Entrepreneurship is booming in America. According to the latest U.S. Census stats, almost 5.4 million new ventures were registered in 2021, a 23% uptick from the year prior. While entrepreneurship is often portrayed as being exhaustingly hard, its many upsides are clearly enticing more and more people to dive in.
What are the benefits of being an entrepreneur? They can range from setting your own hours to having unlimited earning potential to realizing a personal dream. Some people nurture an idea for an innovative product or service for years and then set to work bringing it to life. Others are on a mission to help their community or a specific segment of the population.
Still others set out with the simple goal of making a lot more money than their current 9-to-5 gig pays.
Whatever your motivation, the benefits of becoming an entrepreneur can have a major positive effect on your life. Here, we’ll take a closer look at the perks of starting your own venture. They just may motivate you to take this next giant step in your career and charter your own path.
Read on to learn:
• What is an entrepreneur?
• How does entrepreneurship work?
• What are the benefits of being an entrepreneur?
What Is an Entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is a person who starts their own businesses to bring their dreams to life. Whether they envision opening a better coffee bar or developing a fitness app, they invest time and capital in their business ideas and work diligently to make them successful. Entrepreneurs often partner with other investors, employ workers, and take risks as they seek success.
Typically, an entrepreneur is an inherent problem-solver with a can’t stop, won’t stop attitude. In addition, many are brimming with confidence and conviction that their idea is a terrific one. They refuse to stay discouraged and just see the word ‘no’ as a temporary setback at worst.
The U.S. is full of success stories of entrepreneurs, whether that means the likes of Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, or any of the folks who win on Shark Tank. Many of these experienced numerous failures and pressure to give up from family, friends, and potential investors but persevered.
While the wealthiest entrepreneurs are popular symbols of accomplishment and can make it look easy, the truth is that most entrepreneurs have spent countless hours and tremendous sweat equity behind the scenes to become successful.
How Does Entrepreneurship Work?
Entrepreneurship is the opposite of 9-5 jobs. Instead of punching a clock or working on a project for a company, you depend on your own efforts to bring in some type of income. The grind can be brutal, especially at first when you probably aren’t making money.
However, entrepreneurship means more than wanting to work for yourself. To live as an entrepreneur, you need an idea for a business, service, or product to focus your efforts. For example, you might see an opportunity to succeed with a superior product or be the first to serve a niche market.
As an entrepreneur, you bet on yourself, which means you invest as much of your time and money into your business aspirations as possible. You might leave your job to pursue your dream or put in hours before or after your day job to get your business going. Either way, successful entrepreneurs often reach a point where they grow their company enough that they must dedicate all their time to it, hire others to take on some of the workload, or partner with investors.
In addition, many entrepreneurs create social change through their business efforts. For example, TOMS Shoes is a multimillion-dollar company that has provided shoes, clean drinking water, and medical care for hundreds of thousands of people in need.
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Benefits of Being an Entrepreneur
Now that you understand how entrepreneurship works, here are some pros of being an entrepreneur.
1. Ability to Work from Anywhere
One of the key benefits of becoming an entrepreneur is you typically have the ability to work from home or anywhere else you may be. Since you can run many types of business online, you often only need a laptop and internet access to work as an entrepreneur. A work-from-home budget can be an economical way to launch your venture. So, whether you prefer your living room, a coffee shop, or a beach (as some digital nomads do), you have the freedom to set up shop wherever you like without necessarily paying rent for a workspace.
2. Having a Flexible Schedule
In addition to working from anywhere, you choose when you’ll work as an entrepreneur. As a result, you make your own hours,which may give you room for family time, exercise, or errands during the day.
Worth noting: Since the “office” never closes, some entrepreneurs are known to toil 16-hour days (or longer) to realize their aspirations. For this reason, setting your own hours can be a double-edged sword that may lead to overwork and burnout for some. Proceed with your eyes wide open, and remember that work-life balance can be valuable.
3. Ability to Make Key Decisions
As an entrepreneur and business owner, the buck stops with you, which is another empowering benefit of being an entrepreneur. You’ll decide how the business runs, the product or service to focus on, and the target market you’re trying to reach. You pick your team, your partners, and your company culture as the business grows.
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4. Growth in Leadership
A successful business requires an able leader. In all likelihood, entrepreneurship will give you opportunities to develop as a business owner and manager. You can learn new skills and expand your knowledge.
As a result, as you continue your professional journey, you’ll probably become an effective boss, operations manager, and business development wrangler. All of which are pros of being an entrepreneur.
