Pros and cons to open a small business - Essay Example

This discussion illuminates the many advantages and disadvantages of opening a small business then briefly discusses the merits involved in the purchase of an existing business as opposed to starting one from the ground up. For a person that embodies the true entrepreneurial spirit, the chief goal and appeal of opening a small business is to create something novel, not simply in managing someone else’s conception. Because of this, beginning a business of one’s own construct is an appealing notion (Helfand, 2007).

Operating one’s own business can be advantageous in many ways. First, and probably foremost is that a person can be their own boss. They are therefore able to make their own decisions and set their own hours. Nobody admonishes the owner for being late or taking an extra day’s vacation. No one tells the boss where to be and when to be there. The owner of a small business answers to no one besides the customer and even this is a choice. Unreasonable clients can be fired. The owner is not involved in petty organizational politics.

No one is trying to undermine your authority or accomplishments so as to ‘climb the corporate ladder’ quicker. The owner of a small business is and always will be at the top. There is no ceiling on earnings potential to the owner of a small business. It is the best way to realize the ‘American dream.’ The more the business succeeds, the more profit is made and the owner decides how to distribute the earnings. Gone are the days of working for a pre-determined salary knowing that efforts made were probably making money for invisible investors who didn’t have a clue about the business nor appreciated the tremendous sacrifices that allowed it to profit.

The owner of a small business has the ability to develop particular skills and knowledge needed for the growth of that business instead of having to focus on only the constrained