The problem of start-your-own-business mentality
“Being your own boss is a dream come true”, “You will only have to work for yourself”, “Quit your job and become your own manager” — if you are a living breathing human, you must have heard this more times that you can count.
In my first year of university I attended a mini conference that was all about entrepreneurship. All sorts of people talking about their success stories, pointing out all the wrong things with having a 9–5 job and how starting your own business is everything you need to aim for. It was very exciting. Since I was 4 all I can remember is wanting to be in medicine or science and helping people hands-on only. So the idea of having your own business that can impact the world sounded new and eye-opening.
Only recently when I looked around I realised how much this mentality can hurt people. This might be an unpopular opinion of mine and I welcome you to challenge it.
Is being your own boss the only way?
I am a fanatic when it comes to motivation, ambition, goal-setting, inner peace and self-realisation. But is it the right thing t0 do to tell everyone that only having your own business will make you truly happy and rich?
Well, obviously we live in the world full of 9–5 people and there is nothing wrong with that. Having a job and working for 8 hours a day is what our society pretty much based on. What it shouldn’t be based on is people not feeling satisfied. People who are constantly disappointed with themselves or their life whether or not they hire or get hired.
Think of it as a body image issue. Being healthy and fit is portrayed like THE dream. Every commercial, every poster features super skinny tall people laughing about how great the cereal is or how much fun they are having on the beach in Fiji.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to improve yourself (I definitely encourage that) but to what point are these expectations realistic and beneficial? Is it encouraged to not like your body just because you don’t have an ‘ideal’ one?
We need factory workers, accountants and nurses. We need good pro-active motivated factory workers, accountants and nurses. More than that, we need happy factory workers, accountants and nurses.
Let’s shift the focus
Why don’t we focus more on how to be happy in your job. On how to find something you want to do and not settle just to say: “I don’t mind my job. I go home and don’t have to think about it and it pays the bills. Plus I guess I have the weekend to look forward to”.
Imagine a nation where we don’t sell mugs with slogans like: “Fri-YAY” and “It is Monday. Don’t talk to me before I get my coffee”.
Why not tell people: Hey! Not starting your own business is totally fucking fine but if you want to, wonderful, either way is amazing! Just like we recently started campaigning about accepting and loving your body in the now, you might have goals and strive to be fitter (read: skinnier) but, hey, either way is amazing!
A lot of people I know think that having your own business is an easy dream where you pretty much sit behind a desk, people do your work, you get paid $10mil a year and you can take unexpected vacations any time you want.
Having your own business is also hard work. It is not 40 but sometimes 80–100 hours of work a week (at least initially). It is having your customers/clients as your bosses. It is struggling financially for the first 1–3 and sometimes 10 years.
Of course, there are exceptions and, of course, it is all worth it but if you are idealising something that you are not willing to put work in, then maybe it is not the right approach.
As a society, we should look after our people. We should look after ourselves.
I am a sucker for a good content piece on entrepreneurial life but I am very aware of how a lot of people around me are not happy with their jobs and there are so many contributors but a prominent one is that they think that starting a company will solve their ‘issue’ (mind though, only a very tiny proportion of people actually do that).
In short, emphasis should be on happy healthy you. A person who sets goals, who is financially eloquent, socially equipped and internally motivated. A person who can choose whether to start their own business or work for someone not because society says it is ‘in’ to have ‘laptop lifestyle’ but because you decide your own path. You decide whether to live miserably and wait for Fri-YAY or wake up and seize each day.
