There are many advantages of being an entrepreneur. In this post, I’ll share reasons to consider leaving the 9-5 behind to pursue a more freedom-filled lifestyle.
If you’re organized and creative and are seeking something new and exciting in your life, consider turning your passions into profits. Becoming an entrepreneur is the best thing I’ve ever done.
My full-time freelancing career began a year ago, and my life hasn’t been the same since. I was interested in graphic design, creative writing, social media, and website design. So, I made a change in my life and decided to become an entrepreneur.
I built up my own online business and these days, I get to work from home (or anywhere in the world), be my own boss, and most importantly, I love what I do!
I’ve experienced both the advantages and disadvantages of being an entrepreneur and in this post, I’ll share my top points with you.
For more inspiration about changing your lifestyle and turning your passion into a career, have a look at the new Go Forth series on YouTube by GoDaddy. The mini-series follows the journey of 3 athletes who start their own businesses driven by their passions. Tony Hawk (the legendary skateboarding icon) is also featured in the series!
Here’s my list of 15 reasons to become an entrepreneur (plus 5 downsides…)
1. You Can Set Your Own Hours
One of the benefits of being an entrepreneur is being able to set your own work hours. If an entrepreneur doesn’t feel like working on Mondays, then they don’t have to.
Instead, your office hours can be Tuesday through Friday if you want. Or, you can choose to just work every morning, or only in the afternoon.
The freedom you have over your daily schedule is one of the best parts of being an entrepreneur.
2. You Get To Be Creative Every Day at Your Job
One of the top reasons to become an entrepreneur is that you can be creative every single day at your job. From working on your branding and updating your website, to public speaking and social engagements, you truly have control over every piece of the creative process.
If you wake up one day and decide you don’t like the brand’s colours, or you want to create a new product, you can! Plus, if the services that you offer are mainly creative, like graphic design, then you’ll be the one who has the final say on all client projects.
3. Enjoy a Flexible Schedule as an Entrepreneur
Being able to have a flexible schedule is one of the best reasons for being an entrepreneur. When you work for a supervisor or at another company, you need to request vacation time weeks, sometimes even months, in advance.
Even if you want just one day off, you’ll need to submit your request. Plus, there are only a certain amount of days that you can take off every year.
Entrepreneurs can wake up one day and decide that they want a “me day”.
If you work for yourself, you’re in charge of your own schedule and won’t need to request time off. Of course, you’ll need to let your clients know that you’ll be unavailable, but that’s an easy thing to do.
4. Work From Anywhere! (arguably the biggest advantage of being an entrepreneur)
If you’re running an online business, or are working in the sports or outdoor industry, you can choose precisely where you want to work from every day, which is definitely one of the pros of being an entrepreneur.
If you’re a yoga instructor, you can run retreats all around the world. Maybe you start a kayaking company, or open a scuba diving shop and are able to live in Mexico! Maybe you’re into food and wine, in which case, you can start a foodie company that offers experiences around the globe.
And of course, for those entrepreneurs who run their businesses from a laptop, all you need is stable wifi.
Wake up one day and decide to work at the beach, or take your laptop with you on a campervan road trip and work from campgrounds, next to rivers, or in the mountains.
As long as the job gets done, you can work anywhere.
That’s why a lot of digital nomads are entrepreneurs. You can seriously live and work around the world as long as you meet deadlines and keep your clients happy!
5. Pick the Exact Services You Want to Offer
Choosing what you offer and (more importantly) don’t offer, is one of the perks of running your own business. If you are a social media manager but aren’t a fan of Pinterest, you don’t have to offer that particular service.
If you want to teach people how to start a website from scratch, but aren’t interested (or knowledgeable) in the SEO side of things, then only offer the service that you’re comfortable with.
Entrepreneurs can choose the exact services they want to offer to clients, and if you find there’s one that you don’t like doing, you no longer have to provide it. Honestly, the control over decisions that you have is one of the top advantages of becoming an entrepreneur.
