These days, it seems like nobody wants to work for anybody else but themselves, they all want to be their own boss. And this notion has been hammered on by all inspirational speakers who do not fail to point out that the richest men in the world are entrepreneurs
“The top 100 richest people in the world are business owners. You can’t be the richest man in the world by being an employee” they always say, brainwashing students & young minds that instead of trying to work for the fortune-500 company, you can actually build your own. But one thing these “motivational speakers” (who mostly don’t have jobs, or businesses themselves) fail to point out is that there are certain traits required to be possessed by a person who wishes to start a business, entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone.
They fail to let you know that if you lack important skills such as Persistence, Resilience, Leadership, Wisdom and Critical thinking, your business or startup is most likely not to succeed.
I know you’re thinking “What does this guy know. I can be persistent, resilient and all those things, as long as I’m Sha going to be my own boss”. And that leads me to another key trait of successful business owners which is “Self-reflection”, being able to be true to ourselves. Nobody knows us better than us. If you know deep within yourself that you cannot stand to fail a thousand times before getting something right (like Thomas Eddison) or be a hustler at the age of 52 (like Ray Kroc), then Entrepreneurship is not for you. Just the same way all kids can’t be lawyers, doctors or engineers, not everyone can be an entrepreneur.
And being an employee is not so bad too. Really it isn’t. Most jobs come with health benefits, insurance packages, pension plans, accommodation, commute, vacation allowances and so much more!. You can argue that “ehn, this employees work 9am-5pm making another man rich” but this jobs help provide a steady stream of income with which these so-called “employees” can support their families, plus employees can take leave whenever they choose. Entrepreneurs on the other have it tough, especially in the early life of their businesses. They don’t have life insurance, healthy benefits, steady stream of income and other allowances. New entrepreneurs usually work more than 16hours a day just to get their businesses off the ground. And yes, no leave. If anything happens to an entrepreneur during the early life of his business, that’s the end. No pension plan or insurance for his family to live on/benefit from.
Most people tend to forget that starting a business is a big gamble and 80% of new business have the tendency of failing. Some students even use entrepreneurship as an excuse to have bad grades
“I’m gonna start my business after all so why should I bother to pass that test?” But what if that business you look so forward to starting eventually doesn’t succeed, you get stuck and end up a mediocre, or even worse – become one of those motivational speakers I talked about earlier telling everyone they can all become entrepreneurs.
My point is, the most important thing these days isn’t truly what everyone else is doing, or that Jeff Bezos, a business owner is now worth $160billion dollars. The most important thing is knowing yourself and identifying your strengths and weaknesses. Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? If yes, go for it. If not, get a job. It’s that simple.
What do you think?