Running your own business is such a tempting thing that sometimes I think at some point in life everybody must try it. I'm 28 and I've been running my own business for over 8 years. I started working when I was 18 and the very first two years was the time that I worked for someone else.

Starting your own business when you are a teenager and your experience is almost zero is a tough thing. The same is true when you are 55, experienced but lacking the energy that you would have at 18.

If I had a possibility to go ten years back in my life, I would follow the same track and would start and run my own business. The reward outweighs all difficulties, pressure and risks. We'll talk more about this below.

There is a prevailing misunderstanding among people that running your own business is always the best thing. Unfortunately, in life, nothing has only positive sides and running a business is no exception. Let me quickly mention a couple of disadvantages of running your own business.

First, your personal income depends on the success of your business. With an employer you have a guaranteed income. As long as you are not fired from your job, you get your monthly salary.

Second, you must take care of your superannuation. When you work for a company, your employer is taking care of your superannuation. The same is true for a paid leave or a sick leave. For example, according to contracts with my employees, they are entitled to a 4 week paid leave.

Third, at 6 PM you leave your work, right? Even if you have a lot of work and have to stay longer at the office, at some point you will leave your work. Unfortunately, this is not the case with your own business. When you are running your own business, it's always with you, at 3:00 PM, at 4:00AM or when you are dreaming about Ferrari 430.

Fourth, as a business owner you are under a heavy pressure. If you grow your business, at some point you will have to hire employees. Those people's and their families' well being is heavily dependent on the success of your business. If your business runs into difficulties, you will have problems paying salaries and this will put serious pressure on you. In a worse case the pressure may drive you to a nervous breakdown.

Fifth, in many cases you will have to compete against companies that have more financial power than you do. Your financial power limits your abilities to spend enough on marketing, research and development, operations and thus puts you in a less competitive position.

Sixths, mistakes for a small business owner might be fatal whereas a large corporation may easily survive a row of such mistakes.

There are many other difficulties and disadvantages associated with running your own business. However, I've tried to highlight the most important and critical difficulties. Hopefully, you are not scared. In the next post I will speak about positive aspects of running your own business.