Tradeoffs

TMST had a great post about owning your own business a few days back.

Teaser:

Every expense is your expense. You buy the pens, the paper, the ink jet cartridges, and you are the one who has to re-stock the supply closet. You are the one who puts the little labels on the files. You are the IT guy. You take out the trash and you clean out the fridge. You make the coffee. No one brings you a cup, and no one cleans it for you when you're done with it, unless your spouse is in a good mood.

Your spouse is your boss, and your employee. Communication with your spouse is necessary, constant. All business meetings include household disputes, utility costs, personal interests, and scheduling around childcare. You must get along with your boss/employee at all costs, otherwise, again, all will crumble. Profitability depends on it. Domestic tranquility depends on it. Your sex life depends on it.

I was going to blather on about my career history and all the trade-offs of being self-employed or otherwise and blah blah blah but even I started to lose interest after a couple of paragraphs.

Short version: For most people, being self-employed is no harder or easier than being an employee - it's a matter of trade-offs and personal tastes - you just have to decide if you prefer a sharp stick in your left eye or your right eye.

The post at TMST is good though.