Table of contents for Get a Job or Start a Business
- 5 Reasons Why Having a Job is Better Than Having a Business
- 5 Reasons Why You Should Start Your Own Business
A lot of personal development gurus all agree on one thing: it’s better to own your own business than to have a job.
Huh?
Are they on something? I thought those guys all ran businesses. You think they’d know better.
Telling people that it’s always better to have your own business than to have a job is BAD advice pure and simple. That advice is condescending and insulting to those who find contentment in their jobs and irresponsible for those who do not have the means or the temperament to run a business.
Frankly, I’m sick and tired of these so-called personal development “gurus” making people feel bad and playing into their people’s insecurities about money. They give a big spiel about how bad it is “working for the man” and how you have to achieve ”freedom” (of course, they usually have a course on how to achieve the aforementioned freedom). And in doing so, they give people a romantic notion of having a business that does not square with reality.
Running your own business is not for everyone. Some people have the temperament to do it.
If you can do it, it can be a wonderful experience. But unlike those other gurus, I want you to go into it with both eyes open, not with rose-colored glasses on.
So, today I will 5 reasons why it’s better to have a job than running own your own business. Tomorrow, I’ll give you reasons why you should start your own business. Then, you can make your own decision if running a business is right for you—with eyes WIDE open.
Disclaimer: When talking about having your own business, I am referring to a real business—not the fake get-rich-quick businesses. Also, I do not consider Amway or any MLM to be a business.
1. A job is more secure
Security is the #1 reason people have jobs. Now, some personal development gurus will tell you there is no job security. And in this economy (as of this writing at least), it sounds like the right advice. I mean, you could get laid off at any time. But does that mean starting a business is that much more secure?
Sorry to be a party-pooper, but most new businesses go under within 2 years. Most people keep their jobs longer than 2 years.
In a direct comparison, a job provides WAY more security. Lose your job and you can find another one. Lose your business and you could lose your house (more on that later).
2. Jobs provide a steady income
If you cannot handle the income swings of having a business, then a job is way better. I ran a business for 6 years and the income was never steady. Some clients think payment is optional. Or they pay late. Or you have to sue them to get paid. Can you handle having NO income for months and then get a large lump sum?
If you are someone who does not have the temperament to handle financial insecurity, then having a job is right for you.
A big knock on earning income is people saying you’re a wage slave. I’ve seen this at a lot of personal development groups and forums (and pro-Amway web sites). And the funny thing about this is that using the term wage slave to talk about people who earn income through labor goes back a long way—all the way back to slave-owning societies.
In the slave-owning South before the American Civil War., Southerners used to argue the whole “wage slave argument” for keeping the institution of slavery “Heck, our slaves are better off than dem wage slaves up North. It’s the same darn thing.”
But what did REAL slaves think about getting a job? Fredrick Douglass (real slave, found in most history books) was elated at taking a job that paid him a wage for his labors.
And as someone who’s had employees before, let me just say that I wish I could have done without them. I depended on them as much as they depended on me. I wish I had known they were my “slaves” back then
3.Work Less Hours
Yep. I bet those personal development gurus never told you that you’ll work less hours at a job than with your own business, did they? Nope. They tell you how they work a few hours a week and rake in the cash.
“I just sit back and watch the money flow in.”
But brothers and sisters, here’s the honest poop: if you have a business, you work ALL the time. You are on call 24 hours a day when you run a business. Yeah, you may set your own hours, as long as you set them to 24 hours a day.
Your boss call you at home a lot? Well, your clients have NO PROBLEM calling you at home. And honestly, in the beginning, you cannot afford to have them NOT call you at home.
A joke all business owners like to tell is: you’ll work 80 hours a week just for the privilege of not working 40 hours for someone else. But it’s not a joke… it’s true.
4. Fewer Headaches
You think it’s bad working for one boss? Imagine that you have 20 bosses. Try 100. Try 1,000. Well, your clients are your bosses and they tell you exactly what to do. Sure you can choose whom you can work with, but really, how many clients do you think you will turn down when they pay? Be your own boss? Baloney.
The self-help “employment is bad” gurus tell you that you can just choose different clients. It’s true. Once you’ve established your business, you can work with better clients. But it takes time. And wit hthe aforementioned cash flow problem, you may not have much choice.
The world doesn’t always work like that. And we all know it.
Let me hammer this in your head: you always work for someone—whether it’s clients, customers or the government—you DO work for someone. And then there is this worst boss ever you’ll ever have to deal with —YOU, Yourself!!!
5. You Can’t Lose Your House When You Lose Your Job
Some personal development gurus tell you having a job is sooo risky.
What the hell are they smoking!
