What works for you?

People will often reach a point in their lives where they will begin to question whether staying in paid employment is the best option or whether it would be better to take a chance with branching out and starting their own business. Before rushing into work with a resignation, there are a few pros and cons that need to be weighed up first.

As with both arguments, working for someone else can have its benefits and its downfalls. It all comes down to what is best for the individual.

1. Paid employment means a regular, stable income. There is no worry about whether the business is running at a profit as that is usually the owner’s burden to carry. Employees don’t have to worry about paying their own tax or making super contributions because that is all taken care of by management.
2. Big business decisions are normally the responsibility of management or the owners. The burden of profit and loss doesn’t (usually) fall on the heads of the employees.
3. Work hours are generally set – employees know exactly when they will be at work and when they have free time (except in the cases of overtime).
4. Work responsibilities stay at work. There is no free overtime like people who own a business often have.
5. Retirement years are usually predetermined – every industry has a cut off point for what age employees are expected to stay working. People in paid employment have a goal age in sight for when they can stop work and enjoy life.

Working independently also can have many benefits. Some of these are:

1. Work hours are set by the individual. They can work when it suits them. This can be especially handy for people with a busy family life: it gives parents a chance to attend special school functions or events that would be missed when working for someone else.
2. There is no more putting up with annoying or incompetent work colleagues or bossy bosses.
3. Your income potential is no longer capped. When working for ‘the man’, employees are mostly limited by how much income they can make. When owning your own business, this only depends on how much the business is making.
4. You only work as hard as you want to. If a slow slack day is in order, there is no one standing over you to dictate otherwise. But in saying that, a lot of hard work is needed to get a business up and running to be making a profit – it’s just now the individual’s choice about how that success is achieved.
5. Independent business owners work with who they want. If extra help is required, they have the choice about who they hire instead of having to put up with a co-worker as they have no choice.

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