Just as all the perks that make owning your own business are the best things in the world for you, so can the stresses and trials become the worst part of owning your own business. Some are easier to overcome than others, but some can leave a deep scar.

Probably the worst one is that you are solely responsible for everything in the business - every detail, every letter and requisition form, every meeting, appointment and communication venture, every account and worst of all, every bill. These are all your responsibilities and there is no one else to blame for any mistake except you. And that can weigh heavy on you especially if you're still in the beginning stages of your business.

You can't just walk away and give the problem to someone else to fix while you work on another task. That was great when you were an employee, but now you're the boss. You are that someone else' and you have to fix it or endanger the future of your company.

And what's worse than misreading your agenda and promising to be in two places at the same time? Which one do you change when both are crucial to your business? What do you say or do you?

This is where you have to learn how to step out of the picture and devise a solution that makes you - the company - look like you're in complete control. And you have to correct your agenda without anyone knowing that it was done in error. The one you change may be the wrong one. It may hinder the growth of your business or even threaten its existence.

Then there's the banking issue. You wrote cheques but with all the bustle of the business, you forgot to get money into your bank account in time. Is there anything worse than bouncing cheques when you're just getting started? Now you have to explain to other businesses why their cheques will be going NSF, and hope that you can make everything right without losing clients or affiliations.

And of course, the inevitable unexpected, unforeseen equipment failure that leaves you totally stranded with your entire database fixed inside the hard drive of a computer that just crashed. If only you had known about backing up your files earlier.

So, you hire a computer tech to set up your new and more expensive than expected computer, only to find that now you have to learn how to run the programs in very little time.

But probably the very worst part of owning your own business is that taking vacations or holidays has become a memory. You can't take time off now because if you don't work your entire business could fall. So now you spend your waking moments trying to think of things to tell your family as to why there's no vacation this year.

So, then you wonder, how bad was that day job?

Learn more about this author, Sara Bradley.
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