Does being an entrepreneur and having your own business really give you freedom? It depends a lot on the business and how you decide to run it.
In general, I would say being an entrepreneur gives you freedom. It gives you the freedom to do what you want and when you want. If you have a task you don’t like, you can hire someone to handle that part of the business or outsource it completely. More about outsourcing in this post.
At first, some business models might require you to work very long hours. Restaurants and physical stores go to this category, for example. Less time and place tied businesses, such as having an e-commerce store or other online-based businesses, you can work when you want and where you want.
What is entrepreneurial freedom
Entrepreneur freedom comes with the following perks:
- Being your own boss
- Deciding who you want to work with, such as partners and employees.
- Freedom to choose when you work
- Freedom to choose where you work from
- Do something meaningful
- Everything you do and decide is to benefit your business
- Success is not tied to time
- Mastering your own destiny
- Unlimited earning potential
I’m sure the list goes on and on and I missed some of the points. There might be different reasons why you might want to start a business. They can be different for you than they were for me, for example.
According to this article, for two thirds of the people, the reason they started their business was either to be their own boss, or to build something from the ground up. The first one being the most common reason, for over half of the people surveyed.
Entrepreneurial freedom comes with a cost
Being an entrepreneur is not all rainbows and sunshine. There are downsides to being an entrepreneur as well. It comes with financial risk, increased stress levels and long working hours. This again, of course, depends on the business we are talking about.
Some businesses can be started with less initial capital but require more work to build the business up from the ground. This could be, for example, an online business. More about online businesses in this post.
Other businesses can be more expensive to start with, but due to hiring of employees the work is mainly done by the employees and the owner can focus more on managing everything.
You might already have your own business up and running, or you are just thinking of starting one. Most often, when we think about starting a business, we think about selling something, usually a physical product, to a customer. However, those kinds of businesses are just the tip of the iceberg.
I have a post about 3 outside-the box business models that we see every day, but they are not so commonly thought about. You can read the post here.
Entrepreneurship gives you the freedom to make your own destiny
It might sound stupid and cheesy, but it is true. When you are running your own business, every decision, every working hour is towards your goal. Everything you do is not measured on time, but more in how efficient your work it. Your results are based on your performance.
Sure, there are variables that you can not control, but you can control how you respond to those variables. How you decide to move forward from a setback is a big thing in the business world and one small decision can have long term impacts on your business.
Final words
Being an entrepreneur might give you freedom. It depends on a lot of the business you have. This is why it is important to keep your goals in mind when starting a business. If you know you want the freedom to work from anywhere you want, it might not be the best idea to start a restaurant, but to focus more on business models that have no physical location.
It also depends a lot on the person. Some people like the “security” having a steady job for some big company might give. Others, like for me, I like to take the risk and have control over what I do. If I fail to get results, I will suffer. However, if I do things well, I am the one getting the rewards as well.
I assume you belong to the category who want to control their freedom, since you are already reading this. If so, I have a lot more business-related posts. You can read them here.
Hopefully this was helpful to you, have a nice day.