Thinking About Starting an Internet Business? (Part Two)

November 11, 2007

 Even though many websites of successful internet business owners make it seem like they woke up on day two of starting their business with money in their bank accounts and enjoying their beach front property, it’s important to realize the realities of owning your own internet-based business.

Photographs and stories of internet business owners also make it seem like they’re always on vacation.  The truth of the matter is, most business owners are not overly familiar with having time off.  Most businesses, especially small businesses, require someone to be working in order for work to be coming in.  If you’re sitting in a lawn chair on the beach, will your business still be earning money?  Ideally, you will set your business up to earn passive income; and to function even without your input, but chances are- and especially with newly started businesses, if you aren’t there it could fall apart.  It could be several years before your business is capable of giving you some time off!

When you work for yourself, you also miss out on:

Office-mates.

An entrepreneur may as well be called a “solopreneur”.  Even if you hire employees that become “friends”, you are pretty much always the boss and they are always the employees.  If your previous employment was in a social environment or in an office with lots of chatting and hustle and bustle, you might really feel like your missing something when you work for yourself.  If you don’t have employees that you can socialize with occasionally, then you really need to make the effort to get out to networking and socializing events.

Company Sponsored Events

Many companies sponsor dinners or holiday gatherings for employees.  It’s true that you won’t have these events to look forward to on someone else’s dime, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t be the one to put them on.  If you work with subcontractors or have employees, they may expect some sort of company sponsored event occasionally- which means you have to foot the bill as the “company”!  This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it.

If you’re determined to be your own boss, I applaud you!  It takes a special “breed” of people to take the next step and actually do something about their dreams to be self employed.

Posted in Starting a Small Business