I’ll admit to having struggled with the idea of working for myself versus working for someone else for at least the last decade. Truth is, entrepreneurship has plenty of benefits, but it sure is a struggle. You have to find a way to offer a tangible good or service that people actually want. In theory, it seems simple, but you have to do it all on your own.
Essentially, you have to really have a well defined reason to get out of bed in the morning, and you’re the enforcement officer. There’s no boss watching when you punch in and out in entrepreneurship. It’s all on you, which is what inspired this list of 4 advantages and 4 disadvantages of being an entrepreneur.
4 Advantages of entrepreneurship:
1. Nobody to stifle your creative energy.
While it’s true that clients may at time give you challenges in this area, you ultimately have the power to work with whomever you want, and “fire” those who might stifle your creative energy.
2. More fulfilling days and nights.
Working a J.O.B. comes with the advantage of a somewhat guaranteed paycheck. However, you’re essentially always in the middle between your company and a need or pain point that needs to be solved. Entrepreneurship puts you directly at the customer’s door, giving you ultimate power to fix whatever ails them.
3. No more worrying about the boss knowing a “better” way.
As an entrepreneur, with little exception, it’s your way or the highway. No more agonising over knowing you have a better way of doing things and having a boss or coworker stepping in and vetoing your ideas.
4. More flexibility in your schedule.
You’ll of course need to be able to meet the needs of your respective industry via your schedule. But, ultimately you can make your own schedule — particularly when you get to the point where you can hire employees or outsource work to freelancers or agencies that can perform work on your behalf.
4 disadvantages of entrepreneurship:
1. You’re in charge of the paychecks.
In particular, you’re in charge of your own paycheck. If you have employees, this you’re literally in control of all of their financial responsibilities such as rent payments, putting food on the table for their family, keeping the lights on, etc. This can be too much pressure for some people to handle, in which case you’re better off getting a good job and knowing if you put the time in the money will be there at the end of the month.
2. The concept of free time becomes distorted.
While you do actually control your own schedule, you really can’t take a day off in the middle of a big project. For example, when a client’s depending on you getting some design specs over to them, or when you’re replacing the roof on someone’s home. Free time comes when it comes and work/life balance can become tricky — particularly in the beginning stages of the business.
3. You need to like selling ideas or projects to people.
Unless you have a partner whose willing to do the selling on your behalf, you need to buck up and sell to people. You need to not only know how to sell concepts or things to people — you need to know how to sell yourself in order to gain the trust needed to do business in the real world.
4. You define how your day goes (most times).
This might sound a little woo-woo for some of you, but some people like to know exactly what the day holds in store for them when they get up in the morning. A chef wakes up and knows what’s going to be on their menu that day and what they and their staff need to do when the work day begins. A worker bee also knows exactly when they’ll be going home, and can generally say yes or no to overtime. An entrepreneur has to wake up every day and make the day happen — selling, delivering, putting out fires, etc.
Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, it all depends whether you identify more with the negatives or positives of working for yourself.