Let’s start by taking a closer look at the traditional benefits attract people to business. These are benefits that you will hear about in many business books. The only difference is I’ll skip the sugarcoating and tell you what they mean in practice.
The financial benefits are huge. Unlike the typical 9-to-5 where your income is limited, you are in control of your income potential. You can accumulate multiple streams of incomecombining consulting work, digital products, and recurring subscriptions. Also, you are building an asset (your business) that you can sell online.
Schedule flexibility is another big plus point. Note that I didn’t say “free time”–because that’s not what this means. What you get is control over when and how you work. The working hours may be long, but you usually get full flexibility in deciding how and when you want to work during the day.
Then there is creative control. There is no longer a need to run your ideas through three levels of office management or watch them get thrown out in committee meetings. You can get to capture everything from your company’s vision to the color of your logo.
Local independence is becoming increasingly valuable in today’s world. Your office could be the beach in Bali, a coffee shop in Seattle, or your kitchen table. You are in business as long as you have wifi and your laptop. This freedom to work anywhere opens up opportunities that traditional employment cannot match.
Finally, trading puts you in the driver’s seatit gives you complete control over your success—or failure. Every decision you make directly shapes the future of your business. If you achieve your goals, the rewards are yours to claim. On the other hand, if things go wrong, there is no company safety net to catch you. It’s a double-edged sword, but for many, freedom and identity are worth the risk.
These benefits sound good on paper, but they are only one part of business. Let’s explore some benefits that get less attention…