Entrepreneurship vs. working for somebody else
I’m about half-way through my business school experience and so far, it has been a good one. I have learned a tremendous amount and I feel content and secure with that. However, as I look to the horizon with the end of all this coming into view, I can’t help but wonder at where it all leaves me.
My primary ambition is to own my own business entity. That could be something that eventually becomes a large company employing a large number of people, or, it could be just me, working on a singular basis for a select group of clients. Honestly, I think I would enjoy certain aspects of both.
The benefits of entrepreneurship are clear: With self-guided business strategy and not having to answer to a boss, you eat what you kill. While that my be too intimidating for some, I think I would enjoy it. It is however, a very risky and a very difficult way to live. Nothing is guaranteed and most businesses fail. That is statistically proven. But some businesses thrive, and those that do achieve a level of success and prestige that they earned and are entitled too.
On the other hand, working for a company isn’t all bad, In fact, its what the overwhelming majority of people do. While I didn’t experience this in my first couple jobs, it is possible (reportedly) to be wildly productive and achieve financial success while working in another person’s organization. Large public companies have substantial financial resources and established market share. They offer what a start-up cannot, namely job security.
Entrepreneurship seems to be a reflection of risk-tolerance. I wonder if attraction to risk is a learned trait or something derived from a person’s genetics. Either way, risk is fun:) Staying on the well-trodden path is not:(
these are interesting observations. I have acouple of comments. One is that there is a “middle road” that I have personally seen sucessful entrepreneurs follow. Thay have gone to work for others after their education is finished, not in the financial industries, learned a market and been able to see better ways of doing things, started businesses to do that, and been very successful. Secondly, the realization that you can earn money on your own, doing something directly for clients and customers yourself, is exhilerating and liberating. Thirdly, recovering from a venture that doesn’t work out and moving on to the next opportunity is not as hard as it seems, and people respect entrepreneurs and want them on their teams. I have seen entreprenuers start businesses on a small sclae with good ideas, little or no seed capital of their own put in, and grow these businesses to valuable enterprises. They’ve started as consultants to industries they’ve gotten to understand (see #1 above) or, gotten customers to fund their first products.