Lately, there have been a lot of campaigns and movements pushing for entrepreneurship among Filipinos. That is a good thing. Our country needs more entrepreneurs. While I support that, I also believe that not everyone should become an entrepreneur.
I am an entrepreneur myself, but I had also been an employee. I started off as an employee, became an entrepreneur, went back to the corporate world as an employee, became a freelancer, and then turned into a full-fledged entrepreneur. My conclusion: I am better off as an entrepreneur. You may try this route and see what works for you. Or you can go through this list of why you should not even try entrepreneurship.
Reason #1: Don’t be an entrepreneur if you want regular income.
If there is one thing that defines an entrepreneur, especially during the first few years, it is not having fixed, predictable income. There could be months when you don’t know how to make payroll, can’t pay suppliers, and have to max out your credit cards to keep the roof over your head and put food on the table. Do you like that?
I admit there were times in the past when our cash flow was so tight it was so tempting to return to corporate life, but thank God those days are over (and hopefully will never return – but then again, business is unpredictable). If you don’t want to handle this kind of stress, don’t be an entrepreneur.
Reason #2: Don’t be an entrepreneur if you want a fancy office.
If you like the trappings of your corporate life – corner office, company car, business suit, expensive lunches, etc. – forget entrepreneurship. Sure, if your business gets bigger, you can afford these trappings. Or not. Be prepared to work at a small office where you’re packed like sardines with your employees. Or maybe work at your kitchen table. If you want ambiance, you can always work at Starbucks or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
My business attire nowadays is polo shirt and jeans (long-sleeved shirt and jeans if I’m meeting clients). I do charge legitimate business expenses like fuel, Internet and phone bills, and lunch outs to our company (after all, my wife and I often talk about business when we eat out). I work from home, our office, and yes, Starbucks or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. If you can’t see yourself this way, don’t be an entrepreneur.
Reason #3: Don’t be an entrepreneur if you need a lot of resources.
Are you used to having a large marketing budget or working with a team of Ateneo-educated officers? You may have a hard time adjusting to the cash-strapped small business life. Forget print ads or billboards, think Google or Facebook ads.
Don’t expect to hire graduates from topnotch schools. You can’t get first draft picks, at least at the onset. Settle with second-tier or third-tier schools. (My advice: ignore which school they come from. What’s a lot more important is attitude.) If you need a lot of resources to run a business, don’t be an entrepreneur.
Reason #4: Don’t be an entrepreneur if you need a lot of structured time.
Employees work from Mondays to Fridays, from 8:30am to 5:30pm. Sure many go overtime. But generally, work ends when they leave the office. And Fridays really are semi-weekends. On Saturdays and Sundays, many turn into weekend warriors. Holidays and vacation leaves are precious.
I work on weekends. I work at night. I work during public holidays. I don’t have leaves. Yet, I can also goof off when I don’t feel like working. I can wake up any time I want to (usually 8am). I can binge-watch Netflix the entire Wednesday afternoon. We can go to the mall and watch a movie in the middle of the day. We can go out of town on a Wednesday. We can go on long vacations any time of the year. If you want your time to be neatly organized, don’t be an entrepreneur.
Reason #5: Don’t be an entrepreneur if you want stability over control.
If you are an employee, you don’t have complete control over your time, income, co-workers, and job security. Of course, if you’re a star employee, you can get more of those. But it’s not guaranteed. Even if you’re the CEO, your job is not 100% safe. But if you work in a stable company in a stable economy and you’re performing well, control is not a big issue. So stay where you are.
But if you want full control over when you work, how much you hope to earn, whom you want to work with, and making sure you have work, entrepreneurship is the way to go. Sure, sometimes you have to work long hours even if you don’t want to, or take on projects you don’t like with people you dislike even more. But it is all up to you, not your boss, not the HR head, not your board of directors, not anyone else but you. If you want your life to be stable even if you don’t have full control, don’t be an entrepreneur.
Photo by Kevin Bhagat on Unsplash
