Entrepreneurship or Employment? How to decide what’s best for you.
9-5 or whenever to whenever? Both are important! But what do you really WANT?
The moment that you stand between the next big thing for your career; being an entrepreneur or having a job, the weight of decision making comes on full force. You lean on your friends and family to help you decide what’s the best decision to make but you’re pulled into both directions.
Now you have an army of people just waiting for you to make the right move. But what is the right move? Your gut feeling is strong, but you can’t seem to commit just yet. Worst of all, you keep saying “maybe tomorrow or next month” but it never seems to happen.
Ultimately, the decision is up to you, but you don’t know where to find the right information about starting your own business. You have to ask yourself which route will bring you the most happiness and which one fits your dreams and goals.
Are you an ambitious person, someone that takes the bull by the horns? Are you a person that craves comfort and needs to have control and structure? Maybe you want to start your own business and become a wild entrepreneur, or maybe your dream is to work for corporate companies like Shopify or Google. All of these questions to consider.
My goal is to help guide you to uncovering which one is the best fit for you by looking at the pro’s and con’s to each .
Do you have what it takes to survive the WILD life of entrepreneurship?
Do you even know what you want to do with your life?
Where do you want to be in 1, 3, and 5 years? How much money do you want to be making? Who do you even want to be working with?
I’ve heard many people debate whether they should throw themselves into the wild, hesitating at every detour, not committing for fear of failure. So hopefully I can help give you some perspective on what it actually takes, if starting a business is really what you want to do.
Start by writing down your passions. What makes you do something that you want to do all over again, dreams (get that vision board out and if you don’t have one time to make one) and goals (what are you holding yourself accountable to).
From there make two columns:
Entrepreneurship and
Keeping your current job or getting a new one.
Under each option, dump your ideas, hesitations and dreams. Include how you want to achieve them. If your dream is to travel, then ask yourself which path will allow for that. If you want to spend more time with your kids, then what option is best? If you want to inspire and influence more people, can a job do that, or will you need to create your own thing
Now that your list is loaded, you might be thinking, how am I supposed to know which one is the best fit? Well, it will depend on several factors like time, finances, and flexibility to name a few. Each person is unique, as is their situation so it really comes down to your gut. What is it saying? Review your list again, check off the things that make your heart sing and reflect, reflect, reflect!
The answer is not always black or white. And sorry, but there are no guarantees, even a ‘safe job’ has its risks. You can still have big dreams and have a 9-5. You can still make a huge impact and work for someone else. There is no shame in that. What I am really asking you is:
How big are your dreams and goals?
How far are you willing to go to achieve them?
Are you willing to put it all on the line even with the risk of failure (most startups fail anyway, yikes!)
If you are passionate about your business idea, and are willing to sacrifice time, money, and effort with the risk that you may never be successful or profit from it, then you may be ready to throw yourself into business. You’re ready to get uncomfortable and challenge yourself in a completely different way.
But if you want a safer environment, with benefits, and predictability, then maybe starting a business isn’t right for you (at this time.)
We Wild Women dream of becoming entrepreneurs and to make it big in the business world, but it can be one hell of a ride trying to make those dreams come true — you might struggle with not being bold enough to do what it takes or you have no idea how hard the grind is. That’s where we’re here to tell you that if you really want this you better get your perseverance boots on girlfriend, grab your wild horse and jump on. You might look back a few times, but once you make it into the sunlight you’ll be glad you made the leap.
There’s no denying that it takes incredible dedication, discipline, and hard work to survive, let alone make it in the business world. However, running our own business also allows you to follow your heart and passions as well as empower you enough to do so and it can be the best damn job out there. So if your dream is to become an entrepreneur, it doesn’t matter what you are currently doing, how old you are, and the level of experience that you have, you can begin to walk the entrepreneurial path at any point in your life and totally rock it.
Still unsure even after I (may have) scared you a little. Then the tips below might help you decide:
Value Creation
Entrepreneurship vs. employment = both sides create and deliver value. Regardless of your industry, which company you work for, or what your job is, everyone, even the minions, create some level of value. The core of a business and the core of employment is to create some level of value for the customer. Without value, no one would be in business. People pay for the value you deliver. Every transaction is an exchange of value, so when thinking about your business idea you must ask yourself the question over and over again, does it create value?
