Starting a business changed my life for the better. But I dilly dallied for a couple years before starting Financial Samurai in 2009 because I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to commit to a long term plan. I remember hearing that it takes 10 years to become an expert in anything, and I didn’t want to start something if I wasn’t going to follow through. When the financial crisis hit I figured it was now or never.

Now that I’m 8.5 years in, there’s not a day that goes by where I’m not thankful for having this site. I understand that a lot of you will say that you don’t have a good business idea or don’t have a clue as to how to start. The reality is I had no business idea either

But now, things are so much better than having a day job. The key is to just launch  and then figure things out as you go. You can afford to do so nowadays because the cost to launch and maintain is so cheap. Good luck doing trying to figure things out when you have to pay $5,000+ a month in rent to run a retail store or restaurant!

Let’s look at the top 10 benefits of owning your own business in Part I of this two part series.

The Top Reasons For Running Your Own Business

1) No Boss: The older you get, the less likely you will tolerate someone telling you what to do. By the time you’re in your 30s, you’re already a master at your job. You’ll also have a lot more money. Thus, you won’t accept instructions as easily because you don’t need the money as much. Further, you’ll also have the requisite work experience to get another job for likely more money and more appreciation if a change of scenery seems advantageous. Even if your boss is awesome, being your own boss is 10X better.

Related: How To Deal With A Micromanager Without Killing Yourself First

2) Master Of Your Time: Sunday evening is always a great time because you’re reminded there’s no need to set an alarm clock. You get up when your body naturally wants you to get up. As a result, you’re happier, healthier, and way less stressed than being forced to wake up by a certain hour because you have to be on a call or in the office by a certain hour. You can take a three hour break in the middle of the day to watch a baseball game if want. Afternoon siestas are no problem either. By the time your kids get home from school, you’re refreshed and can spend as much time with them as they’d like before they go to bed. Then you can work in the evenings if you wish.

3) Much More Efficient: I always knew that working for a large corporation wasn’t very efficient because there were too many meetings about meetings. To get something done requires so much bureaucracy. Many people I know simply spend hours surfing the web at work (thank you!) because they’ve either already finished with their work or are waiting for their managers to catch up. It’s no surprise that startups with no resources constantly innovate much quicker. I’ve now experienced countless examples of business development deals that have taken 3+ months to finalize, which would have only taken me one hour if I was on the other side of the table. Three hours of entrepreneurial time is like 12 hours of corporate day job time.

4) No Commuting: Commuting is one of the biggest wastes of time and money. Not only are you more stressed by the time you get to work, you might also get in an accident on your way there as well! Unlike those who smartly run internet businesses, not every entrepreneur gets to have no commute. But at least when you’re your own boss, you can decide guilt-free when to work from home, when to go to the office during non-rush hour traffic, and when to leave at more convenient times.

5) Expense Deductions: Although it’s nicer to have a corporate card that pays for everything, it’s still nice to have expense write-offs so you can have more freedom to spend however you wish. For example, instead of having to spend a weekend in a conference room at your company’s corporate offices where they serve you free rubber chicken sandwiches, you can write-off a semi-annual team building trip to Hawaii. Besides expense deductions, running an online business costs a fraction of what it costs to run a bricks and mortars business, which much more scaleability.

6) All The Income And All The Equity: As an employee, you earn a salary, and maybe get a tiny amount of equity (the vast majority of employees get no equity). As a business owner, you not only earn what your business makes, you also hold a massive portion of the equity that can be sold for multiple times revenue, operating profits, or earnings in the future. The only way to next level wealth is to own equity in a business. As an employee, you are making someone else rich. As an owner, you are directly making yourself rich. Operational leverage is huge with an online business. Please study this chart carefully:

7) More Correlation With Effort And Reward: Most people simply want a fair shake. But working for someone else requires playing politics. People promote and pay people they like and trust. This is why there are always questionable performers who rise to the top. The larger the corporation you work for, the more politics you must play. If you are the business owner, you don’t have to play any politics. You decide what’s best for the business. There’s nothing better than getting rewarded for hard work.

8) Potentially Lower Tax Rates: Expense deductions will lower your effective tax rate. You just don’t want to take on superfluous expenses because that would be counterproductive. There is a chance the Trump administration may lower the small business pass through tax rate to that of the corporate tax rate. In which case, small business owners may see 5% – 15% lower income taxes for the same income earned by W2 earners.

Related: How To Pay Little Or No Taxes For The Rest Of Your Life

9) Higher Pre-Tax Retirement Contributions: Business owners can save up to $55,000 in their Solo 401k for 2018, provided they have an operating profit of at least ~$182,000. Business owners who elect to go the SEP-IRA route can also contribute $55,000 a year pre-tax, provided you pay yourself ~$220,000+ in income. As an employee, you can only contribute up to $18,500 max in your 401k or $5,500 in your IRA (if your income is low enough). Anything more depends on your employer’s matching program.

10) Location Independence: Being able to run your business anywhere in the world is truly liberating. You can geo-arbitrage by moving to a cheaper country if you wish. If you don’t want to go that far, you can always relocate to the heartland, where housing is often one third the price of coastal city real estate. Vacations are no longer limited to just two or three weeks. There’s nothing more fun than seeing the world while making money.

Business Ownership Provides Options

With all these great reasons, hopefully everybody will now start their own online business, even if it’s just a side hustle while you have a day job. You just never know what the future holds if you take action. Two years after starting Financial Samurai, I realized I could leave a well-paying banking job. Heck, even one site I hardly ever update is generating a passing ~$500/month for the past five years.

As a business owner, you will feel more proud of what you produce because before you, there was nothing. Every time you see your product in the store or in the news, you will beam with pride. It’s rewarding to see an FS article hit the front page of Yahoo. And it’s surreal to see hundreds of thousands search results when you type “Financial Samurai” into Google.

But the reality is that 97% of you won’t take action. This is an irrefutable truth supported by millions of data points. It’s much easier to do nothing, even if you aren’t satisfied with your lifestyle.

So for those who need extra motivation to change, stay tuned for Part II of this series. I’m confident after reading Part II, the non-action rate will decline by 1% to 96%! Just like investing in real estate and stocks, 10 years from now, you’ll be happy you started today.

Related:

How To Build A Stronger Brand For Your Business Or Career

How Much Can You Really Make Online

Readers, what are some other benefits and reasons for owning a business I haven’t touched upon? What stops you from starting a side hustle when people are starting the dumbest businesses everyday, raising tons of money, and sometimes getting rich?

The post The 10 Best Reasons To Start An Online Business appeared first on Financial Samurai.

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