Entrepreneur Vs. Employee: Which Life is for You?

By Simran Setia

Posted on June 28, 2017

In today’s world where the competition is intense, where people are thriving for jobs, a question is always raised in the mind whether look for employment somewhere or start up on our own. Different people have different views about this question as in case of entrepreneur, he is a person who looks for an opportunity takes risk and at the same time capitalize on the opportunity whereas an employee is a person usually below the executive level who is hired by another to perform a service especially for wages or salary and is under other’s control. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages as in case of an entrepreneur running your own business might lead to more money, more flexibility, and a chance to fulfill a passion. But an office environment offers camaraderie and resources that shouldn’t be overlooked. So it’s not given that a business is “better” than a traditional job or a business rather than a job is a better choice for you. Lot of entrepreneurs pick their business based on something they like to do – e.g., the person who likes to teach starts a training business. But to get the business off the ground you need to spend the majority of time on sales and marketing. Many businesses never get traction because the entrepreneur doesn’t sell enough and instead just focuses on doing the work (till it dries up!). When you have a job, you can focus on doing the work and let the sales department sell. It’s a myth that running a business means you can do whatever you want, whenever you want. Because you are in charge of your business, there is more to do. Because your cash is only what you sell, you are even more beholden to clients than in a traditional job. Yes, in a job, you will get fired eventually if you don’t serve your clients, but there is a buffer there from the structure and other staff the company has built around you. If you’re in a job and need more flexibility or balance, don’t assume that entrepreneurship is the answer. Work on negotiating for flexibility or setting better boundaries. The statistics point to entrepreneurs as a group out-earning employees on average. But corporate executives can absolutely out-earn business owners depending on size of company, geography, industry, and other factors. Bankers, for example, do just fine aligned with a firm.

Employees restrict their future growth by thinking about perfecting different skills. Instead of starting things on a positive note, they start doubting their capabilities and strengths. Entrepreneurs know little about everything. So, they start their work with a little input. They don’t waste their time by falling in the perfection trap. They believe in learning new things along their entrepreneurial journey. Employees find different excuses to complete their tasks. They keep postponing their targets. Entrepreneurs have three main boosters to start their work at any time: Love, Patience, and Dedication. Understanding the short-lived nature of the opportunities, they grab the opportunity a worker with an ‘Employee mindset is concerned about the increment of the colleagues. They work hard with the intention of getting a better position and a high salary. Entrepreneurs work hard with the intention of learning new ideas. They are busy in finding various ways to uplift their business dreams and come up with different plans. No matter how big your dreams are, dreams without plans have no significance. Employees build castles in the air. They dream of breaking the 9-5 routine. They dream of having a lavish lifestyle. On the other hand, entrepreneurs have a solid plan for shaping their dreams. They move ahead with a proper strategy. Employees invest in their future growth by focusing on money. They look for the safe returns only. Entrepreneurs know ‘Time is Money’. They shift their focus from money to time by giving ample time for the growth of the company. They are ready to work months after months with no profits. As they believe in generating wealth, they don’t pay attention on initial months with unattractive results. The freedom from frustration depends on the way the person tackles it. Employees know they have to go through the same boring routine again and again. As a result, they lose their interest and become arrogant with their co-workers and family members. While managing various roles, entrepreneurs also face frustrating moments. Their problems are temporary because they want to make a living by doing what they love to do.

Who doesn’t want to live life on their own terms, isn’t? On one side, employees want to spread their arms and live life without any boundaries. On the other side, they contract themselves due to future insecurities. Entrepreneurs live life on the edge. It doesn’t mean they don’t focus on other commitments. They are good in calculating the right amount of risk for every strategy. Employees try a lot to get in Boss’ good books. By doing the good work, more and more files pile up on their desks. Entrepreneurs classify their work by categorizing them under the category of Urgent and Not Urgent. They follow a Pareto’s Principle by doing 20 per cent of the work which generates 80 percent of the results. Employees have to perform tasks according their respective job profiles. Irrespective of their interest, they are forced to work in an alien environment. Entrepreneurs are not specialist. As they have to lead the group from the front, they perform general tasks. They enjoy autonomy and independence. In order to achieve something big in life, you need to have the courage to accept your faults. There is no use in playing the blame game. Workers with ‘employee mindset’ have a habit of blaming, justifying and complaining. Entrepreneurs know they are responsible for all their decisions. Instead of suppressing their mistakes, they are open to accepting their mistakes. Failure is inevitable. If you are not ready to embrace the failure, you won’t be able to come up with fresh ideas. Workers with ‘Employee mindset’ lose their confidence in struggling period. They look failure as a dead end. Entrepreneurs see opportunity in every failure. After being knocked down, they don’t lose their enthusiasm. They recover and improve with every fall.

Depending upon the dreams and aspirations of an individual and the ability to take risk it’s up to an individual that he should perform a SWOT Analysis of himself and identify his strengths and weaknesses and then take a decision whether he should go for entrepreneurship or should secure his fate working in a business firm as an employee.

With job uncertainty increasing by the day, there has been a flurry of start-ups in the recent years. While no start-up is ever guaranteed to succeed, innovative ideas have come to light in the process. Some of the start-up ideas a person can undertake after analysis of the business environment are

Online Custom Tailoring Business

People are increasingly becoming conscious of their looks these days and want clothes that perfectly fit them. Recognizing this rising need, apparel stores have already started to offer several new lines of standard size. However, despite these efforts, many people still have a hard time finding clothes that perfectly fit them. And there is no better option for them other than getting their clothes custom tailored.  These platforms allow people to easily customize their clothes – fabric, patterns, size, fitting & stitching style – and conveniently get the prepared clothes delivered to their doorstep.

Start an E-commerce Store

Over the past one decade, people across the world have become quite accustomed to buying things online. Today, it may seem that everything is available online, but that’s not true. If you regularly follow start-up blogs, you will see unique niche marketplaces are being introduced to the market. This clearly tells us that there is still scope for new e-commerce stores.

Online Professional Search & Appointment Marketplace

How painful it is to stand in a line to get an appointment with your doctor, right? Similarly, if you are seeking an appointment with some other professional, say a lawyer, it isn’t easy to make one in timely manner.

To address this problem, today there are online platforms for professional search of different industries. These professional search marketplaces have a good future scope because they capitalize on this very habit of people.

Social market in India

It is said that if you run a business and don’t put it on the internet then you will be left behind. And starting a website for a small business seems too complicated for an average Indian. So a social market were one can open shops (e-commerce page for everyone) and sell their product would be great.

Medical Tourism in India

Low cost medical treatment in India can become the hub for all across the globe for any treatment. India provides good quality of medical treatment at very low cost compared to many developed countries.
One can become a facilitator between patients and medical practitioner and earning in between commission or charging for the services that are availed for.

The world is full of opportunities and in this dynamic environment new ideas and technological advancements keep on coming each and every day so it’s up to an individual to capitalize on these opportunities but ultimately, choice is yours. You can keep going after small fishes by staying in your comfort zone, or you can catch a big with a little bit of extra efforts.

-Aakash Pande