Should you work for someone else, or should you start a business? Which is better of the two options?
For me, there’s no right or wrong answer, but rather, deciding on which way to go is a matter of personal choice and what your goals are in life. Some are perfectly content to work for someone else — and that is good. While others wants to be their own boss and start their own business — and that is also good. The key is to do what you think will make you happy.
If you are unsure whether you may be better off as an entrepreneur, I suggest you ask yourself the following 11 questions:
1. Do you have a strong desire to be independent and be your own boss, not taking orders from others and relying on your own talents. Can you move on your own without waiting for someone to push you?
2. Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny? Do you want the chance to work at something you enjoy, because of a desire for security in the form of steady income?
3. Do you have significant specialized business ability based on both your education and your experience. Do you also love the challenge of pitting your resources and skills against the environment?
4. Are you willing to take reasonable risks and handle the pressure that results from a degree of insecurity?
5. Do you have an ability to conceptualize the whole of a business; not just its individual parts, but how they relate to each other? Are you an individual who always comes up with new ideas?
6. Do you have an inherent sense of what is “right” for a business and have the courage to pursue it? Do you believe in giving priority to getting the job done?
7. Is one or both of your parents entrepreneurs; calculated risk-taking runs in the family?
8. Is your life characterized by a willingness and capacity to persevere? Do you welcome the responsibility that goes to owning a business?
9. Do you recognize that much of your success will depend on how well you deal with people?
10. Do you possess a high level of energy, sustainable over long hours to make the business successful?
11. Do you have a powerful drive to accumulate wealth, and the opportunity to earn far more than you ever could working for others?
If you answer YES to the above questions, then you may have a good fit with entrepreneurship. You definitely have the “entrepreneurial personality.” If not, you may feel safer and more comfortable working for someone else and being an employee may be your calling.
You may want to read an article I wrote a few years ago yet remains relevant today “The Entrepreneurial Personality”
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