by Gary Maclean

Created on: July 19, 2008   Last Updated: January 25, 2012

So you are going to step out of corporate America and go out on your own by opening your own little business. You don't know for sure what it is yet, but you are going to do something other than going into work every day, battling with the boss, then going home at night, mentally drained and physically spent.

Why do you do it? You do it because you know you have to work. You have to do what has to be done so you can pay that mortgage and buy that new car and buy the kids braces; you have to do it. Is there another way? Yes there is. You start your own business. You can go into business for yourself and you are ready to do it.

I hope you have thought it through before making that one last step of severing yourself from that hard won position and that very lucrative weekly check. I know money isn't everything, but it does buy most everything we need to get by in life today. There are other things that make us who we are and working for someone else usually does not provide them; working for yourself just may give you what you need.

There are many challenges in starting your own business but there are many rewards as well. Often the rewards can outweigh the challenges. The rewards may not be financial but there are other things. Some of the best things about working for yourself don't even involve compensation. You will have to make your own mind up on just how valuable the non-financial rewards are as opposed to a fat check every week.

Don't get me wrong; you can make very good money working for yourself. We made more money in the eight years our little company flourished than I made any other years in my entire working career. Our little company was very successful and we lived the good life that America promises to all those who are willing to work hard. Besides those economic rewards we were also treated to many other benefits.

Working for yourself you won't get things like paid holidays or vacations or 401K or health insurance; you have to pay for all of these things out of your own pocket now. Believe me, they are very expensive. Still, the added benefits of owning your own business can make it that much easier to pay the inflated rates to insurance companies.

I worked out of the house probably three days out of five. The other two days I worked in my in home office. My wife's desk was directly behind mine and we worked in the office, together, back-to-back, every day I didn't work out of the house. We would work until about lunchtime then I would get up and say, "Come on, let's roll." It was time to quit working, get our popcorn bucket and go to the local theater to watch a new movie.

This was our routine. We would work till noon, go to the matinee to take advantage of lower prices, then go to lunch / dinner when we got out. When we got back home we would go to the office and continue working for a while. We could do this because it was our schedule. If we didn't want to come back after the movie we could go visit one of our kids or just take a leisurely country ride. We could do that because our schedule was indeed ours.

Clearly the best part of owning our own business was the freedom of schedule. We enjoy being with each other and we took advantage of those opportunities. We really miss that part about having our business flourish. If you can own a business that earns you enough money to maintain your way of living then by all means do it. Take advantage of the schedule and you may get to know your spouse again. You will never know how much time with the one you love can mean to you until suddenly you have no time. The best part of owning my own business was easily, scheduling my own time!

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