Being your own boss can truly be great, but once the dream is achieved, many often face a harsh reality that was not figured into the original calculations of the dream.

That reality is responsibility, and when you are your own boss, there is tons of it. But that being said, there is still plenty of advantage as well, and the pros of self-employment can often overshadow the cons of self-employment. Are you up the challenge and excitement that comes with being an entrepreneur? Read on about the pros and cons of self-employment and find out.

1. Being Your Own Boss

Pro—Seems fairly obvious, doesn’t it? When you’re self-employed, you don’t have to answer to anybody but yourself. You can assign tasks and responsibilities to employees, work at the hours you choose, make the decisions, take the risks and celebrate your profit.

Con—Being your own boss also means you have to make the decisions and a whole lot more. You have to ensure that employees are doing their job properly and efficiently. Also, sometimes you must work far longer hours than anyone else in order to ensure that you make a profit.

2. Is Time Working For You or Against You?

Pro—If you are skilled in time management, one of the pros of self-employment is that you’ll be able to work at your own pace, set your own hours and find time to enjoy leisure and other activities with family and friends.

Con—When you’re self-employed, you often find yourself working long hours and free time may be pretty scarce. You might think employees can help relieve a good portion of the burden and sometimes they can, but as the boss, you’ll still need to oversee everything until you’re absolutely certain that things can run smoothly without your constant presence. (And even then, you might still feel the need to stick around!)

3. Responsibility — Sometimes It’s Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be

 Pro—Independence feels good, doesn’t it? Breaking free of the bonds that shackle other working men and women to their desks is a feeling that simply cannot be beat. The responsibility of running your own business is all yours and the sweet taste of success is just around the corner.

 Con—The responsibility is all yours. That means it is up to you and you alone to do everything in your power to ensure that your business does not fail. And that part about never having to answer to anyone but yourself? It isn’t necessarily true; you have to ensure that your clients or customers are happy or your business can fail.

4. Do It All Yourself Or Outsource?

Pro—One of the pros of self-employment is that if you feel you don’t have the time or skills necessary to complete a project or meet a customer’s expectations sufficiently, you can outsource. Outsourcing can also free up time for yourself, as well as enable you to diversify your services and increase sales.

Con—Outsourcing can be expensive and finding vendors or other freelancers you can trust to do the job right and on time can be a difficult task. If you put your faith in a vendor who doesn’t deliver, it can cost you a client or customer.

5. Invaluable Experience

 Pro—As your own boss, you’ll be gaining hands-on experience that can’t be beat. Each day that goes by will bring new challenges, new successes and new chances to learn how to better your business and improve your own skill set.

Con—The experience you gain will also enable you to learn from your mistakes, but if you are lacking in experience before starting your venture as one of the self-employed, then one mistake can cost you dearly.

Gwen Stewart is a business development professional and writer. Her line of work often requires she have reliable file share solutions and a solid strategy for meeting tight deadlines. Any spare time she can scrape together finds her hiking, reading and enjoying the company of great friends.

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Editor: Malin Bergman

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