Does anyone work for themselves or wish that they did?

Fabio KTG

Fabio KTG

Fractal Fanatic
I've just started working for my mum's business after finishing my first year of Uni and I don't half envy her. She's been doing it 12 years now and I never knew how easy her life is compared to mine. It's got me questioning my future now and thinking about starting my own business. Aren't half of the top Fortune 500 companies run by college/University drop-out's?

Any thought?
 
15+ year small biz owner here and my take is finish your education first. In the grand scheme of life, a few years is nothing. You could also plan or work towards building your biz while going to school (in most cases). Obviously a huge bonus if you can get a degree in the field that interests you. "Knowledge is power". Cheese I know but it's so true. I'm not saying you can't accomplish your goals w/o the education but having an education under your belt before starting anything can make things easier as you build or if things go south.

Geeze, I sound like my parents as I ran off to California after High School. Did I listen? Of course not! \m/
 
Me and my wife run a PR Agency now for 10 years. I never ever want to go back to be somebody's worker/clerk.
But, like Narzugon said, finish your Education first.
People who know nothing - have to believe everything. And a Good Education is your most important investment, when settling for own business.
 
I have owned several small businesses over the years. I have also worked for 30 years at one of the largest aerospace companies in the world. There are advantages and disadvantages with both. I agree with Narzugon and funkstation. Get your education. If you have some idea on what type of business you would like to someday start/own then maybe you can make decisions with regards to a curriculum and degree that would be beneficial in that field.

With that said, I have met many brilliant people with no formal education that have become very successful. I have also met plenty with degrees that are morons at best. A college degree doesn't "guarantee" anything with regards to knowledge or skill level. It does however demonstrate that the person set goals and took the time to follow through and achieve them. In todays world many businesses won't even talk to you without one. I have seen many brilliant job candidates get rejected in lieu of lesser applicants simply because they did not have the sheepskin.

Take the time now to get your education while you are young. It cannot hurt. I went back to school when I was 25. That 8 year gap between high school and college did me no favors.:)
 
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Well as a physician I spent eon's in school. It has paid off. As far as working for yourself which is a different debate, for sure if its the right situation. One can never truly be happy working for the man. There will always be questions of the "man's" intentions, and you will always be first to suffer, as it should be. When you own, you make the rules decisions and you come first. Now is this doable, feasible or even lucrative? That just depends. Ive worked for large companies, with layers of bosses, it's not fun. However, if you are top notch and they depend on you, then you have the best of both worlds, you help call the shots, and get the security, while not having to worry if you are going to have a business at all in the future. You take no risk, but get some of the rewards.

In reality it just depends. While you are young TAKE RISKS, FAIL A FEW TIMES, GET EXPERIENCE, then decide what is best.
 
“An entrepreneur is someone who works 80h/week to avoid working 40h/week for someone else”. Running your own business is not for everyone but if it is for you, there’s just nothing better. People often quote security as the reason they want a job, or why they stay in a job. The problem is that as an employee you’re never in charge of your own security. In my last job, and I really enjoyed working there, a couple of times they fired the most experienced person in a team they had to downsize because the one who’s been there a long time with most experience is also often the highest paid. And they reckoned that someone else will fill their shoes if given an opportunity.

Almost everyone I know that runs their own business work A LOT. Often in the order of 80h a week. I told my wife when we met that I work all the time. If you want us to go for a walk or something, tell me and I’ll drop everything and we can go for a walk then and there (and I do). But if we’re at home and not doing anything I’m going to be working. Now, if you love what you do, and I do, then working all the time is fun, rewarding and overall just great. But if you don’t like it, it can feel like a prison (have a chat to someone in retail who is not successful and you’ll see). To me it’s like a magnifying glass, however it is, it’s like 10x more when it’s your own business - the good, the bad and the ugly.

The way to deal with security is to build a buffer. Depending on your situation I’d say that 1 year is a good buffer. That is - you set aside enough money so that you can sustain yourself for at least 1 year if everything turns bad. The reasoning here is that In reality it’ll probably take you 3-6 months to first notice that this isn’t a fluke (depending on type of business you’re going to have a lot more ups and downs where again the ups are 10x what you can expect as an employee and then 10x worse as well), and then figure out that you can’t turn it around. That will then give you another 6 months or so to figure out what to do, start another business or get a job, join the army or whatever. The same should also ring true obviously if you get a job. Prepare that you can be fired at any point and build yourself a buffer to cover you comfortably until you know you can get another job, I’d say 3-6 months buffer at least.

So yeah, if you find something you love to do that you can make money doing. Go for it. You’ll soon figure out if running a business is something for you. If it is, you are going to love it. And if you don’t, you can now enjoy the steady income that comes with a job and so on, knowing that you’ve actively selected this path. And just because you pick one now doesn’t mean that you’re stuck with it for the rest of your life either.

Go for it!
 
I've been working for myself for the past 8 years, successfully relocated across the world, set up again, and need to go back for unrelated reasons.

