Setting your own Hours when Running a Business
Running a business comes with many advantages, one of these being able to set your own schedule, however what many forget is that having the freedom to work the hours you choose are not always there, and many times it depends on the workload of the company rather than your personal schedule, and at the same time it is not always possible to take the 2 week holiday that would have been a legal requirement for the employer if you were an employee.
At the same time, there are benefits to being able to work the hours you choose. If you have a hospital appointment and it is not practical for your employer to give you the day off, under UK law there is no statutory obligation for them to do so, and provided you plan ahead, it's perfectly possible to take the day off, perhaps making it up on the weekend or taking it as holiday leave, however doing the latter would leave you a days wages down, which is not always the best thing if your company is struggling anyway.
Another issue with setting your own hours is timing. Many find that unless they have a meeting set for a particular day at a particular time, they will not always stick to the pre-arranged time to start and finish work, but arrange their own schedule depending on the work that has been completed during the day. Waking up at 11am could be potentially disastrous for a new company is you have a potential client with a big order trying to call you at 9am, with missed calls looking unprofessional as you're trying to build a reputation with the world.
The main disadvantage that I found with owning a company was the financial side. There is always a worry, especially in the early months, of not being able to find enough work to finance living expenses during that time, and although this generally dies down as you get your name out there, many new companies can struggle to make profit for the first two or three years, which leads many to give up just as the company was about to hit off.
The upside to this is normally a higher hourly rate as you've got no directors salary to pay on top of your own, and completely dependent on what you choose to do, expenses that should cover themselves in the first year, leading to expansion, however even the banks are recommending that you don't buy expensive equipment unless there is already a starting point for work.
