There are so many reasons that I love having my own business. I get to be the person who decides what I work on, instead of a boss deciding that for me. I don’t have to work 40 hours per week, 8 hours at a time. I can work more or less, depending on what’s going on in my life.
But the biggest reason that I love having my own business is the flexibility it gives me. Yes, there are many people that can work a 9-5 and enjoy it, but for others it’s impossible. Here are a few reasons you may want to have your own business for the flexibility.
You Have Other Responsibilities
There are a lot of people that have responsibilities that can’t be ignored during working hours. Some people have young children at home that they need to take care of. Others choose to homeschool and so they need to be there to teach their children of any age. If your children are in school, you still have to worry about the days that they don’t have school. Between holidays, random days off, and the summer, they get a lot of days off during the year! There’s no question that they’re home a lot more than people who work at a “regular” job are. Even if you don’t have children, maybe you need to keep an eye on an aging parent, or someone else that needs help for one reason or another.
You may want to work and make money, but can’t do it during the normal 9-5 that people are expected to work. You might have some time, but not 40 hours a week to devote to a company in order to get a paycheck.
Unexpected Things Come Up
Even if you can usually work a “regular” job, sometimes unexpected things come up. Children can be in school full time, but what if they get sick a lot? Before you know it, all of your sick and vacation time is gone. What if you use your vacation days for actual vacations, and your sick time for actual sick days? If the refrigerator breaks and someone needs to come to the house to fix it, you’re in trouble. If you need to be at home between the hours of 11-4 because that’s the estimate of when someone will come fix it, you have to take the whole day off. If your car breaks down and you need to get it fixed, you’ve lost a day’s pay.
Here’s a great example. Normally I’m able to work a good deal of every weekday because my daughter is in school. But this morning, just as I was about to leave to drop my daughter off at school, I got an alert from the nearby police station. It said that there was an accident right in front of my daughter’s school and the roads were closed. There was no way to get my daughter to school.
The road was partially open about 2 hours later, and I was able to get her to school then. But if I had to be at work by 9, I would have been in big trouble. I didn’t know at what time I’d be able to get her there either. The police station hadn’t given an estimate of when the roads would be open. If I had a regular 9-5 job, I would have had to take time off. But with all of the time I’ve had to take off in the past few months because of my daughter not being at school, I already would have had no vacation or sick time left for the rest of the year!
That was definitely a situation I hadn’t counted on, and wouldn’t have thought would happen. But it did. Thankfully, we played for a few hours and then I brought her to school. Then I went to work and got on with what I wanted to do. Since then, I’ve been able to accomplish a lot, and will continue to do so until I pick her up. (Although I do plan on taking some time off around lunch time to take a walk. It’s a beautiful day outside!)
You May Not Be Able To Do It
There are a lot of other reasons people may not be able to easily do a 9-5 job as well. What if you have back problems when you sit too long, but with the type of work you do, you’d be at a desk all day? You wouldn’t be able to take time to stand up and walk around for a while. That would not be appropriate at most companies. What if you’re able to concentrate for an hour or two at a time, and then you need a break?
These are only a few of the reasons that you may not be able to work a full day at a job, and may want (or need) to choose the hours that you work. That’s not even taking into account what you want to be doing with your time.
That’s why I am so thankful that I already had my business in place. When I can’t work for one reason or another, it’s not an issue. I don’t work at those times, and I get work done at another time.
Now, you may not want to do this full time. You may like the consistency of getting a pay check and knowing exactly how much money is coming in, and when you’re going to get it.
But you don’t need to do this full time. You can have your own business, and have it be a part time thing. You can spend as little or as much time as you want on it, and still keep your job.
Then, if something happens and you do need to take extra time off of work once your vacation time and sick time are gone, you won’t have to worry about it. The bills will still be taken care of with this extra income.
And if you end up not having to take extra time, even better. The money from your business can pay a few of your bills, or a vacation or anything else your heart desires.
If you find that you need to choose the hours that you’re working, consider starting your own business. You won’t get there overnight of course, but you can get to where you want to be. You can get to the point where you’re only working the hours that you want to.
Enjoy,