There are physical factors in play. The body recovers better when you are younger and the reason learning is easier when you are fresh out of school is because you are still in that frame of mind, not for any neuroscientific reason. If you have the opportunity to travel the world, do so. The first time I went around the world I was a little reluctant. This is my third time now. Working for myself in the field that I have chosen affords me the time and money to do so.

I went to college after taking a year out, got the highest results possible, and then travelled. If I had gotten a job in my field straight from college I can say with huge certainty that I would be stuck in a job I hate for no other reason than I didn't give myself the time to figure out what I wanted to do.

Education can always come later. There are more and more people out there retraining at a later age because they have been made redundant from a job they assumed was for life. There is no such thing any more outside of the civil service. I have a 56 year old student who has just signed up to train as a barrister. Another 48 year old mum is doing her finals and is training to become a clinical psychologist. I trained first as an audio engineer, then did a further specialism in acoustics all because I was under the impression that music was too unstable an occupation. I have been teaching music privately full time for 8 years now (having been self taught and qualified through the RGT) and would not go back. Education is important, but it's not the most important thing an employer will look for, and if you are judged purely on your results, chances are they will be a pretty piss poor employer. Many will take a 2.1 degree in favour of a first because while a first indicates knowledge of the subject, it tends to be a little 'bookish' for adaptability. A 2.1 can be preferred. Experience trumps education however. For example, in WETA just around the corner they will take applicants and train them themselves rather than people who have degrees in art or graphic design. One girl I know was an architect from the US. Another a high school drop out. The people interviewing them recognised a wherewithal that trumped education, and their most celebrated model maker never qualified from art school and was headhunted by WETA. These people have worked on District 9, The Hobbit films, Elysium.... the list goes on.

My sincere advise is to take some time out of college and do something else. If you are having these questions while you are only one year in Uni, imagine how big these questions will be when you are 40 or 50, when time has run shorter and you will have a lot of other responsibilities?

A persons outlook is influenced hugely by their environment. Academia will always recommend education. By changing your environment for a period of time you will gain a better overall perspective and be happier in the long run.
 
Oh, and in regards to Uni. I’d say absolutely finish your university degree. You’ll never know when that piece of paper might come in handy (like being put in a different category when applying for visa in another country if you want to live abroad for a while, and completely unrelated things like that).

And to BigD1977’s point of taking time out from Uni. I’ve see the same in regards to what employee’s look for but I’d argue the opposite point. You don’t necessarily have to work in the field you’re studying. Unless you’re getting a law degree or becoming a doctor or something that is very specific that requires a university degree in order to be able to do it. Often it would be more valuable to an employer that you’d finish your degree in marketing when you get a job as a programmer than if you didn’t. And I absolutely agree that you can always retrain and re-educate later. But I’d say finish Uni now.
 
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I've been running a music school for 9 years. Prior to that I was pushing trolleys round a hospital. I say find something you can do that you can charge money for, and just jump in; you'll figure out the rest as you go. If you can work on the business while you're still earning from a regular job, this will provide security until you are in a position to go full time with it.
 
Fabio KTG said:
She's been doing it 12 years now and I never knew how easy her life is compared to mine. It's got me questioning my future now and thinking about starting my own business.

Any thought?
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I've run my own business for 15 years now.

I work from 8am till 2am. The stress is enormous, and the lack of sleep is a killer. I answer between 5-600 emails a week, mostly from tire-kickers.
I have one part time employee. He's slow as a glacier, but he's very precise. I'd liek another employee or two, but finding people capable of doing the work is nearly impossible. Took me years to train him.

It's a good thing I love my job.
 
Womac911 said:
I've run my own business for 15 years now.

I work from 8am till 2am. The stress is enormous, and the lack of sleep is a killer. I answer between 5-600 emails a week, mostly from tire-kickers.
I have one part time employee. He's slow as a glacier, but he's very precise. I'd liek another employee or two, but finding people capable of doing the work is nearly impossible. Took me years to train him.

It's a good thing I love my job.
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You do know you're ruining your health, right? 5 hours of sleep per day (if that) will do you in eventually.
 
plexi59 said:
You do know you're ruining your health, right? 5 hours of sleep per day (if that) will do you in eventually.
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I lasted a year on 5 hours sleep a night. I quit because I got severely run down and developed an internal abscess that took six months to heal and resulted in a cancer scare. I smelled the coffee very early about the work life balance, even though I love what I do. No amount of money is worth going through that again. Nowadays I work on average 5 hours a day. My wife is very happy. :)
 
BigD1977 said:
I lasted a year on 5 hours sleep a night. I quit because I got severely run down and developed an internal abscess that took six months to heal and resulted in a cancer scare. I smelled the coffee very early about the work life balance, even though I love what I do. No amount of money is worth going through that again. Nowadays I work on average 5 hours a day. My wife is very happy. :)
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The thing is, it also depends on what is meant by "work". Maybe in this case the work is mattress and pillow testing. I could do that 12 hours a day, though sleeping for 5 hours afterwards might be a challenge. :) When it comes to anything intellectually difficult, no one can concentrate for more than 3-4 hours a day. The rest is usually spent mindlessly reading / answering emails or dicking around on internet forums. So when e.g. an engineer tells me "I work 12 hour days", what I hear is "I can't manage my time, so I work 2 hours a day (because I'm constantly exhausted) and dick around for 10 hours (adding to the exhaustion)".
 
