In honor of the month of love, I thought it would be fun to list the reasons why I love being a business owner, specifically a solopreneur. Being a solopreneur is a delightfully demanding job. It may sound odd, but there is just as much stress with the accomplishments as there are with the failures of owning a business. When you make a mistake, there’s no one else to blame but yourself since you’re the founder and decisionmaker of your business. And when you do well, there’s pressure to do even better the next time. The endless hats you wear, the never-ending list of to-do items that grows even as things are crossed off and the financial risk you take by investing in yourself are always constant and looming presences whether you thrive or nosedive in your business.
But enough about the stresses of being a business owner. Let’s talk about the good stuff. Although the pressures can certainly weigh you down, the pros strongly offset the cons. What do I love about being a solopreneur? There’s so much I don’t even know where to begin, so here I go in no particular order.
I’m happy to say I’m following my passion. I’ve always been a supremely organized individual, so when I fell into a project management role at a web design company, I flourished. But when I got engaged and had this epiphany that project management and wedding planning were the same thing, I knew I wanted to start my own business and pursue a career in wedding planning. I already had the skillset but wanted to apply it to a new industry and under my own company name.
The flexibility to create my own hours, work where I want, create and recreate business processes, sample different kinds of marketing strategies—essentially try new things in every capacity—was and continues to be wonderful. I decide what, where, when and how I want to structure my business.
I also love being my own boss. I set goals and make decisions for my business, I decide what clients I want to work with, I choose what vendors I want to develop relationships & partnerships with based on what I value and the lifestyle I want to have.
Last, but certainly not least, I love that I’ve created something from scratch. There is a specific sense of joy I have from building this business on my own through my hard work, creativity, abilities and effort that I never had in my previous jobs.
Don’t get me wrong, being a solopreneur is extremely stressful. I personally feel you work harder in your own business than you ever will as an employee in another company because everything falls on your shoulders, but the risk is worth the overflowing reward.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
