Since deciding to start my own business around six weeks ago, it sure has been a steep learning curve. There’s the all-important trip to the accountant to setup the business name, ABN/ACN, GST registration and other tax BS; as well as reading booklet after booklet on small business taxation, looking after employees and insuring everything against anything.

Just when you think you’ve got your head around all the nitty gritty, boring-as-hell business stuff – and that you can now get on with the fun part of actually working, developing and growing – you realise there’s even more of the boring stuff that needs taking care of. It’s at times like those that you understand the benefits of working for someone else. An important point to reinforce though is that those moments are fleeting.

There is much joy and satisfaction to be had by working for yourself. One need simply work through the tedious moments to experience the heady, smiling moments when you’re sailing head first into a piece of paid work where you also get to be creative. Does life get any better than 100+dB of metal pounding your ear drums as you pen a 7000 word article on the emerging automotive trends for 2010 from the comfort of your own home office?

Sure, I’m expecting that the theory about small businesses failing to make profit in the first three years will turn out to be true. However, so long as I make enough to pay the rent and put food in my mouth, I’ll be pretty bloody happy. I left a high-paying, high-stress job for this life of relative freedom – this self-regulated working life. I do as much, or as little as I want.

As much as it bugs my girl, I tend to do too much. Always have and probably always will. I would imagine that this sounds like a familiar story to many self-employed people out there.

So, consider this to be me giving myself a toast for the end of the first six weeks and a pep talk for the next. I can already tell that 2010 is going to be a very interesting year.