Being in love is great. Being in love with your business, when you’re an entrepreneur, is even better. Waking up each morning knowing you are getting to do exactly what you love is more than most people could ever say about any “job” they have had. Although there are days when tossing in your hat seems like a viable option, remembering how much you love your “job” can quickly snap an entrepreneur out of that mentality. Different business owners also have different reason why they love their business. It might be the products or the customers they deal with, or it could even be the fact that they are the ones in charge of it all. The reasons are as varied as the businesses themselves.
We asked some entrepreneurs what they loved about “being their own boss.”
#1 – Everything on Me
If I had to summarize why I love being an entrepreneur into a paragraph…then here it is: What I love most about being an entrepreneur is that everything falls on me.. Everything depends on my creative juices and the rise and fall of my business cannot be blamed on anyone but me. Extreme ownership, there is no one else to blame, no where else to turn, it's not for the weak-minded, but those that are ready to lace up their boots, put their heads down and do battle, physical, mental and emotional battle. It's such a beautiful thing to be able to build something from the ground up and know that it came from your mind and your own two hands. There is nothing in this world that can even remotely compare.
Thanks to Anthony Mancuso, Home Inspector Experts
#2 – Getting Things Done
I worked in corporate America, at companies you've definitely heard of, for 30 years. My responsibilities varied greatly, but there was one consistently annoying experience: Our marketing/advertising agency charged a boatload of money, took a shockingly long time and delivered often bland, ineffective results. Three years ago I got the chance to start my own marketing agency. A lot of my clients come to me AFTER an experience like I just described. I love the amount I can get done in one day. I love not having to sit through endless meetings where the great ideas get battered into blah concepts and egos run rampant. I love seeing my ideas and work get results for my clients. I love working for people that I truly like.
Thanks to Lisa Munjack, Munjack Marketing
#3 – Giving Back
I never really set out to be an entrepreneur when I was younger but an opportunity presented itself while I was working for a software company. I created an online niche and found that there was a way to make on income from this. So over the next few years I started to replace my regular income and now an a full time entrepreneur that helps others do the same thing by offering training and startup funding if needed. What I love about this is that I am able to do something that I started on my own and that I’m able to give back to help others. What more can you ask for entrepreneurship?
Thanks to Rob Boirun, PopNet Media LLC
#4 – Control My Direction
As an entrepreneur, I love the ability to control the direction of my tasks, my vision, and my company. The able to direct Red Beach Advisors in the direction that I believe is the most successful and being in control of my destiny is something that I revel in. I am able to use my passion in the right areas for the level of success that I desire and have can work on new ideas, partnerships, services, or products when I want as long as it fits within the proper plan of my company.
Thanks to Ray McKenzie, Red Beach Advisors
#5 – Facing the Gauntlet
I love being an entrepreneur for 3 reasons. The first is constantly beingput through the gauntlet. I have no security of a 9-5. I have to constantly be refining my craft, my business, and even more constantly proving results. I am a marketing consultant for several startups and companies. The second reasons I love being an entrepreneur is how much I learn. I do not have a team. Everything I know how to do I learned on my own. I have created teams, lead marketing efforts, created successful apps and websites and learned a tremendous amount along the way. The third reason is freedom. I don't have to take vacation time. I don't have a boss. I can live the life I want, the way I want as long as I continue to stay hungry and learn along the way!
Thanks to Vincent Vitale, Fount
#6 – No Limits
I love that there's no limit to my potential success. I love that if I'm successful, no one else will reap the benefits of my hard work and ingenuity. I love that I cannot point to someone else if I fail. I love pondering the possibilities of new ventures. I love the freedom to pursue any path I'd like. I love the process of researching and learning about new topics. I love the feeling of uncertainty when I decide to commit to a new path. I love thrill that initial success brings. I love making my own luck. I love the sense of accomplishment I feel when I endure and overcome an obstacle. But, most of all, I love the pride and fulfillment I feel after I've achieved a goal I've set out for myself.
Thanks to Robert Theofanis
#7 – Easier Life
Halfway through high school, I stumbled across my passion – tutoring children. Volunteering at a local middle school, I found that I loved lighting up students' eyes. Fast forward ten years, and I founded Elite Private Tutors, the number one tutoring company in the fourth largest city. I absolutely love being my own boss and have been a serial entrepreneur since the age of 23. This is my fourth company, and I have loved creating companies that have social impact on the next generation of leaders. In the last year, I started College Shortcuts, and we now have thousands of students every year getting into the college of their dreams. College is the most transformative time for a child's life, and I love being a part of that decision. I make moms' lives easier by giving them the knowledge, expertise, and help they need to be a successful parent while balancing everything else on their to-do list.
Thanks to Neha Gupta, Elite Private Tutors
#8 – Experimentation
The best part about being an entrepreneur and small business owner is experimenting with different tactics, outreach techniques, marketing campaigns, and benefits. When you are working for someone else or in a larger company, there is so much red tape that needs to be cut through in order to make changes. I love being able to look at past campaigns, analyze the variables that can be altered, and making the decision what to change on the spot. Furthermore, from an HR perspective, you can experiment with benefits such as unlimited time off, flexible hours, yoga in the office, etc., that is often not part of a traditional office job.
