Business is on the rise in Britain, as the post-pandemic recovery gets underway. Almost half a million new businesses were registered in the UK in 2020, with a big spike in registrations arriving in June, as Brits looked for alternative income streams during the lockdown.
A recent study by Rotherham-based printing company instantprint asked a thousand adults about their plans to start a business in the near future. 18% reported a desire to start a business in 2021 while 29% said that they were merely ‘considering’ it. What’s interesting is that the entrepreneurial streak is more prevalent amongst younger people, with 39% of 18-24 year-olds telling researchers that they would start a business in 2021.
So what, exactly, is the appeal of starting a business for yourself, rather than working for someone else’s? Let’s take a look at a few of the advantages.
Flexibility
If you work for yourself, then you can decide your own hours. If you have particular personal requirements, like the school run, or you have a hobby that you’d like to dedicate time to, you can arrange your business hours to suit your circumstances.
Follow Your Dreams
There’s something of a romantic appeal about striking out on your own and making a passion project a reality. If you’re passionate about a particular activity, you’re more likely to put the time and effort in to make it a success. Bear in mind, however, that you’ll still need a little bit of grit to make it through those tricky periods.
Financial Independence
Since you’re working for yourself, there’s no hard cap on the amount of money that you can make, nor is there a person whose job it is to decide how much money you’re earning. As your business grows, so too will your income – and if you decide later on to sell, you can cash out in a single payday.
Creativity
If you have a creative hobby, then you might be able to monetise it. You can either create works of art (or music, or film) directly, or you can provide tuition that’ll help others to get on the right track.
You Can Do Good in the World
If you’re trudging from one workday to the next without feeling like you’re really adding to the value in the world, then starting a new business doing something positive might be the answer. Your business might seek to solve a social problem, either one that’s close to your local community, or one that’s broader in scale. Even if your business is pitched more toward generating cash, you can give it a positive altruistic direction by pledging to give a portion of your profits to effective charities.