Let’s see, how do you get money to start that business? Either you take it from your savings or borrow it.
So, if your business goes under (most do), you wither lose your savings or default on a big loan.
You ever lose your life savings by losing a job?
You take a much bigger financial risk when you start a business than having a job.
Anyone who tells you any different is trying to sell you a get-rich-quick product.
Conclusion
Now, let me sum this up in plain English. That whole spiel about “working for the man” and making the owner rich doesn’t mean squat. All that does is make you feel bad about yourself and plays into your insecurities. You should choose to do what YOU want to do as it relates to YOUR goals. Why should you resent the fact that others are benefitting from your efforts? Is it such a bad thing that you are helping others achieve their goals? If so, that’s not personal development…it’s just sour grapes.
5 Reasons Why Having a Job is Better Than Having a Business http://ow.ly/18gDv
5 Reasons Why Having a Job is Better Than Having a Business http://ow.ly/18gDv
I've met “the man” and though he seems like a really nice guy he never seemed to like me so I have been doing my own thing since the age of 22. Your blog makes sense however. I can't tell you how many wanapreneurs I talk to each year that are fired up about owning their own piece of the American dream because they've bought into the hype, the model or the pitch only to find they aren't really cut out for the turbulent seas of business ownership. It's a rough road to hoe and let me tell you from experience it isn't for the faint at heart. Can't wait to see what you have to say tomorrow.
Great post Carlon as always.
Ripple On!!!
I've met “the man” and though he seems like a really nice guy he never seemed to like me so I have been doing my own thing since the age of 22. Your blog makes sense however. I can't tell you how many wanapreneurs I talk to each year that are fired up about owning their own piece of the American dream because they've bought into the hype, the model or the pitch only to find they aren't really cut out for the turbulent seas of business ownership. It's a rough road to hoe and let me tell you from experience it isn't for the faint at heart. Can't wait to see what you have to say tomorrow.
Great post Carlon as always.
Ripple On!!!
Thanks Ripple Man. I'm with you. I've done both..worked for the man and had a business. I like both. But after taking a break and working for the man a bit, I feel the business flame burning again. More on that tomorrow.
Did you think you can start a business if you don't have idea how to start? of course no so that's why it is better to get a job first before you start business to get experience and idea. Besides if you love your job it may result for a good career in future.
Good point! It's hard to start a business if you know nothing of the industry. I also assume that you think getting a job in Dubai will help in some way? Usually, I knock out commenters posting job opportunities, but there are legitimate jobs in Dubai (especially if you can teach English), so I'll let you pass this time.
Hey, just stumbled onto your blog and I love it! I especially liked this post, and completely agree with your sentiment. I wrote something similar a few weeks ago called “The Four Hour Work Week and Other Lies.”
http://gearsandshifts.com/blog/2010/05/the-4-ho…
In a few sentences, here's my take on entrepreneurism: “Start-ups are teh new black. Or maybe they're more like a Prada purse. They cost a lot of money. they make the owner look good. And they're often full of shit.”
An excellent point. I think a lot of people who dream of having their own business never experienced what it's like to own their own business. As your parents were entrepreneurs, you got to see it firsthand. I think it's important to know what you're getting into and not believe all the BS about it being easy. Even the people who claim it's easy work A LOT.
Nice post.
“5. You Can’t Lose Your House When You Lose Your Job ”
Tens of thousands of Americans might disagree with the above assertion….
The point was you can lose all your money if a business fails. If you lose your job and have no savings, then that’s your own damn fault.
Some people don’t earn enough in their jobs to have savings.
Just randomly came across your post and wanted to address a few things.
1. More secure: At a job you have no control over your future. You have to rely on the person or persons above you for everything (promotions, raises, etc.). I have friends and family who lost their jobs with two words and they had been with those companies for years. They aren’t the only ones either. Many Americans throughout the years have all lost their jobs. If there are two elevator cars and one is held by a single cable and the other is held by twenty, anyone would agree that the car secured by more cables is safer. Or wouldn’t you agree? Owning a business opens the opportunity to have several sources of income simultaneously, whereas working multiple jobs to do the same thing requires time because all you’re doing is renting yourself out for a period of time.You only get paid when you work. Not secure at all. Especially when Job security ratings have been plummeting for years as according to Scorelogix.
2. Steady income: Not only have thousands of people lost their jobs but even more have taken pay cuts. Again a person who works a job is only paid for the hours he/she works. What happens if that person becomes disabled? Owning a business with passive income would continue to provide manageable income without putting in the time and effort of a paid-by-hour job.
