Peter’s alarm went off at 6:30 am He was already wide awake. He had been staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours, his mouth dry and his stomach knotted with anxiety, watching as his dark room began to fill with light. It was Wednesday.
There was nothing about this day that was different from the previous one, nor from the one that would inevitably come after. That was precisely the problem. Peter was a mid-level executive at a company whose mission was not important, either to this story or to Peter himself. He would wake up, do his work, sometimes for up to 10 or 11 hours a day, have dinner and go to sleep. His routine had come to resemble running on a treadmill, and somewhere along the way, he had lost track of how to get off.
For better or worse, many of us find meaning in our careers. A 2022 study by McKinsey found that 70% of employees say their sense of purpose is defined by their work. More and more studies show that we value purpose more than salary.
More and more people are jumping off the treadmill: they are becoming freelancers, independent consultants and, of course, entrepreneurs. Working for someone else used to be the expected path in life. The increase in digital connectivity has made it easier than ever to start your own business. Furthermore, those who have done so have no regrets: according to one statistic, 96 percent of self-employed people have no desire to return to a “normal job.”
Freelancing is not for everyone. But if you decide to go it alone, the rewards can be significant.
One of the biggest benefits of being your own boss? There is no one else telling you what to do. If you’re starting a business, that means you have the freedom to come up with your vision and then, if all goes well, bring it to life.
For a certain type of person, that freedom is a dream. But that doesn’t mean it’s not work. If you’re someone who prefers to work eight hours and unplug, entrepreneurship is probably not the path for you. You will go to sleep thinking about your business, and it will be one of the first things you think about when you wake up. It is very likely that it will even sneak into your dreams.
For some people, that’s a hurdle, and I understand that. Freedom comes with a fair amount of stress. But I would also say that building a business doesn’t have to be an abrupt transition that you make in a day. I kept my full-time job for years after starting Jotform, preferring to spend time in the mornings and evenings after leaving the office. When I finally quit my full-time job, it was both because I was confident my business could stand on its own, and because the lifestyle of being a founder appealed to me: I knew I wanted to be my own boss.
My suggestion: go slowly. Test the terrain. Do you have the motivation to build something in your free time, in addition to your other responsibilities? Or do you find that, without the pressure of someone telling you what to do, you just…don’t do it? It’s important to be honest with yourself about who you are before taking the leap.
As much as I value control over my time, it’s actually not my favorite part of running my own company. The best part, for me, is having control over my business and its goals.
I’m a big proponent of self-financing for this very reason. Taking venture capital money usually means being forced to give up the reins in a way that can sink your business. An example of horror comes from Mike Salguero, founder and CEO of ButcherBox, who raised $30 million in capital for his first company. However, as is often the case, the venture capitalists had a completely different idea about how Salguero’s company should move forward, insisting on following the strategy they signed up for rather than allowing Salguero and his team to pivot. Salguero found himself tied to the rudder of a doomed ship, unable to change its course.
“In that process, I lost the culture, I lost my workplace, I lost the ability to create the direction where the company should go,” recalls in an episode of HBR IdeaCast.
Suffice it to say that Salguero chose to self-finance his next company, ButcherBox, which has been very successful.
I don’t deny that accepting outside investment can pay off, and there are many thriving businesses that prove it. But if part of your goal as a founder is to exert control over your company, self-financing is the way to go.
More and more people are becoming entrepreneurs, and with good reason. Your time is yours, and you can forge your path forward as you see fit. That said, it takes motivation and discipline, and it certainly isn’t always fun. But if you can make it work, the rewards will be worth it.