10 things you need to work for yourself

Dreams and passion are essential. Hope, self-confidence, and creativity are key—but none are nearly as important as persistence and determination if you're planning to be your own boss.

Not only must you be able to thrive on hard work, but self-reliance and get up and go are givens. This means every day—you can't take a day off or call in sick without consequences, even if it's only in the guilt department.

Happy working alone?

You must enjoy your own company to work for yourself. It's likely that, while you may consider being your own boss as a way to squeeze in more flexibility and family time, to start with you may find that you'll be spending a lot of hours working, likely with only your own thoughts for company in the startup phase.

Rewards for working for yourself

But the reward for working independently is independence—as the decision maker., you can work at 3 a.m. and sleep in until 10—now and then. You do get to set your own hours, although you will probably have to keep roughly the same ones your ideal clients to meet their needs.

While you may have to work 24/7—or perhaps 12/7—you don't have to commute at the same time as everyone else. And, if you work from home, you can commute in your pj's.  But days are never 9 to 5 unless you're keen to fail. Likely, you'll soon be frantic for weekends to catch up on work overload and, sometimes, sleep. Family time may come last.

 Increase your earning power

However, a big plus is the opportunity to make more in a week or from one single project than you'd make in six months on salary. No more keeping the boss happy or playing office politics. But that also may mean—it's because you are the boss. This has its own issues. Not only do you have to manage and coordinate your workers as you grow (and keep them busy and earning), you may miss the camaraderie you might have enjoyed when you were a co-worker with colleagues.Just remember that before you grow enough to hire workers—you're it. You may have to wear all the hats and learn the basics of all the jobs as you go along. Most people start as their own bookkeeper, file clerk, accountant, sales person, marketing manager, customer service rep, office cleaner.

Since everyone is your boss, you might end up trying to please many people all day and all the time. Juggling their demands for for your product or service can be wearing and—depending on what it is you're doing, whether it's weaving blankets or making videos— may leave little time for the actual work you once enjoyed so much. Growing may mean giving up the pleasure of whatever it is you like doing or honing your special skill to be the admin or the salesperson. But that's later--cross fingers.

If you're getting tired of the nine to five or too much routine—consider working for yourself. It's never boring.

But take some time to explore the positives and negatives and listen to the experts. 

Be inspired. See what the experts have to say! Richard Branson and other startup founders talk about the skills, including drive, persistence, picking the right partner, and the mechanics of successful entrepreneurship.