Want to Be a Business Owner?
April 17th, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized — Small Home Business AuthorAre you a person who actively considers options for generating additional income? There are many options to make more money, as I have discussed in a previous article “Need More Money, More Time? Back to School, A Second Job, Or a Business?”. Perhaps you will agree that, given all the options, owning your own business is the most realistic way to additional, stable, long-term, and often residual income. But the questions remains, do you really want to own your own business?
In high school, I was blessed with a sizeable number of friends whom, interestingly, are still my best friends to this day. During these years, one particular friend would often express how he would “someday like to be in business with me.” After all, my family was one of the largest employers in our small town, so my future path seemed clear at the time: I would work in the family business. After high school, and as we grew older and various opportunities presented themselves, it became apparent to me that this friend truly had no interest in being “in business” with me. Instead, what he desired was simply a job with my company.
This is typical of my experiences. I have found that, for every 10 people that say they want to own their own business and be their own boss, there is only one who is serious.
What do the other 9 want? More vacation days, less supervision, little or no responsibility, little work, more pay, and certainly no risk. In high school, my friend saw all the rewards my family experienced from owning our own business, but he did not witness any of the sacrifices or downsides, and it seems that most people look at owning your own business and being your own boss in the same one-sided way. When the real sacrifices and risks of being a true business owner are explained, their interest fades.
