by Dan Greenland

Created on: February 09, 2009   Last Updated: February 19, 2009

Is it better to work for an established employer or be self-employed?

Many arguments can be made for both sides of this debate, each certainly has its advantages. An established employer generally provides an easier work environment. The job is defined, your responsibilities are defined. You know what your job is and what is expected of you in that position. You do not have to concern yourself with other aspects of the business. But herein lies the problem of working for someone else. Especially for those of us that have business degrees and have some experience managing a business, inevitably there will come a time when your employer asks you to do something that you feel is not beneficial to the business, or is simply wrong, or unethical. As the owner of your own business you are able to make all the decisions.

Although I support the notion of self employment, it comes with many challenges. One of the biggest pushes to become self employed is the thought that you can work when you want. If you start a new business with this mentality, your business will most likely fail. It takes a lot of work to get a business up and running. Successful entrepreneurs many times work twelve hour days or better and lose sleep over how to solve problems, or initiate policy. Because every facet of the business is on you the stress is overwhelming at times. If the business fails it could be contributed to any one of hundreds of decisions made by the owner.

But with the stakes being this high, the rewards are sweeter. One of those hundred decisions could catapult the business to new heights and you could be touted as a business genius. With success comes the rewarding decisions; decisions that otherwise would be out of your hands. Business ownership gives you the independence and opportunity to truly help the community or other charitable causes. You are able to treat your employees as you see fit. Many times raises come much faster in small businesses than in large corporations because the owner can pay an employee what he/she feels they are worth rather than relying on set policy pertaining to employee raises.

In the end this comes down to the individual. If you have the time, the desire, the ambition, and the motivation entrepreneurship can be very lucrative and very rewarding. However, if you are working for a company you like and they pay you well and you like the schedule; you probably have no reason to venture out on your own. Many successful entrepreneurs do it because they are fed up with the employers they have had and they have the drive to make their own business different.

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