6. Be Your Own Boss and Work for Yourself
The most enticing of the reasons to be an entrepreneur is that you are in charge. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like having to answer to someone else or wants creative freedom, then become an entrepreneur.
Being your own boss means that if you want to clock out early for the day, you can. If you have a day where you’re feeling off, that’s okay.
When you want to make changes to the company’s structure, brand identity, or anything to do with investments and finances, it’s all up to you.
7. Each Day is Different
Being an entrepreneur means that no two days are ever the same. One of the worst parts of working an office job is that they start to feel repetitive — coffee, answering emails, head to a meeting, get work done, lunch, more work, go home, repeat.
However, one of the advantages of being an entrepreneur is that each day is different.
You’re always working with different clients (or pitching new ones), building your brand, or coming up with a new project or product. Not to mention, the days aren’t 9-5, and lunch breaks are when you want them.
8. You Can Be Picky When it Comes to Choosing Clients
Imagine being able to pick the people that you want to work with. Well, entrepreneurs can do just that. If you have a discovery call with a client only to find that you don’t think they’ll be a good fit, all you have to do is let them know and send them some other recommendations.
It’s genuinely one of the top reasons to become an entrepreneur, especially if you know you only work well with certain types of people. The longer you’re an entrepreneur, the better you’ll get at saying no to people who don’t align with your values.
9. Those Just Starting Out Can Earn a Lot of Money
You may already know this, but one of the reasons for being an entrepreneur is that you’ll have more control over your income.
Even beginner entrepreneurs can choose how much they want to charge for their services and often charge higher than minimum wage.
I quickly jumped from charging $20 USD per hour to charging $40 USD per hour for my services within just a few months after starting my online business, and you easily can, too, depending on your skillset.
10. Scale Your Business Quickly & Watch the Growth Firsthand
Entrepreneurs can grow their businesses quickly and can scale as soon as they want to. Being able to grow is one of the advantages of being an entrepreneur. In addition to being in charge of your income, you truly are in control of every part of your business.
When you decide it’s time to grow, you can either take on investments to explode your brand or use your own savings. You can start targeting more prominent clients and charging more for your work.
Then, you can hire a team to expand and scale your company. Before you know it, you could easily have a six-figure business.
11. Create a Business That Aligns With Your Values
As an entrepreneur, you can create a business that perfectly aligns with your values and beliefs. If you’re an adventurer at heart, you can make a business model that targets others explicitly with similar interests and values — while doing what you love.
If you’re into eco-friendly practices, maybe create a business around those values and you’ll attract clients who are in that space as well.
In the series that I mentioned at the beginning of this post, each of the adventurers turned entrepreneurs have created businesses that align with the hobbies and activities that they are passionate about — rock climbing, ski base jumping, health, fitness, and public speaking.
This is one of the main advantages of becoming an entrepreneur. You’ll be able to resonate with your business and your clients by creating something that’s in line with your beliefs and interests.
12. Entrepreneurs are More Likely To Stay Invested in their Business
Drawing off of the last point on this list, one of the rewards of being an entrepreneur is that you’ll be more likely to stay invested in your business because of all the hard work you put into it.
Most entrepreneurs look at their business as their “child” because of how much love and care they’ve put into it over the years. As their business grows, they only love it more.
They’re also more likely to want to see their business succeed versus if they worked for another company.
13. See the Lives that You Change by Working Directly with Clients
When you are an employee, you aren’t as likely to see the people’s lives that you are directly affecting with your work.
Entrepreneurs, especially freelancers, have the option to talk directly to their clients and follow up with testimonials to make case studies after they’re done working together.
Whether you’re providing jobs by employing a team of people, helping a start-up get their name out there, or are teaching someone a new skill, being able to see the impact you’re having is very rewarding.
14. You Can Try Out New Ideas
If you want to experiment as an entrepreneur, then you can! You have free reign over what you want to test out.
