Top reasons for starting a business

Why start a business? It’s hard work, it’s a ton of responsibility, and what if it doesn’t work? Why on earth would you put yourself through that?

Well, plenty of reasons. Yes, becoming a startup entrepreneur is a tough gig – but it’s also enormously rewarding. For a start, you’ll gain greater control over your working life, the opportunity to do what you love, and the fulfillment of creating something potentially world-changing from scratch.

Need more convincing? Read on, to find out about more of the great advantages to being a small business owner:

• Flexibility. The modern world is complicated, and it’s tough to fit everything around the inflexible constraints of the working day. However, the self-employed can dictate their own working hours, giving them the flexibility to achieve that crucial work/life balance.
• Work to your own rhythms. Research shows that very few of us are suited to the temporal rigidity of the 9-5. Some of us are at our most productive in the evenings, or early in the mornings, or at lunchtime. Running your own business will let you work to a pattern which suits your own natural rhythms – and that’s much healthier both for you and for the work you do.
• Create something great from scratch. There’s something really satisfying about building something up from nothing. Watching your company grow will give you an enormous sense of pride and fulfillment.

• Do what you love. It’s important to note that doing what you love will, in the early stages, involve doing a fair bit of what you don’t love as well (every budding artist has to do boring taxes). But, in the long run, starting your own business will enable you to make a career out of the thing you love most.
• You’re in control. When you’re running a business, you take full responsibility for what goes on. While you do have to negotiate working terms etc. with your clients, you’re not chained to the demands and schedules of a boss. If you want to take a day off or go on holiday, you’re totally in control of that decision. If something goes wrong in your business, you’re the one who dresses yourself down and learns from your mistakes.
• Work in a way which suits you. Given how different we all are in our personalities and working styles, the traditional office environment is pretty inflexible. With your own business, you can work as you please. If you find it draining and distracting to work surrounded by others, you can create a calm and isolated working space which suits you. If you find the office hubbub energising you can join a co-working space (or even work from the pub).
• Boost your local economy. Small, independent businesses are fantastic for local economies. You’ll be offering jobs in your area, and plunging your profits back into your region rather than syphoning everything back to a multinational CEO.

• Meet new people. When people ask: “What do you need to start a business?”, one of the prominent answers is always “a strong network”. And vice versa, running your own business is a great way of meeting new people. Getting involved in an industry community, via your customers, suppliers, partners and collaborators, will draw a variety of new and interesting contacts your way.
• Push your boundaries. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when you’re employed by someone else. But, when you’re a self-employed entrepreneur, you won’t have a chance to stagnate. Running a business is all about pushing your boundaries, learning new skills, and going further than you’d ever have thought yourself capable of. There are few better paths to personal development than to start your own business.
• Inspire others. Who doesn’t want to be an inspiration? If you look at lists of today’s most inspirational people, a great many of them are inspirational precisely because of the things they’ve achieved with their own companies. Someone who’s built something up from scratch, forged forwards with their own vision, and dedicated their lives to doing what they love will therefore also enjoy the warm glow of helping others to do the same.
• Change the world. Who doesn’t want to change the world for the better? With the right idea and a strong vision, a startup entrepreneur like yourself really could make a difference to society and the world.

So, if you weren’t sure before, hopefully, we’ve managed to persuade you of all the merits of starting your own venture. It might not be easy, but the rewards will make it more than worth the effort.