Pros and cons of your own business: which side are you on?

How do you feel about having your own business? Do you see more of the upsides, like the freedom and being able to make every decision yourself? Or do you mainly see obstacles in your path, like the admin and the lack of guarantees?

Being an entrepreneur has its pros and cons compared with working as an employee. For some it is a dream come true, while for others the very idea is stressful. Why are opinions about having your own business so divided? There is something to be said for both sides, so we put it all under the microscope for you.

Freedom. Something everyone can appreciate. It may well be the biggest advantage of being an entrepreneur. No alarm dragging you out of bed at six in the morning because you have to be at the daily briefing. You decide your own working hours and your own work environment. That might mean you still get up at six in the morning, but that is your choice. Fancy working somewhere other than usual today, say in the sun on a terrace? Anything goes, nothing is compulsory. You choose how you work.

But this freedom also has a downside. The line between work and private life blurs quickly. You have no fixed working hours, and the discipline to get to work has to come from you alone. Nobody chasing you to check whether you have done everything. You have no boss telling you what to do, but that also means you are always working. When you are sitting on the sofa at home in the evening and you see an important email come in late, what do you do? Do you put it off, knowing you will have to deal with it tomorrow anyway, or do curiosity and your drive to work take over?

Financially, your own business looks like the jackpot. Every euro you earn is yours. No manager claiming the lion's share of the profit. It is nice to be well rewarded for all your hard work, after all. On the other hand, you often have to invest a lot of time and money in your business before it pays off. As an employee you get paid from day one, whereas as an entrepreneur you sometimes have to wait a long time before you make a profit. 

Then again, you have a say in how things are run in the business. You are the management and you decide what happens. What's more, you are constantly learning new things. From bookkeeping to marketing, you develop skills you would not all pick up at once as an employee. The things you don't enjoy can of course be outsourced. This autonomy does come with a lot of responsibility, though. You are fully responsible for everything in the business. That can feel overwhelming, and you won't easily have someone to fall back on. It is your business, after all.

On top of that, with your own business you initially have no safety net if you fall ill, and you don't build up a pension. This is often seen as a big risk. However, this risk can be taken off the table quickly. You can arrange everything yourself, from saving for your pension to insuring yourself against disability. The only difference is that as an employee this is usually arranged as standard, while as an entrepreneur you have to sort it out yourself.