Some people find the experience of having a regular paycheck comforting. However, others find that same environment stifling and restrictive. If you’re of the second group, you’d better decide on whether or not to pursue your own business as soon as possible. Many benefits are waiting for you after making that shift, says the website LifeHack.org.
It’s natural to feel afraid at first about giving up a monthly check for an income that’s not steady. You can always take out a loan to finance your first few months until your business becomes stable. It may be more challenging to get a UK mortgage, and loans may be more challenging to obtain. That said, there are installment loans for self employed with bad credit histories that are available.
As they say, the benefits far outweigh the risk. Take a look at the following advantages to becoming self-employed, and understand why you should free yourself from the rat race.
1. You Regain Full Control of Your Life
When you’re an employee, your employer and your immediate manager partly control you while you work for them. Aside from suggestions, what happens to the company as a whole is out of your control. You cannot even fully take ownership of your life because your work eats up a lot of your time. When you’re self-employed, however, you are your own boss. You can take back your life, and live it any way you want.
2. You Can Do Your Work the Way You See Fit
Working in an office means that you have to abide by the company’s internal culture. This is one aspect that entrepreneurs that first started as employees find very constraining about their former lives. There’s also very little room for initiative and creativity. However, when you have your own business, you decide on your company’s culture and how you roll every day.
3. There Is Infinite Potential for Income
Working for a paycheck means that your income prospects are limited to your pay grade. You cannot earn more than that without a promotion. Unfortunately, if you work for a big company, the competition is so stiff that it’s very difficult to get promoted. In the meantime, the company earns millions of dollars, and your salary is only an equivalent of less than 5% even though you’re doing 95% of the work!
When you start your business, however, all potential income is yours to reap, and there is no limit to your earnings. Work harder, and you can earn a lot more. If you feel like you’re pushing yourself too hard, you can take a step back for a day and come back when you’re ready. No one’s going to call you and tell you to file a sick leave form upon returning to work.
4. You Have Unlimited Growth Potential
There is really little to no room for potential growth as an employee working from 9 until 5. You’re spending the rest of your day on a job and will be too tired to pursue hobbies after office hours. Weekends are the only time to pursue a side hustle, but you’d probably prefer to rest on your days off.
On the other hand, you own 100% of your time as a businessman, so what’s going to stop you from studying something that you think can help you grow as a person? There are various tutorials available online, which you should find the time to join. If you run across something that you’re not familiar with but is critical to your business, you can easily learn it, thanks to available information on the Internet.
5. You Can Pick Who You Work With
Another one of the realities that you cannot control as an employee is who you will be working with. More often than not, you end up getting stuck in a team with a few people you cannot get along with. When you’re working for yourself, however, you have the liberty of selecting the people who will comprise your team. You can, in a way, make sure that you’re endeavoring to grow your business together with people that you are comfortable with working with.
6. Your Work Output Becomes Exceptional
Imagine a day at the office when you’re uninspired. You have work to do so, even if you’re not in the mood, you’d have to soldier on. Unfortunately, this affects the output of your work. This particular situation downgrades your work’s quality because you’re not giving it your 100%! After all, if your heart and mind are up for the task, no force of nature can stop you from being good at what you do!
On the other hand, you have the liberty of taking time off if you need to refresh yourself when you’re self-employed. This way, you can make sure that you’re always in top shape, which is critical to ensuring quality performance.
7. You Can Delegate Tasks to Make Sure You’re Not Swamped
You can only do as much work on your own before you become overwhelmed. As a self-employed individual, you have the freedom to outsource part of your tasks and take some of that load off your shoulders. You can leave yourself with core tasks that need most of your attention, like marketing and seeking out sources of income.
You can’t do this as an employee. You have to accomplish all of what you’re assigned with, even if you’re already on the verge of burning out. You do have leave credits, but you have to seek permission from your immediate superior first before you can even use them. In most cases, you cannot take a break off when you need it because there’s a lot of work for your team to do.
That said, you also have to pay attention to the tasks you delegate, especially in relation to finances. For example, you do not want to get into a place where you have to file business bankruptcy.
8. You Can Be Flexible With Work Hours
Being self-employed is the best course for those who get annoyed at being forced to observe a routine. Since you own your time, you can choose to introduce flexibility when planning your schedule. If you’re a freedom freak and want to be as random as you want, you can do so as well! After all, you’re the boss of your own company.
Of course, if you have a team, you have to be responsible for your flexibility. You don’t want to attract unwanted negative attention to yourself. You have to at least find a workaround on what your employees’ schedules are. You have to be available, within reason, whenever they need something for you. In this case, it all boils down to effective communication.
9. You Have The Opportunity to Help Others
When you start your own business, you’re in a position to create other jobs for other people. In other words, you have the opportunity to help other people find a source of income. You’re also helping the economy by increasing your employees’ spending power with their salaries.
Aside from helping them financially, you are also helping them practice their craft and improve their skills. One day they might go on their own and start their own businesses so they can enjoy the same benefits that you are experiencing. All that is possible because you gave them a job and helped them in a specific part of their own journeys.
10. You Can Infuse Your Own Values Into Your Business
As your brainchild, your business is yours to mold into your own image, if you want. This means that you have the capability of introducing values into your company culture. It could be values that you’ve never experienced with any of your previous employers, or values that you thought every company should have.
For example, if you believe that every employee should enjoy a specific perk as a reward for their hard work, you can introduce that as company policy. Sky’s the limit when it comes to which specific values you can integrate into your corporate culture.
11. You Feel More Fulfilled At The End of Every Day
Last but not least, there’s a feeling of achievement and fulfillment in you every time you end your business day. Whether it’s a new sale or a personal achievement, each day that you’re self-employed is a success to be celebrated in one way or another. Think of every new sale or any other achievement by you or your team as a milestone to your ultimate success.
On the other hand, every day as an employee also contributes not to your success, but to the company and the people who founded it in the first place. They’ll be rewarding themselves with the cumulative income earned by the company, although it is the grunt worker like you that made it possible for them. Sadly, such is the reality in the life of a corporate drone. All the more reason for you to find a way to escape the cycle!
You should start thinking about how you can become self-employed if you want to be free of unnecessary pressure and to enjoy a lot of freedom. There are risks, of course, and some hurdles like raising the capital needed to start your own business. There are more benefits than risks, however, and these 11 benefits are simply the tip of the iceberg.