5. Ability to Give Back to Your Community
Success as an entrepreneur usually means growing your business to the point where you hire employees. As a result, your efforts create wealth and economic opportunities in your community, helping others support their families and accomplish their dreams. Additionally, successful business owners and entrepreneurs can invest in other companies and donate to charity, benefiting those around them. There’s one more way this can be an upside of entrepreneurship Your business mission may be one that uplifts others. Perhaps you’re developing a healthier snack food, for instance, or an app that helps people reduce their stress levels.
6. Choosing Who to Work With
As an entrepreneur, you might start your business slowly (a benefit of side hustles) or go in full tilt right from the start. Regardless of how you get going, you’ll determine who your partners and colleagues are, which can make for a very agreeable work life. Whether you occasionally speak with consultants, hire workers, or bring investors on board, you decide who gets involved with your business. Your independence as an entrepreneur allows you to intentionally create a work culture that fits your preferences. It’s empowering to have the ability to say “no” to working with someone who doesn’t fit your vision.
7. Being an Entrepreneur is Rewarding
One of the many benefits of becoming an entrepreneur is seeing success unfold, thereby proving the validity of your ideas and the impact they can have. Whether you develop a shampoo that people love or a service that helps disadvantaged students, knowing that your endeavor is finding an audience can be hugely rewarding.
In terms of finances, turning a profit on your business can be life-changing. Once you run payroll and address your business costs, every dollar earned is yours.
Whether you want to put money earned back into the business for more growth or use it to get a new car, seeing money roll in from your business can be incredibly satisfying. Instead of having a set salary, you’ll see how your very own efforts can drive your income and net worth.
8. Being Able to See the Fruits of Your Labor
Success as an entrepreneur is multifaceted and fulfilling: You can obtain financial freedom, see your business grow through meeting customers’ needs, mentor employees, and launch related (or unrelated) ventures. That feeling of having created something that clicks with an audience and builds a following is uniquely satisfying and can definitely boost your sense of pride and self-esteem.
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9. Creating a Positive Impact
Entrepreneurship goes beyond making an appealing product and profitable business. Your leadership can inspire others to pursue their dreams. Additionally, your company can create economic ripple effects, allowing others to achieve financial success and benefiting your city and beyond.
10. Income Is Decided by You
As an entrepreneur, you manage the money (at least during the start-up period). As your business evolves, you might get to decide whether you want to create jobs with better pay or scale your business quickly. You’ll also allocate funds and determine your own paycheck.
It’s a balancing act that you will be in charge of. For example, you might be less concerned with becoming a millionaire than you are with retaining quality employees for the long haul through robust compensation.
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11. Networking Opportunities
Most successful entrepreneurs keep strong connections with others who are also starting their own ventures. For instance, you can learn from those who already had to rent workspace, run payroll, or deal with licensing arrangements. In the future, you might be the one tapped by a newly minted self-starter for that very same kind of information.
You’ll grow professionally through peer, mentor, and mentee relationships. No one knows it all, and tapping your network can be an effective way to solve business problems and find the right people to hire or consult.
The Takeaway
There are a myriad of benefits of being an entrepreneur, such as deciding your own schedule, boosting your earning power, and having the opportunity to impact people around you. However, successful entrepreneurship requires tenacity, willingness to learn from failure, and comfort with risk.
The beauty is that anyone can become an entrepreneur. Whether you start your business as a side hustle or leave your job to take the plunge, you have the power to create your own opportunity.
3 Banking Tips
1. If you’re creating a budget, try the 50/30/20 budget rule. Allocate 50% of your after-tax income to the “needs” of life, like living expenses and debt. Spend 30% on wants, and then save the remaining 20% towards saving for your long-term goals.
2. An emergency fund or rainy day fund is an important financial safety net. Aim to have all least three to six months’ worth of basic living expenses saved in case you get a major unexpected bill or lose income.
3. If you’re faced with debt and wondering which kind to pay off first, it can be smart to prioritize high-interest debt first. For many people, this means their credit card debt; rates have recently been climbing into the double-digit range, so try to eliminate that ASAP.
FAQ
What are the drawbacks of being an entrepreneur?
The drawbacks of being an entrepreneur include not having a guaranteed wage or salary, possibly investing more hours into your business than you would at most jobs, and the real risk that your endeavor will fail. As a result, you might put all your time and money into a business venture only to end up with nothing to show for it.
Can anyone become an entrepreneur?
Anyone can become an entrepreneur; no specific certification or education is necessary. However, in some cases, business experience, a college degree, and professional training programs can increase your chances of being a successful entrepreneur.
How long does it take to become an entrepreneur?
One of the pros of being an entrepreneur is that it’s possible to become one quickly if you have a business idea plus sufficient available hours and capital to start your venture. However, finding success as an entrepreneur usually takes years of hard work.
Photo credit: iStock/PeopleImages
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