Is It Worth It To Start Up A Business?

Very few people can say their current job provides them with a healthy work/life balance. Even with a Master's Degree in their chosen field, a person can still end up toiling away for years at a job that leaves them feeling hollow. Fortunately, millions of pioneers and trailblazers have successfully started businesses and broken this monotonous cycle. We can look to their stories for inspiration. Their successes and failures provide us with statistics for making our own well-researched decisions. We start with the desire to be a business owner and make a daydream become a reality. Can all the work that goes into a successful business plan really be worth it?

What motivates someone to start a business?

Let's look at what motivates a person to start their own business. There is often an overwhelming desire just to be your own boss. When you're your own boss, you can set your own hours. A dedicated night owl might thrive working into the wee hours, whereas they struggled working 9 to 5.

Perhaps your business acumen has been overlooked for years. You feel confident you can go above and beyond what the current job market has to offer. You envision yourself being a greater part of the community in ways you could not be as someone else's average employee.

Others may choose to start their own business because they would rather fly solo than work creatively as part of a team. They operate better when they can control all the variables of being a business owner. You can interview and hire your own employees. You create the work ethic and rules according to your ideas of how a boss should cultivate their business. As a boss, you decide the dress code. A fashionista who had to wear a uniform to work for years might dream of a closet bursting at the seams with the latest styles to dazzle their customers.

The longing to control your destiny is a universal driving force when it comes to deciding if it's worth it to start your own business. With proper planning and sound decision-making, the dream of being your own boss from start to finish can turn into a satisfying reality.

The downside to starting your own business

Even the most well-financed, dazzling, professionally executed business plans fail. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 50% of small businesses will have closed before reaching the five-year mark.

Being self-employed means your business is subject to the whims of man and nature. Whether caused by a financial crisis on Wall Street or a flashy new restaurant on the other side of town, it doesn't take much to turn the tide of good fortune. One small consequential event can force you into making the difficult decision to close.

For people who wanted to control their work-from-home schedule, it might shock them to discover they are now working almost 24/7.

They did not wholly consider every piece of the self-employed business owner pie, and now are forced to wear many hats. After a couple of years of running on empty, the 9 to 5 job you left behind can suddenly make you long for the good old days of working for someone else.

Another misconception people have of starting their own business is the big paycheck replenishing their bank account every week. The cold hard fact is, most new businesses do not turn any kind of profit in the first two or three years and end up actually losing money.

It's up to you!

There are pros and cons to consider before taking that giant leap of faith. The heart of the matter is this: To thine own self be true!

There is great satisfaction in dreaming, planning and implementing your own business model. There is so much to learn every step of the way, and this will prepare you for the challenges that lie ahead. Being your own boss will give you flexibility and freedom. You will confront the inevitable ups and downs no matter what the nature of your business is. Ultimately, it is wonderful to put something out into the world that becomes exclusively your own. It's up to you to decide whether it is worth it to start your own business. Best of luck!