Thanks to Sacha Ferrandi, Source Capital Funding, Inc.
#9 – Create a Category
I love being an entrepreneur because it allows me to create a different category with my business within the contemporary business world. This means that I am not a part of the corporate status quo that puts profit before people. As an entrepreneur I am in a position to still be human and blend the needs of people and profit to create space for collective gains while also keeping the business alive and healthy. There is plenty of room to meet the needs of the business entity, owners and managers as well as the most important beneficiaries: the staff. In the traditional “big business” world, CEO’s have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profit to shareholders no matter the cost, even at the expense of their staff. This is a flawed model and a major breech of human ethics. As a small business owner I have the ability to be human, make money, help my staff make money, and create value for my clients. I am free to create the ultimate win-win scenario rooted in balance. In short, I love being an entrepreneur because it allows me to create a space where beautiful business possibilities grounded in ethics are able to take form.
Thanks to Haj Carr, TrueLine Publishing
#10 – Successful Clients
What I love about being an entrepreneur is seeing the success I’m helping to create in my customers. I provide my customers information on marketing tips, advise, economical ways to advertising and things that have worked for me. By sharing this information, they are trusting me and together we work as a team. They also share insights on things that have worked for them. As small business owners, we need to be constantly be on the move, with new ideas to advertising + being ahead of the trends so we have visibility. Sharing and working together we create our own networking system. My business is printing, signage and promotional products, I work hands on with “new” business owner, right at the start of their business. Since I’ve had my business over 29 years, I have a lot of hands-on experience in things that have worked for me, and what hasn’t worked. So sharing this and working together – provides a stronger bond between us, and I can joyfully say, when a client lands in my business, it sure is difficult to go to my competitor. In my line of business, there is a new print shop opening up every day… but few have my experience, my knowledge, the exceptional care and warm attention we give to them. That old fashion respect and consideration, no matter how big or small my client is. And that is what I love about being an entrepreneur, that I get to share in my client’s success, for if he grows, I grow with him too.
Thanks to Cristina Serralta, Amazon Services Inc.
#11 – Helping From Experience
At an established company, it’s far too easy to get pigeon-holed into a set of unchanging responsibilities. Your days are filled with managing a particular project, selling a specific product, etc. You are, all the while, gaining valuable experience of course. Yet this experience isn’t always useful to your colleagues since new problems arise as soon as previous ones are solved. Being able to share these experiences with other businesses facing similar struggles is not only helpful to them, it’s incredibly rewarding as an entrepreneur. Watching that “aha” moment as you work with them through a familiar issue makes the difficulties of entrepreneurship worthwhile.
Thanks to Michael Mehlberg, Modern da Vinci
#12 – Setting an Example
The thing love most about being an entrepreneur is the example I get to set for my daughter. Through the way I grow and lead my business I want her to see women can do amazing things. I want her to grow up knowing that she is strong and powerful, that she can lead others, follow her dreams, and influence her world. While finding a balance between business and motherhood is hard for all of the obvious reasons, owning my own business means I get to involve her as much as possible. I don't want her to grow up wondering why mom isn't there. I want her to see mom working hard, leading others, and managing all the details. So, she often joins me. Since day-one I wore her in the baby carrier to meetings with the accountant and the marketing team. She crawled up and down the hallway while I arranged and reorganized our new space and she got to see the business grow and flourish first hand. As she continues to grow and follow her own dreams, I hope she looks back and sees herself as part of this great adventure and is proud of her mom entrepreneur.
Thanks to Julianne Neely, Individual and Family Connection
#13 – Choose Who I Work With
I wanted the ability to choose who I work with. As an attorney, my job is to be an advocate for others. Representing someone in a business dispute or criminal matter does not mean that I have to endorse or accept what the actions or decisions of my client. With that said, it makes for an incredibly tough job when you have to think one way and act another. I decided to become an entrepreneur and open my own practice, so that I would have full control over the types of clients and cases that I took on. This allows me to put my heart in passion into each client that I work with.There is no pressure to represent a client solely because of the size of the retainer they can pay. I can take on clients that I believe in. Because I am aligned with my clients, I am able to have a better work life balance which makes me a better, happier, attorney.
Thanks to Matthew Odgers, Odgers Law Group
#14 – Providing Opprotunity
I love being an entrepreneur, and I can't imagine living my life any other way. I just wasn't the type of person who could work for somebody else. Anytime I would go into an interview, even for a part time job, I would say Eventually I want to get into management because I hated the idea of somebody being my boss for too long. Now, I get to provide opportunity for other people to pursue their dreams and become entrepreneurs themselves! Some days, I don't even leave bed. It's seriously the best.
Thanks to Braelin Andrzejewski, Virtual Assistant Link
#15 – Freedom to Flex
What I love about being an entrepreneur is having the freedom to flex multiple areas of my brain at any given time. Although I must cater to the technical sides of running a business, working through specific tasks towards frequent deliverables, I must also look over the horizon and determine the overall strategy for our business. Where is the app development industry going? How can we continue to remain on top? These are questions that are only asked of the entrepreneurs of the room who are juggling more than this, of course, but who must take a breather and think about these things on a regular basis.
Thanks to Keith Shields, Designli