It’s frustrating. Maybe you’ve partnered with someone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart. Or you’ve received a shipment of damaged products that you need for a trade show the next day. Or the media appearance you spent days preparing for is suddenly cancelled due to a natural disaster. As an entrepreneur, these types of situations happen on a regular basis (I speak from experience—all of the above happened to me!) The truth is that you never know what’s around the next corner…and it can be extremely frustrating when you’ve planned to spend a day on product development, only to find out that you, yourself, have to repair cases of product packaging that came apart during shipping.
So with this kind of stress—this kind of pressure—and this kind of workload—why, then, would anyone subject themselves to being an entrepreneur? The answer is simple—the positives generally outweigh the negatives:
It’s rewarding. When you are successful, you reap both financial and emotional rewards (although the emotional usually has to tide you over for a while!) There’s no better feeling than seeing a product you’ve worked hard to develop on store shelves, or when you’ve provided successful service for a grateful client. It’s exciting to make a sale or win a new client when you know it’s all due to your own hard work; it’s gratifying when customers tell you that your product, service or example has made a difference in their lives. And of course finally turning a profit – and knowing your business can be a source of financial support – is extremely rewarding, as well.
It’s flexible. Once you work for yourself, it’s common to feel you could never work in a conventional 9-5 office environment again. I believe it’s mostly due to the flexibility. Yes, you may work more hours—but you can do so on your own terms. You can stop work at 3 to pick up the kids from school—without asking your boss for permission. You can work from midnight to 4 am if you’re a night owl or an insomniac. You can work from home or your own office—with daycare on site. When you’re the boss, you call the shots—and the new freedom can be exhilarating.
