I have completed 16 years of running my own business (technical consultancy, being run from my home). I will essentially consider 3 major points which I find very valuable for me in justifying my continuation with my own business.

(1) NURTURING MY VALUES AND PRINCIPLES:

By being an entrepreneur, I am able to enforce my principles and ethics of business that I personally value in my business.

Before starting my venture, I was in employment as a sales professional. I was particularly loath to dealing with orders from Government organizations where some customers were corrupt; the conduct of some customers in huge private organizations was anathema to my personal value system. I was always finding myself in very awkward position, as I was duty-bound to serve my customers with respect.

When I started my own show, I was free enough to enforce my choice of whom to entertain as my customer and whom to shy away from, if their expectations clash with my personal values.

(2) EXCERCISING FREEDOM WITH ACCOUNTABILITY

Being an entrepreneur means primarily to have my freedom of choice and be accountable to that choice. I exercise this freedom in several areas:

- I can accept or decline an Order, based on my own likes and dislikes of doing it.

- I can set my own level of profitability that I would like to have on a specific order, be it low or high

- I can choose the level of risk within which I would accept a task; sometimes I might love to take one as a challenge; sometimes I may shy away from one, from the point of profitability or loss of credibility in case of failure.

- I can choose to execute the task at my own pace, to the extent of perfection to which I can polish the work, at times even resisting pressures of delivery from the customer.

- I can appropriate my earnings according to my preference - to pump in a major chunk of it for development of the business or into the family, on payouts to employees or on extravaganza.

- I can set my own targets - be it turnover, profitability, annual growth or future expansion plans - based on my personal preferences rather than based on the ambitions of a boss or a corporate body.

(3) KEEPING MY TIME AND MY PRIORITIES UNDER MY CONTROL:

By being the owner of my own business, I am able to allocate my time at my will into my profession, into my family and into my hobbies or into my spiritual pursuits. My time is not at the beg and call of my boss. My time is not meant to be whiled away in unproductive office meetings and conferences or in travels that I loathe to undertake.

However, it can not be denied that our prime accountability in any own business shifts to the customer from the boss; consequently and rightfully, the customer demands the maximum attention and allocation of our time. But still, I retain the freedom even to deny my time to the needs of my customer, should I wish to divert it to some other activity I value more, provided I am prepared to face the consequences.

I would definitely say that all these 3 points put together constitute the best part of owning my own business.

Learn more about this author, C.V.Rajan.
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