Maybe the value is created and delivered differently, but that’s the main similarity between the two paths. Employees make themselves valuable to their boss/company, and entrepreneurs make themselves (their business) valuable for whoever their customer is. If employees can’t provide any sort of value, they won’t be hired. If entrepreneurs can’t provide any sort of value, they won’t have a business, and they wouldn’t be entrepreneurs. It really is that simple.
Learning Process
Whether you are a student getting your first job or an expert in your field, the learning curve will be sharp and intimidating at times. . When you are starting a job, you probably got it because of your education, your specific skills, or your experience. All that was a learning process, all those skills didn’t just come to you. You learned them somehow. You likely have had to learn how to deal with new people, new situations, new everything. Learning is what keeps the pencil sharp, it’s inevitably the foundation for growth.
So whichever path you choose, learning will be necessary. My recommendation is no matter what you decide to do with your life, entrepreneurship or employment, start learning some skills and start looking for new valuable experiences. Find those people that have the wisdom to help you be better, challenge you to get uncomfortable and have experience that you can draw on. These people are the lemons that help you make lemonade.
Sure, there are a lot of entrepreneurs that did not go to any sort of formal school, but trust me, they were hustling 12, 14, even 18 hours a day figuring things out, solving problems, and finding new ways to do old processes. They experience rejection and failure but they get back up and keep pushing. They don’t give up and take those experiences as learning and own their ambition. That’s BIG TIME learning and BIG TIME commitment. .
People Management
If you cannot hold a conversation with someone, how can you expect to work on a team? How can you expect to pass an interview? For entrepreneurs, you need to find a way to make connections.
Listen, I get it. Sometimes people drive you crazy and it is not always easy to deal with them. But people skills are so important in all areas of your life. Meaningful connections feeds our soul, humans are born in tribes. So find yours and make it a focus. Dig deep into how you can exchange value and comfort in connection. Let’s be realistic, you need to be able to communicate in order to survive in this world. Connection is core in business either as an Entrepreneur or employee and if you want to be successful either way, you are going to need these skills.
Understand that being “social” is much different from being “connected”. It goes far beyond what you say. You could be a super social person, but if you are giving off the wrong vibe, then it will be a lot harder to build your credibility. Both introverted and extroverted people can be successful at entrepreneurship. Introverted people although not as social as extroverted people can be very well connected, and this is because they do not go over-the-top with words, they keep it sweet and simple as well as providing that comfort of less talking, more action.
So whatever you decide, know that it will be so important for you to have people skills and create connections that are meaningful. For entrepreneurs, it will help to deal with your future team, investors, sponsors, new deals, and new partners. For employees, it will help you get new jobs, better teamwork, new promotions, and new opportunities. .
How Do You know if you have what It takes to be an entrepreneur?
So you just thought of a kick ass idea that you think could completely transform the world, you know what kind of business you want to start and you’re ready to break into the WILD. You have your motivation and passion in check and are ready to start planning how to execute your business. A renewed energy fills your passion and you jump into those fierce, bold, courageous wild boots (maybe a good stiletto) and you start thinking, “this is the best idea ever, this would totally work.” However, as you go through all the things you need to figure out, you see how much money you’ll need to start your business, you see how much time you need to put into it, and you see that it’ll involve some sacrifices. The “Oh shit moments start happening, I never thought of that, this is way more than I thought, how am I ever going to do that”. There goes that passion it just took a hit right down to dumpsville.
This situation happens too often! I am here to tell you what entrepreneurship really means. One thing is for sure, if you are to become an entrepreneur, your passion for your idea or business HAS TO be greater than your fear of failing. You have to see the endless possibilities and take the barriers as the best case study you’ve ever been up against (the kind that business school doesn’t teach) If fear of failure is the one factor that stops you from starting your business ideas, as hard as it might be to hear entrepreneurship is not for you.
I will tell you what most entrepreneurs do. They see opportunities and they bet on themselves to take advantage of those opportunities. They will take the risks that others will not, and they will find ways to create value for this evolving world we live in.
