Stable jobs vs Entrepreneurship (part 2)

It’s round 2 of this series and the last one at that. We talked about how entrepreneurship beats stable jobs in the previous post of this series. If you haven’t read it, read it here. You can even finish reading this article, and then go read the other post; it isn’t in any particular order.

So, without further ado, let’s begin.

10 ways how stable jobs beats entrepreneurship –

1. Stability –

I’m talking about that salary you’ve been assigned by a company you work for. Sometimes, salary becomes an important factor in many people’s lives. Even though the drive to become an entrepreneur is strong in them, the circumstances will make a lot of people pick regular day jobs, simply because the pay is guaranteed, unless your work at the office is really bad and you might get laid off.   There are other factors to why you might get laid off, but chances are, that salary is going to stay for a while.

Entrepreneurship might not yield you the same amount of profits that you earned last year; it is never stable.

2. Lesser stress –

Don’t even get me started on the lifestyle of an entrepreneur. When you’re building a company from scratch, there’s a LOT of work to do. So, entrepreneurs stress themselves to the core, both physically and mentally.

These conditions don’t exist with the ones who have picked stable jobs. You do your job and let other departments worry about the rest.  Yes, there is a lot of stress too; but is that comparable to the stress of an entrepreneur ?    I’ll leave you to think about it.

3. Better Relationships –

Here’s what I observed while I was talking to a friend who had decided to take the entrepreneurial plunge, and was 6-7 months into it. He had cut off most relationships; friends, family and colleagues.  Only the ones really close to him remained in his circle. I even got him to talk to me because I hounded him for an interview for this very post.

His relationships had all died; most of them, atleast.

Imagine the scenario if he had picked a regular day job. He would probably be out with his family that weekend, enjoyed regular coffee hang-outs with his friends, no matter how close they are, in the hopes of building a good professional network.  All of this comes LATER in an entrepreneur’s life. That initial, long period is a nightmare.

4. Focus on what you do best –

Those who picked stable jobs don’t have to worry about other jobs, like marketing, or sales, or the design aspects. They just do what they were assigned to do and let other people in the corporation worry about the rest.

But, here, in the life of an entrepreneur, you take care of almost all aspects in your company. Ranging from sweeping, designing, getting coffee (for yourself, and your partners), marketing, sales, etc.,

You might be a very good programmer and you start a software company; then, you end up spending most of your time in marketing and sales, instead of actually doing what you love – programming.

5. Knowledge of the industry –

Initially, when I wanted to start a blog and turn that into a business, I didn’t know anything about the necessary steps that I should’ve taken. Then, I hung out with a couple of bloggers who used to blog since 5-6 years. Their intentions behind their blogs were far different from mine; but I learned what I was supposed to do. I learned so much during those 2-3 weeks of spending time with them ( this included the ways of writing, discussing ideas, and how to brainstorm ).

Ofcourse, I would’ve learned the same all by myself; but I know I couldn’t have figured out all that in a span of 2-3 weeks. That period of employment exposes you to certain ways and tactics to maneuver in whatever industry you’re in; You gain that knowledge in a very short time. In your startup, it would take a lot more.

6. Lesser Risk –

Entrepreneurship is prone to a lot of risk, unlike stable jobs. There is no guarantee that you will start making an “x” amount of money after “y” amount of days, or even years. Even the brightest marketing executive can only approximately predict when sales would reach its peak for a startup.

Nowadays, even these “stable” jobs are susceptible to a lot of risk, given the statistics of the number of people let go (without any fault of the employee, that is). So, this is a matter of the degree of risk when you compare employment and entrepreneurship. Will you lose more if you lose a job,  or if you fail to do business as an entrepreneur ?

7. No capital investment –

No stable job that most people hunt for requires a down payment of a certain amount. If that was the case, most people would probably look into entrepreneurship instead.  Whereas, when you’re an entrepreneur, you need to invest a certain amount of money to run the business initially. That amount of money can probably sky rocket in the initial phase itself without proper research, and chances are you can’t afford that kind of money; and you give up. Even when there is proper research, you realize you can’t invest that kind of money and you give up even before the initial stage.

Some might find friends who are willing to invest without all the legal implications, or some might find investors; those are different cases. But not all startups function that way. If they DO find that kind of money, then we just roll back to point 6.

8. Social Credentials –

Humans are social animals. We crave for other people’s good opinions. And in this modern culture, that craving has gone up so much, that people sacrifice dreams to pursue something they don’t really like.

In a culture of this kind, losing in business is not an option ! That cousin has a stable job at an MNC; what do failure entrepreneurs have ? One of a kind, amazing, life changing experience ? Because that is exactly what will gain you your social status ! (sarcasm intended)

No matter how many times we say that society is wrong to impose their will on us, we will find a way to improve our social status, because we’re also hypocritical and we do care about what people say. In the end, we’re all social animals.

So, go get that job at the IT company your aunt suggested.

9. You lose this, you gain another –

You lose a job in that firm you were working at since 5 years, you can easily get a new one in another firm, and that’s only a matter of time. That is not the case with entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship is like playing poker. You have to keep making bets to stay in the game. If you win, you live to fight another day;  you lose, then you just lose a huge chunk of your money. At some point, you’ll have to go all in. If you win, then great !! But if you lose,  how long will it take for you to get back up ? Will you even have the power and money to get back up ?

Do you really need all that pain ? Some people do. Some opt for the safer option.

10.  Lesser risk, again –

This time, we’ll compare human relations and employment itself. When you’re in a job (most jobs), all you have to do is do your job; yes we’ve already talked about that. BUT when you’re an entrepreneur, not only are you supposed to do your job in building your company, you’ll have to maintain healthy relations with all your partners and employees.

When you’re in a startup stage, you cannot afford to lose skilled people and build an appropriate reputation. At that stage, everyone is your best friend and a potential networking opportunity. The networking holds good throughout your life as an entrepreneur.

What I’m saying is, not everyone are skilled at that. The art of befriending people, and the art of attracting the A and the A+ grade people to their company to make it work requires more than just talent, and a lot of work, and a lot of headache.   Sometimes, all you need in life is peace ; and people just opt for a regular day job for that.

If you still haven’t read part 1 of this series, read it here.

The debate hasn’t ended. There is always an argument regarding this topic. So, do share your thoughts on this – leave a comment below.

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