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The biggest advantage to owning your business is that you can optimize it solely for what's best for you. If growth is all you care about, go nuts, but if you'v

The biggest advantage to owning your business is that you can optimize it solely for what's best for you. If growth is all you care about, go nuts, but if you've got it humming along making decent money with just the right amount of work, there's zero pressure to change it. I think a lot of people forget that and think that they need to push to be more "successful" - kudos to you for doing in the right way for you.

beachy 3y ago
> The biggest advantage to owning your business is that you can optimize it solely for what's best for you. Another great advantage is being able to fire bad clients. It's not something I've done more than once or twice but the freedom not to be brought down or stressed by someone else's insane demands is worth gold. Related is the ability to pick and choose your clients in the sales process. e.g. plenty of small consultancies have formal or informal policies not to bid for government work because of the effort and frustration involved in responding to public sector RFPs.
- hnbad 3y ago
  > Another great advantage is being able to fire bad clients. That's not an advantage to owning your business, that's an advantage to owning a successful business. When you're struggling to get off the ground or to keep the lights on, you can easily get stuck with bad clients because you can't afford to fire them just yet. In the worst cases this results in a death spiral where the financial hit from firing them would be too much of a risk but the cost of maintaining them slowly starves your business and/or burns you out. As the old wisdom goes, most businesses die and most businesses that die do so in the first couple of years. If you have to start by bootstrapping your business you already start from a disadvantage. If your financial situation means failure is not an option, bad clients can turn into hostage scenarios.
fsckboy 3y ago
> if you've got it humming along making decent money with just the right amount of work, there's zero pressure to change it what works now in the economy now with your skillset now etc. is not guaranteed to continue. I just think it's risky to feel zero pressure to change.
- natpalmer1776 3y ago
  I mean, this is true for a lot of technologists, but there are a great many professions that allow for the kind of approach mentioned by the GP. My grandfather runs a quite successful one-man architecture consultancy built on decades of experience and networking in the industry. He gets to pick and choose his engagements, and if he lives long enough I’m sure he can sustain his business for many decades to come.

beachy 3y ago

> The biggest advantage to owning your business is that you can optimize it solely for what's best for you. Another great advantage is being able to fire bad clients. It's not something I've done more than once or twice but the freedom not to be brought down or stressed by someone else's insane demands is worth gold. Related is the ability to pick and choose your clients in the sales process. e.g. plenty of small consultancies have formal or informal policies not to bid for government work because of the effort and frustration involved in responding to public sector RFPs.

hnbad 3y ago
> Another great advantage is being able to fire bad clients. That's not an advantage to owning your business, that's an advantage to owning a successful business. When you're struggling to get off the ground or to keep the lights on, you can easily get stuck with bad clients because you can't afford to fire them just yet. In the worst cases this results in a death spiral where the financial hit from firing them would be too much of a risk but the cost of maintaining them slowly starves your business and/or burns you out. As the old wisdom goes, most businesses die and most businesses that die do so in the first couple of years. If you have to start by bootstrapping your business you already start from a disadvantage. If your financial situation means failure is not an option, bad clients can turn into hostage scenarios.

fsckboy 3y ago

> if you've got it humming along making decent money with just the right amount of work, there's zero pressure to change it what works now in the economy now with your skillset now etc. is not guaranteed to continue. I just think it's risky to feel zero pressure to change.

natpalmer1776 3y ago
I mean, this is true for a lot of technologists, but there are a great many professions that allow for the kind of approach mentioned by the GP. My grandfather runs a quite successful one-man architecture consultancy built on decades of experience and networking in the industry. He gets to pick and choose his engagements, and if he lives long enough I’m sure he can sustain his business for many decades to come.