Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship business venture is one of the most typical and easiest commercial forays not only in India but also across the world. Some of India’s largest existing enterprises, including Flipkart, started operating as solely-owned firms.

Globally, some of the most famous names in business started with a single owner. Familiar names like Coca-Cola, Amazon, the Walt Disney Corporation and toy-major Mattel are excellent sole proprietorship examples.

Historically, these are some of the oldest businesses that have been owned and operated by a lone individual, making them sole proprietorship ventures.

This chapter will help you understand what these types of businesses mean, what their characteristics are and some of the advantages and disadvantages of a sole proprietorship.

Defining Sole Proprietorship 

Such a firm is a one-person operation. “Sole” means only and “proprietor” refers to the owner. When any natural person, and not a ‘legal’ person or another entity, is in charge of an organization, it becomes a sole proprietorship enterprise. Both the owner and his/her business are the same.

They have no separate legal bearing.

A sole owner is automatically the custodian of all profits of the organization. However, he is also liable to suffer the most should the business nosedive in perilous economic times, making risk-taking a part of owning a business entity.

A one-person operation allows the owner to employ whoever he desires. Termination of employment is also his executive domain, provided the terms and conditions laid out during hiring are maintained. His authority and discretion are also final.

Of all the various types of business organizations, this is the simplest. A solely-owned entity need not always be registered or even incorporated. However, registering a business venture has certain advantages which have been mentioned later.

Most of the small-scale businesses we see around us in our day-to-day lives are businesses with single owners. These can range from spas and beauty parlors to a medicine outlet and any local grocery store.

For advanced commerce students: Walt Disney was a struggling artist before his Mickey Mouse line of animated characters took off, and his name became globally known. You can research his failures, how he dealt with them, and how he later developed a global reputation for himself and his company.

Types of Sole Proprietorship Businesses

These are the existing types.

1. An Independent Contractor: A contractor is hired by business houses or other, more prominent contractors at predetermined income levels or profit-sharing margins. But this does not make an independent contractor an employee, for he has the freedom to say ‘no’ to an engagement.

2. Self-Employed Owner: Someone who acts both as the owner and an employee of his business is a self-employed owner. In this digital age, someone who sells goods on an E-commerce firm is self-employed. He owns an enterprise but also has to look after his day-to-day operations like an employee. Other examples can be a painter and a shopping assistant. 

3. Franchise: A franchise is also considered a form of a sole proprietorship. The owner decides to rent a franchise from a leading brand and pours in the requisite capital. Note that the franchisee has to pay royalties to the franchisor. This type of business is an excellent starting point for first-time business owners, as he does not have enough experience to run a full-fledged firm but can still bank on the reputation of his franchisor.

Features of Sole Proprietorship

• Lack of prison Formalities

A sole proprietorship does not have a separate regulation to govern it. And so there are not many special policies and rules to comply with. moreover, it does no longer require incorporation or registration of any kind. In reality, in maximum instances, we want only the license to perform the desired enterprise.

• Liability

on the grounds that there is no separation among the proprietor and the enterprise, the private liability of the proprietor is likewise unlimited. So if the enterprise is unable to satisfy its very own debts or liabilities, it'll fall upon the proprietor to pay them. As an example, he may additionally sell all of his private property (like his car, house, other properties and many others) to fulfill the money owed or liabilities of the enterprise.

• Threat and income

The enterprise owner is the simplest threat bearer in a sole proprietorship. given that he's the simplest one financially invested within the enterprise. As a result, he ought to additionally undergo all of the danger. In different words, if the enterprise fails or suffers losses he might be the one affected.

But, he also enjoys all the earnings from the business. He must not proportion his income with some other stakeholders in view that there are none. So he ought to endure the overall threat in trade for playing full profits.

• No Separate identification

In prison terms, the commercial enterprise and the proprietor are one and the same. No separate criminal identity will be bestowed upon the sole proprietorship. So the proprietor can be chargeable for all the sports and transactions of the commercial enterprise.

• Continuity

As seen above the commercial enterprise and the owner have one identity. So a sole proprietorship is totally dependent on its owner. The loss of life, retirement, bankruptcy. madness, imprisonment and so forth may have an impact on the sole proprietorship. In such conditions, the proprietorship will give up to exist and the enterprise will come to an end.

Advantages of Sole Proprietorship

• A proprietor will have the entire manager of the complete enterprise. consequently this could facilitate quick selections and freedom to do commercial enterprise

• law does not require a proprietorship to put up its economic debts or other such files to any members of the public. As a end result, there is sufficient confidentiality that is critical inside the commercial enterprise world

• The enterprise owner derives the maximum incentive from the business. because he should not share any of his earnings. So the work he puts into the business is absolutely reciprocated in incentives

• Being your very own boss is an extraordinary experience of pleasure and fulfillment. Furthermore, you're answerable only to yourself. consequently it's far a super improve to your self esteem as nicely

Negative aspects of Sole Proprietorship

• One among the largest limitations of a sole proprietorship is the limitless personal legal responsibility of the owner. If the enterprise fails it could wipe out the personal wealth of the owner as well as affect his future business possibilities too

• Every other problem is that a sole proprietor has to get entry to a confined capital. The cash he can borrow from his own private savings may not be sufficient to enlarge the enterprise. Moreover, banks and financial establishments are also wary of lending to proprietorships.

• The existence cycle of a sole proprietorship is not sure and connected to its proprietor. An incapacitated proprietor may have a terrible impact on the business, and it is able to even cause the closure of the enterprise. A sole proprietorship can't keep on without its proprietor.

• A sole proprietor additionally has restrained managerial potential. He can not be a professional in all the fields of the business. Furthermore, limited resources may additionally mean that he can not hire able humans to help him out. As a result, the commercial enterprise might also suffer from mismanagement and bad selections.