Being the Boss

There are a lot of reasons to want to have your own business. You can have unlimited earning potential, you answer to no one, and my personal favorite, freedom to set your own schedule. For those who choose to take the road not taken, and risk their future on their ability to go out and blaze their own trail, the challenges are many; but there are rewards. Aside from monetary reasons, control of your time is one of the most important reasons to be the boss.

In my business, I work crazy hours. People I know give me grief for starting my day somewhere between 8am and 9am depending on when I can see clearly; but none of them can say that they were up at 2am finishing up a project, or worked all day Sunday to get ready for Monday morning. Most small business owners will tell you, the last time they only worked a forty hour work week, was the last time they drew a paycheck with someone else’s signature on it. I would much rather work seventy to eighty hours on my own business, than working forty hours for a company that would thoughtlessly plug in another body if I didn’t show up one day.

I never used to take vacations. It seems like you either don’t have the money or don’t have the time. When you have your own business, you often worry about what will happen if you take a week or two off. It is true, when you are the heart and soul of your business, things do grind to a halt when you are not there. I like to travel around the world, and when you take twenty hours to get somewhere, a week or even two weeks is not enough. Every other year, I take a three week vacation; and because I am the boss, I can do that. My business is essentially shut down during that time, and I know that I miss some opportunities; but having the privilege to set my own vacation schedules is one of the main reasons that I love owning my own business.

I used to commute to a job in Orange County, California. It took me between forty-five minutes to an hour and fifteen minutes, depending on traffic, just to get to work. So the choice was to be up to a half an hour early to work each day, or occasionally be a few minutes late. That job was about two to three hours work, spread over eight hours. It was humiliating for a man my age to be castigated for being five minutes late, then to sit at my desk for hours trying to look busy, because there was not enough work.

Control over your own time is the biggest freedom of owning your own business. You work when there is work, and are off when you want to be. No more begging for the day off to go to the doctor, and no more juggling your schedule so that you can pick your children up from school. Freedom to control your time and your own schedule, despite the stress, the lack of security and benefits etc. is for me, the most important reason to be the boss.

Mark Goodrum