What’s the biggest benefit of running your own business? If you were to ask any of the 200 AIMS Accountants that question, the answer would likely be “being my own boss”.

Having the ability to work how you want, when you want, provides an unparalleled working environment. The thing is, what do you think an AIMS Accountant would say is the hardest part of running their own practice? Odds are the answer would be the same!

Working for yourself can be a very freeing experience. The downside is that when it comes down to it, the only one responsible for the performance of your business is you. There are no set hours to make sure you’re working a full day, there’s nobody with a task list helping you to make sure that everything is being covered. The only person responsible for your workload, your responsibilities and your future development is you.

Reading this on paper, it might not seem like too big an issue – surely it doesn’t take much willpower to make sure you keep working? Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near that simple.  Take something as simple as getting up for work in the morning – would you really get up with your early alarm if you didn’t absolutely have to? It can be very difficult to make sure you have your priorities straight on your own – you need a strict schedule and a detailed system that makes sure that you don’t lose track of any information. There’s nobody else to help you remember it!

All of this comes on top of the fact that you’re the only person responsible for the quality of your work. If you make a mistake, there’s nobody to catch it or double check it before you send it to the client. You need to be good at what you do, and you need to be confident that you are good. You are ultimately responsible for everything that comes out of your business, for better or for worse.

If you’re now terrified of the idea of running your own business, don’t be. Running a business is hard work – never assume it will be easy – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worthwhile. Running your own business truly means that you can do anything that you want to, in any way that you want to do it. You put in your own hard work, and you get out well-earned rewards. If you asked our AIMS Accountants whether starting their own practice was the right move, you’ll also only get one answer – “Yes”!

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