job of hijacking the concept of the American Dream. They turned it into the pursuit of the better house in the suburbs. Personally, I think that’s nothing more than a marketing job. Owning your own home may be a part of the American Dream, but it’s nothing close to the whole dream.

In my opinion, having your own business is at the center of the American Dream. That’s the opportunity to achieve career and income independence, and also to build your business as big as you are able. You can run your business the way you want, and when you’re ready to pack it in and retire, you can sell it and hopefully live comfortably on the proceeds.

{Find out how to discover the right business for you!}

If that’s not the American Dream, then I don’t know what is!

Live An Interesting Life

Most of us get into routines early in life. It’s probably an unconscious thing – we imitate our parents lives, go to school and learn how to conform, then come out to get a job based primarily on salary and benefit levels. A few years later, we wonder why we aren’t happy.

That whole process, as necessary as it may be, is mostly about going through the motions. We do all of the things that we are “supposed to do”, but in the end it’s really not that interesting. But here’s a revelation: in order for your life to be interesting, you have to make it that way.

I know this sounds simplistic, but you should resolve to live an interesting life. It’s perfectly okay to have routines in your life, such as attending school, working your job and taking care of your family and your home. But what you do beyond that is completely up to you.

Don’t settle for being ordinary; be purposeful about living an interesting life. You will take on new challenges, explore beyond your comfort zone and dare to be as different as you are able. Life is a journey and not an event, so be open to whatever comes your way. Find some avenues that interest you, and follow them as far as you can. Don’t box yourself in because of your personal routine. We all need routines, but we also need challenges. Go for them.

America has historically been a nation of non-conformists; that’s the whole reason so many people came here, and continue to do so today. It’s an underappreciated component of the American Dream, and one that we need to pursue with a passion.

Each of these is a part of the American Dream, and you don’t need to be rich to pursue any of them. Start living your part of the American Dream–and don‘t attach dollar signs to it.

Discovering the Right Business for You

By Kevin M

Do you think much about going into your own business one day? This is just a guess on my part, but I think most people do. There’s something inside of all of us that wants to step out of our routine and take on the challenge of self-employment. But that brings up the question, what is the right business for me?

The answer to that question could be the difference between the success and failure of whatever business you choose. I think there is a workable business idea out there for everyone of us, it’s just a matter of finding the right one. How do you do that?

Bring It To God

Prayer doesn’t always bring miracles to our lives, but I do think that enough of it brings clarification. If you seriously want to go into your own business, pray about it. Ask God to reveal to you if a) being self-employed is the right move for you, and if it is, b) what business should you go to?

God doesn’t usually give us direct answers, but I think that He does put a lot of clues in front of us when we ask for His help. So pray hard and often, and then strike out and be ready for whatever revelations you receive.

What Is It That You Like To Do?

The next step is to ask yourself what it is you like to do? Whatever the question is, you should be fully open to the possibility. No matter what it is we do for a living, everyone of us has one or more other things in life that we’re passionate about. Some of those – but certainly not all – could be the basis of your business.

When you become self-employed, doing something you really like to do becomes really important. There will be times in the life of your business when you will want to give up. But when you actually like what you do it’s much easier to continue going forward. Passion also generates creativity, and that opens up new options. What you like to do, you’ll do well, and that will increase your chances of success.

There is an important caveat here however. Not everything that we like to do can be converted into a profitable business, or at least not easily. For example, if you really love swimming, it will be a very difficult activity to monetize unless you have an Olympic gold medal somewhere in your background.

It’s a difficult balance finding a way to mix passion and profitability. But that’s also an excellent place to start.

Identifying Your Talents And Skills

Every one of us have certain talents and skills. Some of them are ones we’ve been using in our working lives already. Others are yet to be discovered. But talents and skills are also a very good place to start looking for business ideas. They can be the building blocks of whatever business you ultimately decide to enter.

As an example, if you’re the go to person at your place of employment for all things computer related, you might be able start a business doing something similar on a retail basis. There are lots of small businesses out there that are struggling with computer issues. If you can get them moving forward, you may have discovered a business niche.

If you are in sales, you have a built-in business skill. Even if you’re not particularly excited about the product you are currently selling, you may be able use your sales skills to sell another product line that you really believe in.

Try this–make an informal resume. It should list only your skills, and not be concerned with previous employment. When you see a comprehensive list of your skill set right front of you, it may help you to get answers as to what type of business you will be well suited for.

If it is possible, the key is to merge your skill set with your passions, and launch your business from there.

Consult With The People Who Know You Best

After you’ve done a good bit of self-evaluation, it’s always best to get an outside opinion. The more you can get, the better. Go to the people who know you well, let them know that you are thinking about starting a business, and that you’d like their opinion as to what type of business you should go into.

Two things will happen here; either they will confirm an idea or two that you have already had for yourself, or they will present you with a new idea you never thought of.

Remember how we started by saying “bring it to God in prayer“? At this point, you’ve prayed about it, you’ve identified your passions and skills, and now you’re getting feedback from people who you trust. The combination of the three will bring you a lot closer to your answer.

Once you have that answer, be ready to run with it. And don’t look back.

photo credit: Freedigitalphotos.net