Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2010. Its references to layoffs of people with 20 years at the same company reflect the economic crisis in Spain at that time.
How can you really tell whether you’d be better off starting your own business or whether you’d have fewer problems finding a job that gives you stability and secure income? The truth is that not everyone is cut out to run their own business, just as not everyone is cut out to clock in at the same time every morning.
One thing has become more than clear since the economy took a hit: people who had worked for the same company for 20 years have found themselves out on the street because of staff cuts. These days it’s well established that stability and security in a job are relative.
People often wish they could start their own businesses so they won’t lose their jobs because of circumstances beyond their control, but they’re held back by the so-called «entrepreneur’s fears».
The most common fears an entrepreneur faces are:
- Fear of the initial investment.
- Fear of the daily workload and responsibilities.
- Fear of uncertain income, since you don’t get a fixed salary at the end of the month.
- The belief that having your own business means having no time for your family.
All these fears put the brakes on our entrepreneurial spirit, without our realizing that they’re much like the fears we can have when working for someone else’s company:
- You can be fired just when you need the money most.
- You have a daily workload, which your boss reviews.
- You know how much you’ll be paid at the end of the month, but you don’t really know for how many months.
- You have set working hours: some days you’ll work a lot and others even more, for the same pay.
- You don’t invest anything to work for a company, but you settle into a way of life that means you never end up with money to invest.
Some people start their own business but don’t really have a business. Let’s say they turned their business into their workplace, so, on top of having to put in more hours each day, they take on the drawback of uncertain income. Seen that way, it’s clearly better to keep working for someone else.
When we talk here about starting a business, we mean businesses that follow the principles of great entrepreneurs, because having a small business doesn’t mean you can’t think like a big company. That’s one of the great failings of small shopkeepers.
We’re preparing an article that will explain what the mindset of a business owner should be when starting your own business, without having to give up time with your family, and how to break free of some of the entrepreneur’s fears. As we’ve said before, starting a business is easy; the hard part is making it successful. Look out for that article, because it will help you understand many of the things we talk about.
We keep working to develop the entrepreneurial process and to encourage people to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset. That is and will remain our purpose, but we will always understand a business to be something that brings us greater financial rewards than a stable job with a lighter workload, and never the other way round. That’s the idea of a business.
See also: Why did this worldwide crisis happen?
Further reading
- Start a business or buy one?
- Business guidelines from a drug cartel
- Why do new businesses fail?
- Differences between a Hispanic and an American business owner
Featured image: Les Chatfield, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