3. Work less hours: As proved by millions of small businesses throughout history, if you prospect correctly and build a team rather than doing everything on your own (which is self employment not business ownership by the way) you have a large work load shared by several individuals. This leaves you more time to spend doing other things of interest. In fact I closed a deal today without even leaving my house. So I made $500 while eating lunch with my mom and buying her flowers. I can live with that.
4. Fewer Headaches: You’ve got to be kidding me. Having some jack ass who thinks he’s Jesus tell me what to do, when to do it, what to say while I’m doing it, how to say it and what to wear while I’m doing and saying whatever he thinks I should? Then after I’ve complied he comes back and tells me what I’ve done wrong and that I’m not good enough and that I need to try harder is the biggest headache I’ve even had to deal with. Working a job, for somebody else’s success, is a horrible headache. Owning a business is doing something you love that others see as valuable. Sure there are complications, but not headaches.
5. Can’t lose your house: Sorry, Tony Cliffton is right. Tens of thousands of people lost their house. and thousands of those tens of thousands never made enough on a wage to build a savings as Juliet Austin pointed out. In fact, I have found that 61% of polled Americans said they don’t save enough, 68% said they would save more but lack the funds and overall 61% live pay check to paycheck (Yahoofinance.com 2010 & CNBC.com 2009). So when those 61% of americans lose their jobs they’ve lost their only source of income and therefore have lost all of their money.
So I ask you, who wouldn’t want to be a business owner if they could seeing as working a job is such a horrible solution to adequately sustaining their life?
Now I’m not naive enough to overlook the fact that it takes a special mindset to be a business owner, but this can be learned.
I’m also not saying that it’s a breeze, it’s very hard work and takes serious dedication.
But if you have the stones and the will power and the ambition to make your goals and dreams a reality you can do it and so can anyone else.
I was a job worker. I am now a business owner and I would never go back. You couldn’t pay me enough to go back.
I don’t mean to be rude so please don’t misunderstand me, but you’re wrong.
Creating a job is and always will be better than finding a job.
You’re time is worth more than your employer will ever be willing to pay.
Ahem…you are free to read my counter-post where I argue that having a business is better than having a job. If you did, you’d feel no need to reply to me. However, I think I should point out that you argued that pay cuts are not steady income. THis, of course, is wrong because a salary–even at a reduced rate–is still steady.
I own a business now (a real one–not Amway or something like that) and I like it too. I’ve liked some jobs I’ve worked and I’ve liked having a business.
But to say that having a business is always better than a job is a wrong statement. It’s better for some people…and just because some people have jobs that they like doesn’t make them less of a person than people who tried to start a business.
Just my thought…but read my counter-post…the link should be at the top of the post.
Personally, I’ve been an Entrepreneur and Managing Director of a company for 3 years. I agree to all the points mentioned by you in your post. It is much more stressful, you work longer than some job and you will feel less secured when you’re in losses. I’ve fall down badly at least 5 to 6 times and still made a comeback to the business. Some call it the personal reasons, inability to run business and this n that.
However, there is always thrill & innovation coming out of you when you run a business. It does not happen when you have a routine job. Running your own company is such a good learning experience that may not fetch you millions of dollars but, if you can stick on & bring some constant revenue to it, you’re gonna live a respected life and may have savings for your sons & even grandsons. This however, may not apply to a job where you’re more keen to spend all that you’ve earned by living a richer life style as your salary increases with few savings.
Like the author of this post wrote, not everyone can become an entrepreneur (or) businessman. It takes lot of effort, lot of mistakes(yes!) & lot of hard work to be a good entrepreneur.
Mostly, the people owning a business fell into losses quickly due to their temperament & lack of self-belief / efforts. These guys generally move on to the next stages of life & start getting into jobs …without ever thinking of returning back to their business.
For people who stick on, its gonna take time based on the understanding of their business. It might take an year, couple of years (or) even more …but, they are gonna succeed as long as they don’t “repeat” the same mistakes and learn from their mistakes. As simple as that. Luck plays some role too in deciding when & if you’re gonna make the break even soon.
Just ran across your blog. Great stuff! I’ve done both. I wasn’t a huge fan of recruiting clients – thankfully I have a great network and the clients I ended up with actually found me. But what I HATED was fighting to get paid. I almost had to take one client to court and ended up settling for a portion of what I was owed. I went back to a job, but freelancing, and I love it. It’s the best of both worlds! Pay is much more steady, I can accept or decline work (fortunately business is brisk – knock on wood!) and I set the terms p front (rate, hours, etc.). The best part is that as a freelancer, the employer is so happy to have the help that they treat me great – better I think than a staff employee!
Keep up the great work on the blog – I’m going to bookmark it!
