The expectation of entrepreneurs is somehow to promote entrepreneurship. We get invited to give talks at colleges or universities to tell our stories and inspire other people to become entrepreneurs.
I’m a happy entrepreneur. I love what I do but I’ve never always known I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Life just took me on a path to be one and here I am. Yes I do enjoy some of the advantages of being one but I also see the advantages of working for someone and being a professional. I even think there are good reasons to be working for someone else rather than being an entrepreneur.
So for the first time, I’m not going to talk about why you should come out and start your own business. On the flip side, I’m instead going to tell you why you shouldn’t.
These are the things people tell you and why they aren’t right.
1) You will never be rich working for someone else
The world used to be a place where if you wanted to be rich, if you wanted to own a Ferrari or live a luxurious lifestyle you HAVE to start and own your own business. You will never be rich working for someone else. While that may be true in the past, that is no longer the case now.
Professionals today earn more than ever before. I know of investment bankers in Singapore who earn S$500,000 a year or even up to S$1,000,000. They’re young, have a lot of disposable income and drive some really nice cars. S$1,000,000 a year in gross pay is more than most entrepreneurs (especially SMEs) bring in.
Perhaps it’s because of the growth in productivity, or knowledge per worker or the effects of technology. Professionals today have the capacity to earn an insane amount of money without having to take the business risks many other entrepreneurs will have to take. Couple that with the demand of talent in our job markets, it makes it very very easy for someone with decent skills to leave a job now and find another one. Because there is huge demand for talent.
So it’s no longer true that you have to be an entrepreneur to be rich. Heck it’s not even true that professionals will never be billionaires. Look at Steve Balmer or Eric Schmidt. Both professionals…. both billionaires. They just found great companies to work for and grew with them.
2) I want to start a business because I want to have more flexibility
This is only true for limited cases. Yes it’s true that if you start a business with the intention to generate moderate income that yes you can find a good time balance and have more flexibility.
However if you’re starting a business with an ambition to make it big. Flexibility is not something you will have. Sure you don’t have enforced office hours or a boss that pushes you to work. But you work when your client needs you. You work when your team needs you. You work when your company needs you and it doesn’t matter if it’s a weekend, your son’s birthday or your birthday. You work when you need to. That isn’t flexibility.
I have never met a successful entrepreneur who works 9AM-5PM. So time flexibility isn’t something you will really have.
3) I want to do what I’m passionate about
Passion is something that drives a lot of entrepreneurs but it’s not something that is exclusive to entrepreneurs. I know a lot of professionals who are really passionate about their jobs or their company or their industry.
My friend Suet Li has been working for Teach for Malaysia for years and she’s passionate about teaching and the education system. No less passionate than an entrepreneur would be about his or her business.
The only difference is that as a professional if you lose your passion in something you can make a switch to something else that you might find passion in
As an entrepreneur you can’t afford to lose that passion. Once you’re committed you’re in there. You have to see it through.
4) It’s a great time to start a business
Yes there are factors today that make it really conducive to start a business. There is a lot of capital available, looking to fund great businesses and great entrepreneurs.
But there are also other factors that make it a very very difficult time to start a business. The world economy we live in right now is more open than it has ever been in the whole world. That means in most industries you go into, chances are a behemoth from a large market like the US or China has the ability to come in and challenge you with more resources than you could possibly have. They don’t have to play fair too.
We also live in a world where technology is rapidly changing and quickly disrupting many many markets. The disruptors in this world quickly become the disruptees. Take the Blackberry for example. It became one of the first smartphone many people had. It made e-mail seem like text messages to us. Giving us a whole new reason to use our phones.
Then the iPhone came along and disrupted the Blackberry. Who knows what might come and disrupt the iPhone some day. If Blackberry, a company that was once worth $70 billion a few years ago is now worth a small fraction of that, who’s to say any company can’t and won’t be disrupted.
It is also a hard time to find talent. Multinationals are constantly competing with you for the best talent, for the best people you can hire and they’ll be competing with you now more than ever before. Ironically these are the same reasons that make it a great time to be an employee over an employer.
5) If I don’t try now, I never will
Inspirational quotes that we often see in social media tend to promote this. That if we don’t try something then how do we know we’re not capable of doing it.
I agree with that notion. We don’t know what we’re capable of until we actually try. However I feel this somehow motivates people to skip to the WHEN (do I start a business) and forget the WHY.
Why do you want to start a business? Why do you want to be an entrepreneur? Is it money? Because I just explained above that you can make money either ways.
Is it flexibility? I also just explained that above. Is it fame? Well being a successful entrepreneur isn’t the most straightforward way to fame.
Then why?
I was at a conference once and they had Donald Trump speak through a video conference. He said not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur. He knows people who have been professionals all their lives and are very successful.
So why do you want to be an entrepreneur? There isn’t a right or wrong answer to this. There is only your answer but what I’m advocating here isn’t the answer. I’m advocating that we really think about the answer and decide if that’s what we really really want.
I’m not saying don’t be an entrepreneur (heck I’m happy being one). I’m saying there are great merits too of being a professional.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space