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This is something that every individual that wishes to own their own business needs to be aware of. One of the biggest problems with these two, self-employment and business owner, is that they are often used interchangeably when they shouldn't be. Allow me to explain:

Self-Employed

As a Steemit blogger, I am self-employed. There is no "boss" telling me when I have to be on Steemit to curate and write posts. I am essentially my own boss. This being said, I am able to make money on Steemit but only if I put in the work. I have not hired anyone to write posts, to create images, nor to curate for me while I'm away from my computer. So if I stop working on my Steemit blog, money stops coming in. Many people believe they are business owners because they are their own boss, but this is not always true. They may be able to become a business owner if they implement a system, but if they stop working on their project, then they stop getting paid. That's being self-employed because you're still trading your time for money like a regular job. In a regular job, you only get paid on the days that you show up to your workplace. Same goes for self-employment; you only get paid when you do the work.

Business Owner

In a business, there is a system in place that allows the business owner to continue making money regardless if they are present in the business activities. An example of this is Amazon.com. Jeff Bezos is the owner, but he doesn't have to be behind a computer in order for people to buy things from the platform. Another example is Starbucks and the owner Howard Shultz. He continues making money even though, he is not the one that makes the coffee drinks nor handles the cash register.

When someone first starts a business, of course being self-employed is the most likely scenario. There is nothing wrong with this! If you're disciplined and are motivated to succeed, then you may become very successful being self-employed. But in order to really get to the next level, you're going to have to develop a system that allows your business to run on auto-pilot.

Me personally, I don't mind being self-employed with my Steemit blog. I enjoy writing my own posts and taking the time to really think things through. But I do have a coffee business that has a system and so it continues to work for me even though I am not present in the daily activities. It's awesome!

So to conclude, I would like to say that if you have a project that you're working on where you are self-employed, then that is so awesome! I would like to tell you congratulations because you're pretty much telling the world that you want to be paid based off of your performance and not based on what someone else says you will be paid from. The next step would be to find a system that works for you and become a true business owner.

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Best Wishes!