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Today I will reach to the end with my discussion to Steve Pavlina’s article „10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job“. Here are the final arguments from Steve.

8. An inbred social life

Many people spend much time together with their colleagues. I do not mean only working time, but evenings and weekend as well. Usually you do not choose your co-workers (if you are not at the managerial position) so you will not choose the people you are socializing with. You just get hired to one department and after that you are going to spend much time together with them.

If you are a businessman than you do not have pre-assigned colleagues and you have more choice with whom you are going to spend time together. You have more freedom and you can be together with people you really like.

Actually if you are an employee there is no obligation to spend your leisure time together with your colleagues. For example, I have never spent too much time together with my co-workers from the university. I have always had my friends outside university and I have always preferred them.

The fact that jobs will inbreed your social life applies mainly to people who are not very eager to make friends. It is an easy way to socialize with people, who you are working together with and to participate in all kinds of company parties and activities instead of finding yourself places to go and things to do.

9. Loss of freedom

On many jobs there are detailed job descriptions and employees are strictly told what and when they should and should not do. They may not have control over their working time, they may not choose their working tasks and co-workers. They may even to be told how to dress, talk and move.

On the other hand, being a business man provides you freedom. Nobody will tell you what you have to do. Actually you do not have to do anything (but you will not earn money then). You may wear whatever you like (although what you are wearing will affect your business success).

Although being an employee is more restrictive it suits better to people who are below average in self-discipline, who are not confident to make decisions individually or who want that they are supervised.

10. Becoming a coward

An employee may be dissatisfied with his/her boss, but he usually can’t or does not dare to criticize him much, because it may cost his/her job. Therefore workers may hate their bosses in their hearts but they still will obey them. But this is generating stress and unhappiness. If you are an employee then you will loose your courage.

Fortunately, things are not so dark. Opposing your boss, will not always cost you a job, in some cases it may give you more respect and will have a positive impact on your career progress. You boss will notice you. And even if it costs you a job, then you can get a new one. If you act bravely then it will increase your self-respect which will help you in finding a new job.

To sum all these arguments up, it is not possible to tell what kind of a life should a person live, should he be an employee or start his own business. Everyone is free to make his decision. Being an employee is an easy solution and it is better possibility for people, who are less capable (actually they believe that they are so). Being an entrepreneur requires much effort. Basically every one can do it, if they really want it and if they believe in themselves. But if you do not have enough belief in yourself or will-power then it will not be a good solution for you.

kristjan Business freedom, jobs, leisure time, working time

Photo by The U.S. National Archives

I got an idea of writing this post by reading Steve Pavlina’s article „10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job“. In this post he explains why you should not be a wage earner as it is better idea to start your own business. I personally prefer to be an entrepreneur too, and I am less and less working for pay. At the same time I do not agree that being an employer cannot be a desirable and suitable solution for many people. Many people are not capable of doing business and many people do not want to do it. Let’s take a closer look to Steve’s 10 arguments.

1. Income for dummies

When you are a wage earner then you are getting paid when you are working. You have a certain number of working hours or you have certain tasks to complete. You are only paid for doing them. If you own your business then your business is working for you, your goods are being sold by other salesman and so you can be making money while you are sleeping or snowboarding. In that sense income from employment is active, while income from business is passive.

In fact, income from business is rarely totally passive. You still have to do some work. Even if you have invested your money to other peoples’ businesses then you have to keep your eye on your investment. It takes lot of time to build a business that earns you money. Keep in mind that on the average self-employed works more hours than wage earners. If you start your own business then you have to work very hard in the beginning and it takes time until you will be earning money.

And even if you succeed then it is very difficult to automate your business to the extent that you can be totally passive. Even if you are doing business in internet, then it takes time. For example, it took time for me to write this blog post and upload it. Of course, if you have it running well then you can reduce then number of hours you put in it, but usually the market situation is changing fast and you have to develop your business continuously, which requires your effort.

In the short-run you will be making more money in the paid employment. When you start your own business then it may often happen that in the first one or two years you will not earn any profits.

2. Limited experience

Many people do not start their own businesses as they think that they are not experienced well enough for that. Therefore they will get a job and obtain experience from it and pretend that they will start their own businesses later.

Steve argues that being an employee provides experience for being an employee and that kind of experience is not much use when you want to by a business owner. Most jobs give you experience how to do a specific task well instead of teaching you to how to make money.

I would not underestimate the value of experiences from paid employment although I would agree to Steve to some extent. Your job will develop many different skills for you are clearly some of them are beneficial for starting your own business. I would say that you will need these experiences especially if you are let’s say 20 years old. It is very difficult to start you own business by that time. If you have worked for 5 year in other company then it will be much easier.

Of course it depends on the type of job you have. If you have a job in sales or management then it can be pretty similar to entrepreneurship and it will give you lot’s of experiences. If you are working as a librarian then it will not help you that much. I have being working at the university for 5 years and although my experience is not directly linked to business, I would say that it is useful for my for my business projects.

3. Lifelong domestication

When you have a job then you are taken care of many things. You are provided work tasks and tools, you get regular pay every month, you do not have to deal with accounting, taxes or selling your product.

It may be comfortable for you but at the same time you have to obey the orders from your boss. He decides what you should do and what not to do. To some extent it may be look similar to being a pet or even a slave. You have to obey your master and he takes care of you.

Entrepreneurship gives you freedom. That is one of the main reasons why many people choose to start their own businesses. It is the same for me. I like freedom. I like to make decisions on my own.

But freedom is not so easy. It is not so comfortable. If you make mistakes then they will hurt you more when you are a businessman. If you make a mistake as an employee then you may get fired, but you can usually find another job and until that you can get money from unemployment insurance. If you are a businessman then wrong decision can cost you your investments.

Actually many people prefer to be pets. They are satisfied with moderate income and they enjoy the fact that at 5 PM they can close the door of their office and may forget their jobs until the next morning.

Not everybody is capable of doing business. If you know that you have serious trouble on focusing to the work if your boss is not monitoring you then you would be better of by working for your boss. Business is not for lazy people. But if you want to be lazy then paid employment may provide you an option of living a lazy and comfortable life.

kristjan Business doing business, entrepreneur, freedom