I have tried many different lines of work, including social media management, web design, graphic design, creative writing, and even web development recently.
You’ll have the freedom to try things that you’ve always been interested in. You can frequently change your business model and services, too, until you find what works best for you and what you want to focus on doing.
15. Quickly Discover What You Love to Do
Because you’re able to try out so many different types of services and business models, one of the advantages of being an entrepreneur is that you have the opportunity to figure out what works best for you, and what you actually enjoy.
Not to mention, you have spare time to simply pursue your passions and find your purpose.
You can build an entire business based on your hobby, which is one of the best aspects of working for yourself. Maybe you love fishing, playing an instrument, golfing, cooking — try them out as a business!
In both your professional and personal life, working for yourself allows you to discover what you enjoy doing.
5 Disadvantages of Being an Entrepreneur
While being your own boss has its advantages, there are also disadvantages of being an entrepreneur. Below, learn more about some of the common cons that entrepreneurs face daily.
1. Entrepreneurs Can Find it Hard to Stay Motivated
One of the cons of being an entrepreneur is that it can be hard to stay motivated. Whether you work for yourself in an office, or you’re working from home most of the time, it can be hard to find ways to be productive.
Luckily, there are ways to counter this, including finding business buddies, investing in co-working spaces, and also joining mentorships to help you stay accountable.
2. Beginners Might Have to Wait to See a Payoff
Having to wait a while to see a payoff as a beginner is one of the lesser-known disadvantages of being an entrepreneur.
Many people think that the second they start their business, they’ll be making money left and right to the point where they might not even have to work anymore.
Typically, this is not the case.
When you first start out, you may have to wait a few months for it to start paying off. Of course, this isn’t the situation for everyone and it depends on your skillset and marketing and networking abilities, but it’s something to be aware of.
3. Being an Entrepreneur Can Be Lonely
Being lonely is one of the cons of being an entrepreneur that most people don’t think about. If you’re working from home all the time or any other location by yourself, it can feel a bit lonesome.
To counteract this, you can do a few things. I recently joined a coaching program that has introduced me to quite a few new friends that I meet up with via FaceTime every once in a while.
You could also work at co-working spaces, look on Facebook for entrepreneur meet-ups in your city, or, get a dog 
4. You’ll Think About Your Business All The Time (Yes, including Time Off).
Entrepreneurs are always switched on and don’t get a break that often, despite being in charge of their own schedule.
When you create your own business, you’ll find yourself thinking about it all the time, even when you’re trying to have a day off.
Even when you aren’t working on client projects, or have a team covering everything for you, you’ll probably feel the need to check emails, show up on social media or do some networking.
The life of an entrepreneur can be busy, which is why you’ll need to take dedicated time off. Keep that in mind before starting out on this journey.
5. There May Be Months With Little Money
Honestly, one of the biggest cons of being an entrepreneur is that you might have months where you barely make enough to cover rent. Or there will be months where you don’t even make enough to cover rent.
When bootstrapping a business, it’s important to sort out your finances ahead of time to ensure you have enough to get you through the first few months. Or, you’ll need to take on investors and financing.
While there might be meager months, there will be more profitable ones in the future. Keep with it, don’t stress out too much, and try to enjoy the process of building a business.
The Takeaways
These are just some of the advantages of being an entrepreneur. The key to being successful is to stay motivated, manage your time well, and be prepared to hustle.
Working hard is essential, or your business could potentially plummet, and you’ll find yourself right back at that desk in the office you dreaded so much. With passion, a good work ethic, and the right attitude, you can change your life.
Take the leap into the world of entrepreneurialism today and start living your best life!
Note: This article was brought to you by GoDaddy — a brand that empowers doers to build the world they want. Have a look at the Go Forth series on YouTube and get inspired to create the lifestyle of your dreams!
The post 15 Advantages Of Being An Entrepreneur (+5 Downsides) appeared first on Goats On The Road.
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