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It seems that the idea of  “being your own boss”, or starting up one’s own business is gaining more traction today.  Some people fantasize on the thought of relaxing underneath the shades of a palm tree in a white-sand beach while money  keeps on pouring in.  Some daydream of the day they would not have to answer to a micro-managing boss whose life’s purpose is to make a subordinate’s job miserable.

If your passion to pursue entrepreneurship or be your own boss is as similar as those listed above, then by all means, I believe you should find a deeper purpose.  Because being one’s own boss is not the same as having no boss at all.

The reason why it’s not “having no boss” and “being your own boss” is as explicit as that – entrepreneurship requires more self-discipline, more self-mastery, and more self-management or “self-bossing”.  Perhaps a better term is “self-leading”, or the ability to lead one’s self.

When one becomes an entrepreneur, there’s no more fixed monthly salary that one can cling on to or use in planning credit.

When one becomes an entrepreneur, it may not be an 8 to 5 job, but rather, an 8 to 8 job (and I mean 8am to 8am!).

If you are part of a corporate job, imagine this – all the benefits you receive from the company, you should be the one to prepare for yourself.  No one will withhold your income tax, no one will forcibly save money for a “retirement” fund.  You will now be the one to establish the structure of the organization and make sure the organization does not violate any laws.  You are your own boss – you should be the one in charge of doing this for yourself now.

With great power of freedom comes a great burden of responsibility.

Please rethink first the true meaning of “being your own boss”.  When an individual is capable of digesting the repercussions of being one’s own boss (vs the wrong notion of having no boss), is only when he is ready to reap the true rewards of entrepreneurship.