From Argentina here, I’m the owner of a Grocery Store, started 2 years ago and right now this very day I’m starting closing doors because I’m not able to fulfill my duties of administration. I have to do all by myself the request to providers, stock control, employee control, cash control, etc. This time-consuming tasks also provoked (as of yesterday) probably my divoce, which is what I’m dealing with right now, because we had a long discussion with wife about how bad our lifes are now.
I agree with some points that you mentioned, but it doesnt apply in this economic recession.
I owned a business, a small but profitable business actually, I abandoned it for an excellent offer of working in big multinational company and a promise that they will sponsor me for a grad school, good to be true right ? yes.. I went to gradschool with their sponsorship and working there for several years. then I got laid off.
Finding a job with few years of multinational experience and graduate degree is like winning a lottery in this economy, plus I am an immigrant. I have sent more than 300 applications, hire a HR specialist to polish my resume and even pay a headhunter, I got one call and no result. ZERO.
I tried to find a job not only in US, but also in Europe, Middle east, Asia. ZERO.
It’s been 6 months since I don’t have a job. Now I support myself and my family selling stuffs from Ebay and deliver papers in the morning, something that I did when I was a highschool student.
So even THINK to get a job is a a BIG MISTAKE on this economy.
I will educate my kids to start their business from NOW, when they are still in elementary school.
Very good post. More people need to preach this kind of realistic information in this day and age of “everyone gets a trophy”. However, I need to stress to other viewers of this comment that I do indeed think it is far better to own your own business…if you can actually make it happen. Not everyone can…you actually have to be smart, not just passionate and determined.
Or put another way, you have to be aware of who you are. People that are successful realize this. Inventors are inventors, not business people. Business people are business people, not inventors. When an inventor realizes that he or she is good at inventing, and a business person realizes he or she is good at doing business, then they both profit. When neither are aware that their talents are limited, they both fail. We live in an age where parents and “life coaches” preach “you can do anything as long as you set your mind to it”. Bull shit. This little mantra is the reason we get to watch people make fools of themselves on the first few episodes of American Idol every year. Too many people “chase their dreams” when they should be looking inward to learn what their strengths are and how they can add value to the world with them. The people who make millions with their ideas come from two camps of individuals. Those who got extremely lucky that their “dream idea” happened to have a monumental demand behind it. And those who, despite what their dreams were, wisely researched markets and their demand, and intuitively created a product or solution that satisfied the supply and demand curve we all learned about in Econ 101.
Take Thomas Edison for example. He wasn’t out to gain fame and fortune from creating the light bulb. He was just working on something that he knew he was good at, and subsequently happened to gain monumental notoriety and monetary reward from his final product. Good for him. The point is that he didn’t create the light bulb to become wealthy and to create “passive income”. In other words, he wasn’t a dream-seeker, but a hard worker. He wasn’t sitting at Starbucks saying to himself “What solution can I solve in this world in order to own a Ferrari and become financially free?”. I would have to believe that his creation of the light bulb was driven by his passion to solve a problem that he knew in his heart he could solve, and not so he could own 5 houses on the beach.
So, is it better to own your own business? Like the author of this post said, and like all answers in business and economics, it just depends. Starting a business is more than passion or dreams…in fact, that’s a sure recipe for failure.
Also, businesses involve this little thing called cash flow, which is something the average “entrepreneur” knows nothing about (excluding most MBA’s and Accountants).
Entrepreneurs may think they know a thing or two about cash flow, but they really don’t. They will simply assume that their “cash flow” is how their money flows in and out of their business. And yes, while this is technically what cash flow is, if your basic understanding of the concept consists of receipts coming in minus expenses paid, then you might want to stop what your doing immediately.