Lastly, entrepreneurs love the hustle. They thrive in the WILD. They are in love with the hustle, it’s the relationship that they never knew existed . They think hustle, they eat hustle, they sleep hustle. They live that WILD life and don’t look back.
They expect change, and expect it at the moments when it’s least expected. That’s right, girl you will go through a roller-coaster of emotions, new situations, wins, losses. If you ever have done a house renovation, you’ll know what the unexpected feels like. You start opening walls or taking down walls you realize that it’s about to be a lot more work than what you expected. Expect the unexpected.
Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing. If you enjoy and embrace change it can become very interesting and exciting. I look back at all the change I’ve personally been through and have realized it has made me stronger. You will always be in new situations, new phases, new challenges but It will keep your life moving. Let’s just say you’ll never be bored and the status quo doesn’t exist in your world.
One thing is for sure, on the WILD path you might be working anywhere from 12 to 16 hours a day. You will become comfortable with the uncomfortable. Your body and mind will learn how to always be doing something and productivity enters a whole new level.
The entrepreneurial path is definitely not easy, and definitely not for everyone. If you are looking for a linear lifestyle, this path is not for you. Employment could be your thing.
Let’s get real…
Here is what I am going to tell you: think of the lifestyle that you want, your dream lifestyle. What you value the most in your life in terms of career.
Comfortable life. You want/need stability in your life, and you want to live peacefully. You do not want to risk your comfortable life, and you value your free time to be able to relax.
You want to stay moving. You can take on risks, but you decide to bet on yourself and this excites you. You love to work (the kind of work that makes you jump out of your bed in the morning), and you want to keep growing. You are very ambitious, and you can handle being in a position of discomfort. You picture yourself in the WILD thriving and craving for more.
The first statement describes employment. It is an easy path to follow because you know all the steps, and if not, you can find all the steps. You will encounter comfort if you are doing your job right, and it is less likely (but still not impossible) that you will lose your job. You will have a set schedule, and you will know exactly when you switch your mind from work to family (usually 5PM Mondays to Fridays). This depends on the job, but the first statement describes the employee's life.
The second statement describes entrepreneurship. Your schedule is all over the damn place, you are thinking about 100 things at the same time, and you usually don’t know when the next time to relax will be (unless you have booked off vacations, taking a break is an absolute must). Despite this, you love the grind, in fact you crave it. You love this lifestyle, and you love what you are creating is yours. You keep betting on yourself, and although you sometimes get stuck in the lower parts of the roller coaster (I’m convinced that every entrepreneur experiences this) you will encounter really high points of it too. Life is unpredictable and unexpected, but you love everything about it! Embracing your Ambition and dreams is a big part of your thinking. You might be thinking oh shit this is scary, I don’t know if I can handle this or maybe you’re thinking, sign me up and throw me over a pair of those wild women boots.
Both of these worlds can be both rewarding and enjoyable depending on who you are. There is no such thing as “one size fits all” career. That’s why WE WILD WOMEN do what we do, we’re here to help you navigate the WILD once you make that leap.
Entrepreneurs and employees are both necessary in this evolving world, so no matter what path you choose, be confident that you are still valuable to this society. You still have the potential to be successful (in your own authentic way), and you do not need to label yourself as either an employee or an entrepreneur to be happy. Remember, no matter where you are in life you can always change career paths.
Sometimes in life we forget what we really value, and we forget that the goal in life is to serve our purpose (whether that’s as an employee, entrepreneur, mother, sister, spouse) and follow our passions and dreams. If you are still confused, go back to the basics and make that list. You do not need to know what exactly you are going to do, but you can start by writing down what you value in life, what you don’t like, and what you love to do or would LOVE to do. Whatever you decide make sure to follow your passions and interests. Your future is in your control, take charge of it and make your dream a reality. If you don’t know what that is, don’t beat yourself up over it. If you take the leap into the WILD of entrepreneurship it might turn out to be the kind of thing you’ve always longed for, the one that allows you to live the dream in the wild.
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Photo: Cayley Nossiter
