Being a business owner isn’t easy. There are amazing highs, but the lows are often quite intense as well. Somedays it feels like the problems never stop – regardless of how much success you achieve. The problems just grow, evolve, morph. So we asked business owners if they sometimes wonder what it would be like to just have a regular job and have shared some of the highlights below.

Julie Anne Barber

The year was 2011. I was 27, armed with an MBA, and working for a Fortune 50 company in corporate finance. I had done everything I was told to do – go to college, get a degree, land a good-paying job. And yet, there I was, boxed into a tiny cubicle, rarely seeing daylight, never spending time outdoors, quietly questioning every life choice I’d made. Why was I so miserable? Read more>>

Elyse Pono

I often think about having a “regular job” how much structure that creates. I have had many in my past. But when i think about that vs what I get to do now, there is no question I’m so happy doing what im doing now. I don’t have bosses, I get to work for myself and that makes me feel more valuable and driven. At a 9-5 you have almost TOO much structure, reviews from your managers, maybe yearly and they decide if you deserve more or if you’re good at what you do. Thats ridiculous. Read more>>

Jake Candiotti

The whole “did I make the right choice” doubt usually creeps up when I feel I’ve hit a stalemate. I’m not usually one to shy away from hard or creative work – it’s more so the times where I feel I’ve hit a dead end, and question whether – once I go back down to the base of the mountain – if making the climb back up, yet again, is worth it. Read more>>

Anthony Tartaglia

I am extremely happy as a business owner. As a multi-unit restaurant owner, I consider myself to be one of the most fortunate people in the world. I don’t like to use the word “lucky” because none of it really happened by accident, but I do have to admit early on in this interview when I look back at how things have turned out, I was just a small piece to the puzzle. There were so many people who have influenced me one way or another, and so many things that went right for us along the way, and if I tried to take all the credit for our success I would be stepping in front of too many people. Read more>>