The big drawback for me is the liability of employees. Having to deal with HR issues is a drag, but defending an incompetent professional is really a drag. I like it other than some of the employees.

I have about 4 to 6 hours during which I get most things done, which is usually technical work. The rest is answering emails and doing BD or dealing with admin stuff. I try to keep it all in 8 hour day except one or two days a week when I'll work a few extra, either at home or in the office. I used to work way too many hours but I burned out on that a long time ago.
 
plexi59 said:
The thing is, it also depends on what is meant by "work". Maybe in this case the work is mattress and pillow testing. I could do that 12 hours a day, though sleeping for 5 hours afterwards might be a challenge. :) When it comes to anything intellectually difficult, no one can concentrate for more than 3-4 hours a day. The rest is usually spent mindlessly reading / answering emails or dicking around on internet forums. So when e.g. an engineer tells me "I work 12 hour days", what I hear is "I can't manage my time, so I work 2 hours a day (because I'm constantly exhausted) and dick around for 10 hours (adding to the exhaustion)".
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Agreed! When I became run down I was working on building sites and studying music in my spare time. Nowadays I teach for an average of 5 hours a day, but being honest, I spend another 2 hours compiling resources, tailoring them to the individuals, planning lessons for my students, records and admin........ I actually don't count forum time or answering emails.
 
plexi59 said:
You do know you're ruining your health, right? 5 hours of sleep per day (if that) will do you in eventually.
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Yep, I know. 5 hours/night in generous. I'm one of those who can't fall asleep right away. It usually takes me an hour to get to sleep. I'm usually woke up about 6:30 with other people moving around the house.
 
I have long time friends that went on to start their own business and have been wildly successful. I've considered it a few times, but the number one thing that keeps me from doing it is being very aware of who I am as a person and not only accepting it, but using that knowledge to my best advantages.

For example I am a horrible boss. Actually that's not exactly true; everyone who's ever worked for me has had great things to say about me after the fact, but during the time they are working for me I can be a real hard ass. I expect you to be productive while you are on the clock and I will tell you if you aren't. I think that's fair. But where I am not fair is that I have real issues with trusting people to do what I ask them to do exactly how I want it to be done. I've got one guy who is working for me on a massive project right now that I trust unequivocally. That trust took about 15 years to develop. Everyone else is pretty much a schmuck in my book and I hate having that feeling.

I also don't like dealing with the human element that much. I don't care how you feel or how invested you are in something if I don't agree with it. This is one that I've struggled with for years, but basically if I think that something is stupid and I have the power to change it I will change it and you will go with it or be gone. In the professional world that is called being a dick. No one wants to work for a dick. I also don't care about your sick kid, dog, cat, neighbor's second cousin on his mother's side, etc. Then again maybe I do care a bit, but I don't want to have to care if that makes any sense. I want to do my job and not have anyone get in my way of doing it.

And that's why I like where I am at right now. I started this job about 2 years ago and it took about a year for them to figure out how to best utilize my skillset and for me to find my place in the office. Basically if something comes down that is a mess or has a short suspense it comes to me now. I just got my annual review and basically I was told that my job is to kill projects; not to destroy them but to get them done and off the books and even though I feel like I'm an ass at times I get things done and it's highly appreciated. Basically they put a quarter in me and watch me go and it seems to be a really good situation for all of us.

I think that part of the reason that it works is that I have restrictions placed on me because I'm not the final authority on everything, but I push right up to the limits....anything after that point I just don't have to worry about because I simply cannot control it. There's some freedom in that.

I don't know if any of that makes sense. I'm just trying to say that being your own boss or working for someone else is not just a matter of having a good idea or even the ability, but knowing yourself and how you deal with things. I'm the biggest micro manager in the world and will just push people out of the way and do it myself rather than let someone do it differently or even learn by failure. That's a personality trait that isn't conducive to managing a successful business the scale in which I would have to own in order to do what I need. So I just focus on challenges I'm given and do them the best that I can; but more importantly I have the ability to control it and to focus on the work without all of the other clutter that comes with running a business.
 
When I am wearing my "boss shoes", my main focus is to create and maintain inspiration and motivation.
These are the hardest to create and easiest to kill.

If you have motivated people you can reach the sky, however it will never happen with a whip.
 
shasha said:
I have long time friends that went on to start their own business and have been wildly successful. I've considered it a few times, but the number one thing that keeps me from doing it is being very aware of who I am as a person and not only accepting it, but using that knowledge to my best advantages.
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You don't seem like that hard ass here. IIRC you're always middle of the road pointing out each side of the debate. Or at least that's how it's seemed. Is the keyboard your buffer? :)
 
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