3 Reasons to Consider Working for Yourself

You know the typical “dream of success” from yesteryear, right? You get a job at the bottom of some corporation at the start of your adult life, you work your way up the corporate ladder with sheer grit and determination, and every couple of years you get a nice promotion and a pay rise.

Fast-forward a number of years down the line and you’re in upper management. You’re a “company man” (or woman), and the company in question is a key feature of your life. You trust that it will always be there, and that you and it are engaged in a reciprocal relationship of sorts.

If that vision was ever true in any meaningful sense, there’s good reason to be sceptical of it today, not least of all because of the world-shattering changes and upheavals that the internet has introduced to the equation.

Increasingly, more and more people are finding it worth their while to strike out on their own as self-employed entrepreneurs. Here are a few good reasons why you should seriously consider joining their ranks.

You have the satisfaction of being responsible for your own fortune

There are many different ways to make your own money in an entrepreneurial sense, ranging from becoming a stock trader with the aid of high leverage Forex brokers, to becoming a self-published author, or selling a particular product — digital or physical — that you’ve innovated.

In all of these cases, you get to benefit from the satisfaction of being the person who is, more or less, solely responsible for your own fortune.

When you work for yourself, the ceiling of your potential financial attainment is much higher. Of course, you also need to shoulder a lot more responsibility, and put in a significant amount of work in order to crest those lofty heights.

Traditional employment is less stable than you might think, there’s a certain degree of “security” in being your own boss

Many people are horrified to find that even after spending years working for a particular company, and feeling like members of a “family”, they still called up to the bosses office one day and are made redundant.

Traditional employment is not as secure as some would have you believe, and even if your company really did have the means, desire, and foresight to keep you on board forever, without ever having to face personnel cuts or bankruptcy, your job would still be dependent on appeasing the higher-ups.

Routinely come to work dressed the wrong way or speak your mind a bit too freely, and you could find yourself in hot water.

Not only does this kind of working situation not make you happy, it can completely upset the balance of your whole life. There are no guarantees when you’re your own boss, but at least you know you’re not going to get fired out of the blue.

A self-employed life is a freer life in general

Tied into the previous point here; when you are your own boss, you have a huge degree of freedom that simply isn’t accessible to the ordinary office worker.

Instead of following a rigid 9-5 routine, you get to set your own hours, or at least be much more flexible with them. Instead of having to tow the company line in terms of acceptable opinion and appearance, you can be true to yourself.

This kind of freedom is, in and of itself, enough to motivate many people to match the switch to the self-employed life.

 

*This is a collaborative post.