Much like a marriage, business ownership takes consistent work
When I was an employee, I thought running my own business would be the ultimate freedom - to be my own boss, to make my own hours, to be flexible, to be there for my children.
And while it is all of those things, it's also none of those things. Let me explain.
My business turns 17 this year and over that time, I have enjoyed the freedom to come up with ideas and run with them without needing approval from anyone else, the ability to take a long lunch or start late if I had a doctor's appointment without requiring permission, and to attend my children's athletics carnivals and assemblies.
However, I've also never worked so hard in my life. Balancing the opportunity to run with new ideas with finding the time to spend on them, meeting the needs of not one boss but many (for every client is your boss really), and making up for lost time spent at my children's various special events through late nights working and skipping lunches altogether, have also been regular parts of my experience.
It's no walk in the park. In fact, it can be challenging to maintain the passion for your business that drove you to start it up in the first place, especially as you are often finding yourself constantly chasing the next client opportunity or contract, with little certainty as to what your weekly income will look like. Rent doesn't pay itself, you know.
The whirlwind of enthusiasm and limitless possibilities that so often define the start-up or "honeymoon" phase of setting up a business can quieten fairly quickly when the bills begin piling up, slightly dulling the sheen of this period's shiny playground for creativity and experimentation.
As routines develop and we are reminded that even working in your own business is still "work", and the initial excitement can begin to stabilise, edging into a sense of consistency, reliability and (hopefully) efficiency that will solidify the business's market position.
“Whether you run a coffee van, an accounting firm, a trades contracting company, or a home business, excitement for your work can spring eternal when you are living on the edge of industry development...”
This is where the danger zone can emerge - where you settle into a comfort zone of sorts within your business, with monotonous routines and a slow ebbing of that initial drive that pushed you forward at the beginning. This can be one of the biggest challenges in business: without a boss there to heckle us into staying on track, we have to generate our own motivation and drive, and hold ourselves accountable to what we promise to deliver.
Enter: the rut.
Much like a marriage, business ownership takes consistent work, genuine effort and continual care, but a little creativity can go a long way to spice things up. In business, finding ways to innovate within the bounds of the established operational framework (you don't necessarily want to start selling computers if your business is a hair salon for example) by creating new and improved ways of doing daily tasks or designing a new product, exploring new markets, or implementing exciting new technologies, can reignite the passion and keep the business dynamic pulsing.
The biggest danger of the comfort zone is that it's, well, comfortable. Who wants to get out of a comfy armchair to perch on the edge of a cliff? No sane person, I know. However, Ginny Rometty said, "growth and comfort do not coexist": it is only by stepping out of that comfort zone, that business owners can discover new opportunities, challenge their limits, push the envelope, develop new concepts, invent new technologies (and ways of applying them), and reignite their passion and drive for their work.
Whether you run a coffee van, an accounting firm, a trades contracting company, or a home business, excitement for your work can spring eternal when you are living on the edge of industry development - and maybe even shaping it - as you walk the road less travelled as a business owner.
And yes, that often involves accepting a calculated risk and redefining your comfort zone to encompass the sharp shard of fear that spears us as we step forward into a brave new world of business possibilities as our new normal. That sharp stab lets us know we are alive and makes the sense of accomplishment all the sweeter when we emerge successful.
It is a small price to pay for renewed passion for the work we do.
Zoë is a regular op-ed columnist for Australian Community Media, with her column syndicated across their papers. This blog post first appeared in The Canberra Times on 11 February 2025.
