by Melanie Spring

Today, I walked into my office without thinking about dress code. I threw on a summer dress and Birkenstocks and have been comfortably enjoying my station at my desk. There is no supervisor looking at me out of the corner of his/her eye. I am an entrepreneur with a staff. This is only one of the many reasons I love owning a business.

Running through my history as an employee, I remember getting looked at sideways for many things.

• I wore a patchwork skirt one day to my executive recruiter job.
• I said "That sucks" to a client when referring to her wish to work with us being turned down by her bosses & she told my boss that was rude.
• I told a client who used a 1-800 number in their ad it wouldn't work. (It didn't.)
• I hated wearing shoes so I would generally keep them off at the office.
• I had to bring my dog to the office due to vet appointments.
• If I didn't agree with my boss, we'd end up in shouting matches.

When I started working for myself, there were a lot of things I thought I could do that didn't end up being true, like:

• sleeping in.
• sitting by the pool all summer.
• starting work later.
• going on vacation more.
• spending more time with friends.
• having a flexible schedule.
• visiting my family more.

In the last three years, I haven't had a boss to look at me sideways but the idea that I could sleep more was thrown out the window. My idea of what owning a business would be like has changed drastically and although I don't get as much time by the pool as I'd like, I have fallen in love with being an entrepreneur for entirely different reasons.

TOP 10 REASONS I LOVE WORKING FOR MYSELF:

1. My successes and failures are dependent solely on me.
2. I can make up the rules.
3. I can be creative without asking permission.
4. I never have to worry about getting fired.
5. My hands are never tied. I make the change.
6. I can stand behind everything my company does.
7. I can fit my business to my personality.
8. I can wear whatever I want.
9. I can bring my dogs to the office.
10. I choose my coworkers.

What do YOU love about working for yourself?
Why do you wish you could?