The Benefits of Entrepreneurship
After laying out some of the challenges of entrepreneurship in my last article, it’s time to take a look at some of the positives. If you are a casual user of social media, chances are you have at some point come across content that has discussed the value and power behind building a brand or online presence. Or, if you are a personal finance enthusiast like I am, chances are that you have spent hours reading and learning about the subject. This article is going to lay out just a few of the benefits. With that said, let’s jump into it.
#1 Getting To Be Your Authentic Self
When you work for someone else’s company, you become a part of their vision, and your acts are tailored toward their mission. There may be some aspects of that that align with who you are personally, and there may be other aspects that don’t. When you are your own boss, you are essentially granting yourself the permission to be who you want to be with no limitations. You choose the image you want to present, and your mission becomes your top priority.
To give a quick example, back when I was working at Intuit, the marketing team had set some very high standards for the new year. Up-sales were becoming more targeted, and the management team was striving to get from a 10% to 25% conversion rate. To pull this off required a complete makeover to our processes. This was brought on right in the middle of what was already an incredibly busy tax season. As an employee, it felt like the emphasis was taken off of having genuine and heartfelt interactions with our clients, and like there was an over-valuation of meeting sales numbers and quotas. This was part of what factored into my decision to leave the company just a short time later.
When you are running the show, these sorts of instances are obviously less likely. The ability to be who you want to be authentically and unapologetically is invaluable, and in a lot of ways it may be the only way to really reach your full human potential.
#2 Your Income Becomes Uncapped
When you work for a salary or hourly wage, you pretty much guarantee that you are never going to make more than whatever that cap is set at, unless your job happens to pay commissions. Entrepreneurship offers the ability to earn what the personal finance world refers to as “passive income”, which basically means that it is income that can be earned hands off, even while you sleep. As an entrepreneur, it tends to work out that the harder you work, the more you can earn. This is a far cry from the way things frequently play out in the working world, where many of the top workers are underpaid, while the ones simply coasting and doing the minimum to get by are earning more.
Many of the world’s wealthiest people are entrepreneurs. Although some doctors, lawyers, and engineers fall into this category as well, many of the ones that do are wealthy because they started their own practice or managed to create a successful product. In most cases, high paid employees tend to be what is referred to as “under-accumulators of wealth”. This means that despite the fact that they earn a high salary, they’re overall net worth is much lower than it should be. Typically this is because many of these high salaried employees also tend to be high spenders. On the flip side, entrepreneurs are shown to be more frugal, and in many cases they may even earn less income than high paid employees, but still manage to retain more and reach a higher net worth.
#3 Getting to Build Something That is Yours
This goes along with being your authentic self. Basically, when you work for someone else, you are working to make them money. If they weren’t making money as a result of bringing you on board, they wouldn’t have hired you. This is fine when you are young and first starting out, and even as you get older, it is still okay. The business owners that brought you on board take on the brunt of the risk that comes along with running a business, and they pay you a valuable piece of the overall profit for the contributions that you make. This is not something to look down upon or be upset about. But, as an entrepreneur, you know that what you are building is entirely for you. You’re not building what you’re building to make other people money, make other people think you’re cool, or make other people happy with you. You’re doing it because it’s what you want to do and because you’re aware of the positive impact that it could have on your life. You’re doing it to minimize regret, and to make a valuable contribution to society.
Even though I have not made much money off of my entrepreneurship, I very much look forward to the day where that starts to change. I can only imagine how good it must feel to earn a living off of something that you built from the ground up, nurtured, stuck to, and believed in. Not to mention the feeling to know that what you’re doing was started with positive intentions. That you’re not out to rip anyone off, screw anyone over, or get one over on anybody. That you do the things you do to bring joy to yourself and others.
#4 You Get a Chance to Separate Yourself From Some of The Craziness
Office politics. Harassment. Micro-managing. Dealing with unhappy co-workers. Even just driving in rush hour traffic to get to and from work each day. If you are an entrepreneur (or solopreneur as I sometimes like to call it), chances are that these factors are a less prevalent part of your life. With that comes more space for peace, joy, and tranquility to enter.
The reality is that many people that work for a living are not very happy. Some are, but many are not for various reasons. Either they’re upset because they were passed up on a promotion, or they don’t feel like they’re being compensated enough. Maybe they are resentful or have regrets in life.
Many of us who have worked for a living have experienced what it is like to have a crappy boss. Someone who doesn’t look out for your best interests, and who looks for every opportunity to make things harder on you rather than cut you some slack. It’s not all bosses, but it is a lot of them. Not having to deal with this is a tremendous advantage over most of the average population. Being able to be separated and sequestered from a lot of that craziness is a true blessing. And with that comes more opportunity to interact with the people that you do want to be around, and the people that you do want to associate with.
#5 It’s Better For Your Health
Due to the various stresses that can play out within the average work environment, many workers end up developing health complications of all kinds. Back pain, weight gain, vitamin deficiencies, high-blood pressure, just to name a few. Many end up having to take various medications to help alleviate some of these symptoms, which in some cases just adds more complications into the mix. Some become over-exposed to sunlight, and put a tremendous strain on their body with continuous hard, physical labor, and others become overly sedentary and under-exposed to sunlight.
On top of that, many average workers end up taking on poor diet habits as a by-product of their day-to-day lifestyle. Highly caffeinated beverages to provide a jolt of energy in the morning. Frequent outings to fast food restaurants to accommodate for the long hours and busy schedule. Snacks like candy and potato chips as a form of entertainment while sitting at their desks. In the short run and while you’re young, your body can handle a little bit of this. But over a life time it can be excruciatingly detrimental.
As an entrepreneur, you put much more control in your hands to be able to ensure that your health is top-priority. Being as though most entrepreneurs have the freedom to create their own schedule, it leaves plenty of time to factor in exercise, sunlight, and healthy, nutritious meals. Many entrepreneurs tend to be health-conscious individuals as it is, so the lifestyle factors go hand in hand. On top of that, the flexible schedule of an entrepreneur also allows for more time spent with friends, family, and loved ones, which also improves both physical and mental aspects of health and wellness.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the benefits involved with taking an entrepreneurial path in life. Pick up any personal finance book, or listen to any personal finance podcast, and you will hear many of the same points expressed at great length. I hope that you have found this article to be a positive read. Please feel free to share any thoughts or comments below, and other than that, thank you for reading!
