In today’s modern, innovative, and tech-laden world individuals have a variety of choices when choosing their careers and, more importantly, for what company to work. On average, most individuals choose to go and work for an established firm – perhaps it is a large multi-national company where they feel they may have greater chances at growing a successful career. Others may instead opt to go work for a small business, which the US Small Business Administration defines as any enterprise having 500 or fewer employees. Generally, an individual may opt to work for a small business because of geographical reasons and may not have access to work for a large corporation. After all, as of 2013 there were almost 28 million small businesses in the U.S. and 78% of those had only one employee – today these are called solopreneurs, meaning a company consisting of one individual.
You may have also heard that owning your own small business and being your own boss is more difficult and more time consuming because you are a single individual managing multiple roles: CEO, sales representative, bookkeeper, marketer – the list goes on and on. So why in the world would anyone want to be their own boss?
Here are our Top 5 Reasons Why Owning your Own Business Rocks!
1. Flexibility. That’s right, you have many roles to fulfill, but YOU get to decide when and where you work and what you work on. Additionally, you decide what clients you are willing to take on, and more importantly you have full control of the direction of your company and how quickly and how much you want to grow.
2. Ability to work from home. Of the 28 million small businesses that exist, 52% are home-based. This is very attractive as it helps reduce commute times to and from the office, and allows individuals to better balance work-life stresses and tasks as they are working from the comfort of their own home.
3. Your company helps generate jobs in the U.S. If you decide that you want to take the leap from solopreneur to entrepreneur and hire employees to work for your company, then you are doing your part to help the U.S. economy grow. As of 2013 over 50% of the U.S. working population, or 120 million individuals, work for a small business. And that’s not all! Since 1995 small businesses have generated 65% of new jobs. Those are quite impressive numbers, and for those that have a knack for business, their company’s success will continue to positively contribute to those numbers.
4. You get to follow your passion. We all have passions and ideas that we want to bring to life. When you work for someone else, your idea may not be aligned with company goals, or maybe it is a great idea but not the right time for it. Well… when you own your business you get to build a company around whatever you are passionate about. The satisfaction at the end of each long day will still outweigh the many stresses and challenges that you may have to face on a daily basis.
5. Tax benefits. When you own your own company, one of the benefits is that most of your business expenses are tax deductible at the end of the year. For example, an employee cannot deduct their daily mileage commute to and from work, because they are an employee. However, as a small business owner, especially one that works from home you may have the opportunity to deduct from your taxes any mileage to and from client meetings, office supply expenses, even the cost of your internet and phone services which are dedicated to your business. We recommend that if you are a small business owner and you are interested in learning more about the available tax deductions, please consult with a tax professional.
Finally, it should be noted that small businesses continue to play a vital role in our nation’s economy. Small businesses are also incubators for innovation as owners bring new services and products that add value to our daily lives. Finally, small businesses are the vehicles for economic growth – in 2008 (earliest available data) small businesses produced 46% of the non-farm GDP – that is amazing!
So are you ready to consider starting your own business? Do you love to help consumers over the phone, while representing Fortune 500 companies? If so, you should further explore the servicing opportunities available to small businesses by using the Arise® Platform.
