by Paula Atwell

Created on: May 08, 2009   Last Updated: May 14, 2009

The best part of owning your own business is that you own your own business. You are the person who makes all of the decisions, creates the strategy, hires the employees, and meets with the customers. You are solely responsible for the success or failure of the business. By being the owner you are free of the endless meetings with upper management decision makers, and you are able to make the decisions that you think are right for your business to grow.

This is not a job that just anyone can take on. You need to be a person that can make decisions and feel confident in them. You need to be able to stand your ground, and make unpopular choices if it is the best thing for the business. And most of all you need to have an entrepreneurial spirit.

Being an entrepreneur is quite different than having a job in a company that is owned by someone else. Entrepreneurs are risk takers. They are people who are willing to step forward and accept responsibility when things go right or wrong. They are people that are willing to fail in order to succeed. And they do whatever it takes to keep their business going.

Businesses fail every day, whether the economy is good or bad, on the basis of the how the owner runs the business. Sometimes there is nothing an owner can do to stay in business, but many entrepreneurs learn creative ways to keep their business running until they can succeed. What most people don't know is that many small businesses do not make a profit the first few years, and the owners make little or no money from the business at first.

Owning a business is a huge responsibility, and if you own your own business you are the kind of person that is willing to take on that responsibility. It can be very scary, yet thrilling at the same time. Small business owners usually wear several hats, and have to learn to feel somewhat comfortable with most of them until they can afford to hire someone to do the tasks that they are not good at doing themselves. Often that means that they are the janitor, the salesperson, and the accountant until the business grows.

But with all the risks involved, owning a business is a thrilling ride that, even with failure, can teach a business owner many lessons that will help him in the future. Many of the same failures can lead to success, with a little luck involved. Small business in the United States is growing, while large business is shrinking. There are people every day starting small businesses of their own. We can only support them by wishing them luck and buying their products and services.

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