Are You Really Up For This “Being Your Own Boss” Thing?

Ahhh… the thought of being  “your own boss” is pretty cool, don’t ya think? I mean, who doesn’t want to be their own boss?

But that’s the problem….

When you’re an entrepreneur, you have to be the “the boss.”  And sometimes that’s not all it’s cracked up to be….

Now, I’m not trying to be mean or put a damper on things. But it’s the truth. And well, wouldn’t you rather have me tell you the truth than lie to you? Thought so.

Here is what being your own boss really means -

You’re going to be working harder than you ever thought possible! Yeah, the fantasy is that you’ll get to leave those long-hours and tiresome commute behind. But the truth is that it can take a while before your business is stable enough for you to quit the day job. That means you’ll be working double duty – for your employer and for yourself, until you are making ends meet with just your business.

You’re going to be spending a lot of time alone. I spend about 90% of my working time alone. Someone with a direct sales business may only spend 20 or 30% of their time alone.  The amount of time will vary, but no matter what business you choose, you will be working some of it by yourself.  Being alone can drive some people up a wall… Before you decide to take the plunge and become an entrepreneur, make sure you can entertain yourself : )

You’re going to have to tell yourself what to do. If you grew up with a younger sibling, you may have a lot of experience in telling other people what to do… you may even have fond memories of bossing people around.  I think you’ll agree that it isn’t as much fun to boss yourself around. But someone has to do it, and if you work for yourself, you are taking on the role of both the boss and the employee. Your “employee” self may want to take the day off and lay on the sofa with some chips and a marathon of your favorite show. Your “boss” self will need to tell your “employee” self to suck it up and get to work. Can you do that?

After reading this, you may be thinking “hell, no, I don’t want to be my own boss!” But don’t be scared off too soon. There are lots of good points to having our own business.You will be able to make up your own hours, you will be able to decide which tasks you want to do (outsource the other tasks so that they still get done), and you will have more control over yourself than if you were working for someone else.

If you are doing something you love, that you are passionate about, and that you really believe in, it won’t feel like “work.” There will be hard times, but it WILL be worth it!

So, are you up for this?