Starting a Small Business: Pros and Cons

There are excellent reasons to start a business — and, of course, there are other excellent reasons not to. This is why it’s important to weigh the pros and cons for yourself, as your situation is unique, and advice that worked for one entrepreneur’s business may not be applicable to your own.

Let’s look at the general pros and cons of starting a business.

Starting a Small Business: Pros

Being your own boss has quite a few perks, as we will learn below.

Job Security: When you’re the boss, you’re never in danger of being fired.

Decision-making Power: If you decide to make any changes in your small business, there’s no one above you to tell you you can’t, and little to no red tape when it comes to implementing those changes.

Retirement Value: Building a successful business and then selling it at the end of your career can give you a boost in your retirement funds (in addition to the 401k many business structures allow you to open).

Self Fulfillment: Working for yourself gives you a sense of pride in your work, allowing you to feel personally and professionally fulfilled. You are the master of your own destiny!

Community: Owning your own business and putting down roots gives you a connection to your local community in a way that being an employee does not.

One important thing to keep in mind is that the fulfillment, security, and stability your role as a small business owner can bring you comes to fruition only with hard work, dedication, and perseverance.

Starting a Small Business: Cons

However, starting a business is no walk in the park. There are cons to starting your own business as well, which we’ll discuss below.

Financial Risk: Starting a small business involves some amount of startup capital, which will require you to find investors, take out a loan, or dip into your own account — neither of which is without its risks.

Workload: It’s been said that the decision to become an entrepreneur is not simply a career, it’s a lifestyle. This couldn’t be more true; if you believe that you’re going to confine your role as a small business owner to 40 hours a week, you’re in for a surprise.

Slow Initial Business: Statistics show that most new businesses do not begin to recover their investment for something like 2 years after they began. Are you prepared to go without an income during these uncertain times?

Decision-making Responsibility: Great for letting you make your own decisions on products or pricing; not so great when it comes to reprimanding or firing a friend or turning down a family member.

It’s clear that the decision to start a business or not to start a business is one that must be made carefully and thoughtfully, with family and future in mind, in order to determine if it’s a decision you’re prepared to follow through with and help through the rough patches.

With hard work and determination, your business dreams can become a reality!