You finally did it!
You left your 9 to 5 job and started your dream business.
After much blood, sweat, and tears (and wondering if you would ever succeed) you finally got your business off the ground and developed a steady income stream. Kudos!
Things are going okay, but not without some bumps in the road.
Some days (particularly the rocky ones), you stop and think maybe you shouldn’t have left your 9 to 5 job after all…
You think about all of the perks of your old job—higher salary, health insurance, free gym membership, holiday bonuses, and WAY less responsibility—and you get a strange feeling of nostalgia…
Until you suddenly come to your senses.
Think about it—one of reasons you wanted to start your own business was so you could work for yourself.
Unlike your old coworkers, you now get to set the tone for your business.
You decide what hours you work, what jobs you take, and what days are yoga pants days (every day should really be a yoga pant day, but that’s another topic).
Then we come to the often overlooked financial perks of being your own boss and owning your own business…
Small business owners often forget about how many legitimate business expenses they would have incurred even without owning a business.
Think about it, you had phone before you started your business, but now you use your phone for business calls and pay your phone bill through your business account.
There are usually many other expenses you now pay through your business account:
- The laptop you bought when your personal computer died—you use the new laptop for your business and paid for it through your business account
- Partial rent & utilities for your home office
- The educational conference you would have paid to attend even without a business, so that you could learn a new technique
And the list goes on and on and on….
Take a moment now to list all of your current business expenses that you would have had to pay for even if you didn’t own a business.
Seriously, get a pen and paper and see what you come up with. I’ll wait…
How did it go?
I’ll bet those expenses added up to more than you thought!
If you ever find yourself feeling less than enthusiastic about the take-home salary you get from your business, just remember all of the less-obvious financial perks you are getting on a regular basis.
Over to you:
Have you been surprised at some of the financial perks of being your own boss and owning your own business? Is your take-home pay less, but somehow feels like more? Please share below!
