It is one of the most daunting periods of your life; the time when that guaranteed salary suddenly flies out of the window and your once-structured life no longer has a safety net. That’s right, today’s article is all about taking the self-employed plunge – and just what you might have to give up to facilitate it.
Unfortunately, while there might be umpteen success stories doing the rounds, at the same time creating your own company is hard work. Even entrepreneurs who have “made it” didn’t do so overnight, and probably had to make a lot of sacrifices in the process.
To highlight the point in-detail, let’s take a look at some of the main things you might need to prepare to give up.
Table of Contents
Sacrifice #1 – Life’s luxuries
Sure, the end goal for most is to improve your lifestyle, but in business this can sometimes be through the principle of one step back, two steps forward.
In other words, in the short-term at least, you might need to spend less on your usual luxuries. You might have to cut your cable TV subscription, or turn to something like the Metatrader 4 demo account just to try and free up some extra capital.
The point we are trying to make is that this is a difficult journey – and not one that is going to provide you with riches immediately.
Sacrifice #2 – Your time
We’re all busy; whether we are employed or self-employed.
However, the thing that most of us forget is that in our “employed life”, we are only charged with performing tasks within our speciality. When it comes to being your own boss, you are responsible for everything. This includes being the company accountant, HR manager and more – but this is often overlooked.
The result is that your time is more scarce than ever before. This often tends to flood across to free time, so make sure your life is prepared for such a shift.
Sacrifice #3 – Your stability
We alluded to this in the introduction, but we really can’t emphasize just how your life is going to change from a stability perspective.
Once upon a time you had everything set in stone, but now this isn’t the case. Your salary will change each month, and there may even be some months where you don’t receive a dime. For some people, this lack of stability is the thing which acts as the main roadblock for starting their own business.
Sacrifice #4 – Your sanity
It might sound OTT, but when it comes to the crunch, it’s not.
In short, owning a business can wreak havoc with your sanity. Some people can take their work home with them when they are employed by a company – but when you are your own boss this is the norm. All problems go home, for the simple reason that it is your livelihood that depends on it and there are no guarantees regarding your income anymore.
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