Paying the Cost to Be the Boss

Being the boss at a business, whether as the owner or manager, is great. You declare what you want done, and how, and when, and people make it happen.  You don’t hear “no” very often and your wishes are not often challenged, perhaps because an employee fears being fired or simply because an employee sees his or her role as carrying out your directives, not judging how prudent they are.

This is why, as the boss, you have to constantly challenge yourself. You have to be the one who second guesses your own instructions, policies, procedures. You have to be your own loyal opposition…because your employees may not feel comfortable in that role.

Being the boss is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you get your orders carried out without question. On the other hand, you get your orders carried out without question. And when your decision produces a negative result, you have no one to blame but the man or woman in the mirror.

And before you complain too much about how difficult it is to be the boss and how no one really understands what it’s like to stand in your shoes, consider the words that many a boss has said to a disgruntled employee: “No one’s forcing you to work here. You can quit anytime you want.”

The same thing can be said to you, the boss: “No one’s forcing you to own a business. You can sell it anytime you want and go start a completely different business, or go to work for someone else, put in your forty hours a week, and let some other poor soul deal with the headaches of business ownership.”

The satisfaction, prestige, and control over one’s destiny that comes with owning a business brings with it challenges, inconveniences, frustrations, and setbacks, and when you complain about having to deal with them, you’re really complaining about having to be the boss.

PJW