The Mandatory Top List Post, Pros!

A while ago, I wrote a blog post about the top things I’ve found less glamorous in my entrepreneurship. I think no one read it, but either way the Con list required a proper follow-up, in the form of the Pros of running your own business. They may vary for each individual, but here’s what I consider the most important ones!

I already addressed the time as a prospective issue in self-employment in my previous Top List Post, and still holds very much true. But, if you manage to scrape up some time for your business, you’re pretty much in charge of how you’ll be using it. Given your trade of choice, you can allocate the time to each section of your business the way you need fit. You’re your own boss, literally. If you think you’ll need a break from work, you can take one pretty much when you want. You can go for a walk. Or take a nap, or go to the pub for a pint. I often take a nap, even though a short 15 to 20 minute walk outside might be a smarter idea.

I have to reiterate that time management STILL is the single most challenging aspect in entrepreneurship for me, so having time to run your business in the first place is crucial. I’m writing this post while I’m actually waiting for my wife’s car to be serviced, so I’m spending 3 to 4 hours away from my workshop, again. How much money do you think this 3 to 4 hour absence is producing me? That’s right, zero.

But back to the Good Stuff! It’s listed here as a second mention, but it could also be the main reason I do what I do. It’s the customers, you to be exact. It’s You who initially got me to start running my own business. I was making those cool toys as a hobby, and you wanted to buy them. Then I made them a little bit differently and you still bought them. In my (nearly) previous career, I was employed in a business which produced goods business customers needed, but in the end their relationship with the products I manufactured was mostly neutral, not much emotional ties attached. But in my current business, I can make products which bring their new owners actual joy, almost ‘return to childhood’ level of happiness. I can make items which have been long-time dreams for my customers, and I know they will brandish and cherish them with pride and love for a long time.

This is also why I use royal plural in my Facebook posts and official announcements, because I always consider the creation of a custom order a joint operation between the customer and me. ‘We’ have created the product together. It may have been a rough sketch on a sheet of paper for the customer first, but I have been helping in the process to make it real. The relationship between the customer takes the whole process back to the days when a customer actually went to tailor, cobbler, blacksmith, gunsmith or other ol’ skool craftsman. Such bespoke services are becoming more and more rare these days.

And even though it’s not generally considered a good idea, I’m still glad I can call so many of my customers also as my friends.

Lastly, as the business is yours, you can lead it into the direction you want. Sure, success will not always follow automatically, it needs time, patience and luck (which in my experience, exists). But if you want to expand your business, you can do it. Since the COVID crisis hit in 2020, I’ve been forced to develop my business, and even though the process has been frustrating and sometimes depressing, requiring MANY more errors than trials, in a sick, masochistic way it has been fulfilling too. At least I’ve learned what does not work, but I’ve also gained so much more knowledge in so many different fields. When I first started my business, I had to learn to use a CNC lathe. From pretty much scratch. Then in 2020, I had to learn to do better Youtube videos. Run an online store. Write and publish a book. Use a CNC router. Operate a 3D printer, which means practising a 3D rendering software as well. I’ve learned to write shipping documents, deliver receipts for my accountant, calculate profit margins and other useful traits for life in general. I’ve learned so much from my mistakes, that I can actually now give people advice too. Not that they’d listen to me, but theoretically I can. And considering the amount of questions I get and the percentage of advice followed, people seem to know I’ve made a lot of mistakes.

Business development can be painfully frustrating, but it can also be rewarding. Especially once you finally find the right niché, after an exhausting process of studying, trying and failing. In many ways, you could think business development is also necessary, as the market changes all the time. I no longer have interest in doing empty metal hilts, as the Chinese are constantly pumping out those for 50 bucks a pop, often they’re made with high-end CNC machines and finished with professional grade anodising or powder coating process. Something my humble manual lathe & mill combo could never, ever compete with.

When I started Ox Works, I was required to attend startup business training. The training ended in private discussion with a professional counsellor, who then determined if my business idea was worth diddly squat. She told me there’s no limitations to what my business could be five years from now, it might be something completely different to what I presented her back then. And she was almost spot on, as most of my clientele is about the same, but the products I make are quite different. And to be honest, I can see a lot more opportunities and potential in my current path now, as in the one I presented to this counsellor back then.