What about your financing or investing cash flow components? For Q4, are you able to mitigate an anticipated dip in customer demand by investing a percentage of your free cash flow in Q3? Are you able to more efficiently meet your annual budget targets by borrowing X amount of money, or reinvesting your free cash into your owner’s equity account? Do you even have a budget target? Are you over-extending your free cash flow by being too lenient with your credit terms? Do you have credit terms? Could you make more money if you created a credit system for customers? No, you say. Why not? Have you researched and confirmed this, or does the concept not apply to you because “you’re a small business”? Should you fund your company completely with your own funds? What is your cost of capital should you decided to seek external financing? Is it just what the lender tells you it is? What is your expected annual return on your reinvested funds? Does it matter? Do you want to eventually sell your business? Do you know what it’s worth? Do you have a target for what you want it to be worth in order to attract more lucrative investors and/or PE firms to buy you out? Do you care? Or, do you just want to sell widget x for price y and not think about the rest? In other words, owning a business is about everything but what you’re actually selling (excluding supply chain and logistics…the type of product you are selling affects your operations heavily). And for some, this is what is exciting about owning a business…they don’t care what product or service they’re selling, it’s the business component of it all that excites them. For others, they just want to sell cute pet products because they love pets. If the extent of your desire to go into business is because you love something, you might want to rethink going into business at all (unless you love business itself). Owning a business can be a doorway to personal and financial freedom, more so than working for someone else. However, blindly opening a new business could also be the one mistake you made in life that kept you from retiring early, retiring comfortably, or retiring at all. All decisions in the world come down to one thing: opportunity cost. What is the next best use of your time, money, and energy? For example, let’s say that you inherit $500,000 and decide to start your own business with it. Is the 5-year return generated from your business expected to exceed the 5-year return of Apple (taking into consideration the capital gains tax when you decide to liquidate)? I doubt it, but it could. For simplicity, let’s just assume that you aren’t going to outperform the world’s top company. Then it might make more sense to buy $500,000 worth of Apple shares and reap the rewards from their management team, instead of making your money compete against them. Just a thought.
HI,
Like your comment, can you give me your id at ganesh_guwahti at hotmail dot com
A great read here, my personal experience of starting a business and a few questions to help you decide if you are cut out to start a business or if you should stay employed can be found here http://www.ifitstuff.com/business-advice-start-up-progression/
Kudos to this guy for a fair & unbiased assessment on the merits of jobs and businesses http://t.co/FZIlXAf5 http://t.co/sxqzEeve
Depends, not everyone can be good at making a business, not everyone can find a stable job, not everyone can earn decently. It would all depend on the individual, but yeah, it is hilarious to assume we are all capable of accomplishing the same things, if you failed math, maybe if you learned how to work with math, you would be great, but if you failed math, there is also that chance that you are just horrible at it, no matter how hard you try or use your brain about it.
What you fail to realize is that 1) there are not jobs, in this economy, for everybody. 2) the man you will be working for, most of the time, is a small to medium business owner, who is as exposed to loosing his business, as if you were to try to open your own business. I have been there. 3) if one ever dreams of the American dream of a house and financial independence, it is far easier to achieve working for yourself than for the man. The man expects employee to make 3x his salary or it is a no good business. I know because I worked for several men whose thinking is that one. Why would anybody really want to make someone else rich? People work for these men because they have to, because they do not have the means to open a business, etc., but many people will prefer to own their own business.
It’s true. There are just too many applicants for one vacant position that now they use some datamining software to screen the applicants. So yes imagine being 1:1000 and selected by computer, is it like a lottery ?
Getting a Job is Better Than Starting a Business | Don't Step in the Poop http://t.co/kKIvpC66 yeah..whatever
I’m not sure I care what you think. You’re an Indian.
Excellent, I am tired of this new generation of entrepreneurs that want to be reach fast without hard work…besides happiness is not only about money….you can have a great life style working for a salary or be miserable working for yourself, it all dependes on your personality and values….but please!! stop this illusion that the way to freedom is through entrepreneurship only.
Look this article is written from point of a worker.
1. Sorry but in today’s age there is no such a thing as a guarantee of your job!
2. True but at least at the beginning. Successful SME can earn 10x or more your salary. No income for 6 months – that is just not true! Don’t know what kind of business did you run.
3. At the beginning yes but not later, definitely NOT! I work 3-4 hours a day now, earning a LOT more than in a job
4. Again, bull**** ! Client is not your boss! You are the boss of a company providing service to those that want it. Simple as that.
5. Ehh, again not true. Limited company status is there for a reason – read it up!
Conclusion:
Yes opening and running a business is not for everyone. I dreamed of having a business since 12 years old!
Now I have two and investing into good ideas too.
Amen brother
I don’t know what people think. I have a good reason that always business is good than a job. As we all know very well that the main father of all types of jobs is business. If there is no business in the market then nothing will be
the value of a job. First of all if you will see from the starting point of
view then you can examine that every person is doing a business either direct or indirect relate to a business. Doing job is a way of doing business
indirectly and doing business is a way to go ahead directly, but both depends on a person’s interest and the support, money and the minding ability the one have. Don’t think that which is better than what, only thing that we have a good satisfaction in which.
And the final end of both the work is to make money, satisfaction and which is directly connected with the aims of a person’s future.
Nothing will be helpful to your until unless you will be helpful to yourself.
In my final opinion I will say that a good job can give you a maximum income of 5 hundred thousand per month but a good and successful business can give you a minimum income of 50 hundred thousand per month.
I have more talks to discuss with you but now I want a response for this.
..
Tapas Malhotra