Entrepreneurship vs employment is something many people debate. If this is where you are right now, it’s important to know that both have pros and cons. Both give you exposure to opportunity and can help you build wealth. And both require self-created opportunities to be truly successful.
Whether you choose entrepreneurship or employment really comes down to your personal preferences and values.
If you’re trying to choose between the two, here’s what you need to know.
How opportunity access differs between employment and entrepreneurship.
Both employment and entrepreneurship will offer a variety of opportunities.
For those who are employed, it is important to look at the role-defined opportunities that will give you access to career advancement. Each role can have a specific career trajectory and knowing yours will help you build a better success strategy.
What kind of career advancement do you want? How far up the ladder would you like to travel?
Not everyone wants to be a manager, partner or executive. This is why I created a self assessment for career development. Using it will help you go deeper into your preferences, but you can use the questions below to help you quickly identify your strengths and define your areas for growth within your chosen field of expertise.
Advancement starts with getting to know yourself, then setting a career direction. Once you have your bigger vision, it will be easier to build your strategy for personal development and professional development.
Ask yourself:
- What is your preferred work style?
- What is your optimal work environment?
- How do you get into flow to improve your productivity?
- How do you learn best when you develop your hard and soft skills?
- What is your ideal role?
- What is stopping you from stepping into that role right now?
- What skills do you need to make the transition?
Your answers will help you build your roadmap for advancement and help you assess which opportunities are best for your personal happiness at work, as well as the direction you want to travel in your field.
When looking at entrepreneurship vs employment, the questions above will also help you narrow down the areas for self-created opportunities and where you need to access professional development as an entrepreneur.
On top of that, it will serve you well if you take the time to:
- Determine your risk tolerance. Not everyone is comfortable with the level of uncertainty that comes with entrepreneurship. If taking risks is difficult for you, it doesn’t need to stop you from running your own business. Purchasing a franchise or an already established business may suit you better.
- Develop resiliency. As an entrepreneur, you will face many obstacles. Your success to get past them will depend on your ability to bounce back when things don’t work out the way you thought they would. How you use the data from those shifts on your path will allow you to build a different strategy to get you where you want to go.
- Build your growth mindset. As a new or even as an established entrepreneur, your focus on personal development and improving your hard and soft skills will make a huge difference to your effectiveness in expanding your business from a start up into a global success.
- Expand your wealth-building mindset. Financial literacy is a must when you are running your own business. Knowing your numbers is everything! You can’t improve what you don’t see and that will affect your profitability. When expanding your wealth-building mindset, it is also important to learn how to diversify your streams of income in business to ensure you don’t have one point of failure. Learning smart money management is crucial for financial success.
Regardless of your choice on the entrepreneurship vs employment path, learning how money works really is the best way to secure a successful financial future, as you work your success strategy and increase your exposure to opportunity.
Bettering your financial education will always serve you. As will income diversification, developing multiple streams of income and exploring all the different ways you can make money. You can have so much fun with it, as you expand your knowledge and financial literacy!
The benefits of opportunity exposure and long-term growth.
I deeply believe that both role-defined opportunities and self-created opportunities rely on your power of association, no matter which path you choose in the entrepreneurship vs employment debate.
Whether it’s career networking or building success as a small business owner, who you know matters.
As an employee, expanding your network inside and outside your industry throughout your career will help you benefit from opportunities for skill and knowledge development, promotions, mentorship, access to unadvertised jobs and so much more.
The benefits of entrepreneurial opportunities also expand with network growth. From client acquisition and referrals to business deals and investment opportunities, the people in your network are a huge resource for building success. The broader your exposure is, the more likely you will be to learn about new industry trends and developments, changes in market trends, technology advancements and how to find solutions to the problems you might face.
As an entrepreneur or employee, developing deeply authentic and mutually beneficial relationships will serve you in both your personal and professional life. Expanding your exposure in your community and your industry can bring more opportunities than you can imagine. It has for me and I know it will for you too!
A Sharon Lechter Entrepreneurial Tip: If you are employed and are going to make the jump to entrepreneurship, don’t quit your job right away. There are many things that need to be in place before you have a business that can replace your income. Ensuring you have available funds to help you bridge the gap financially is essential.
In addition, I always counsel people who want to make the leap into entrepreneurship to do their research first. Get as much information as you can and learn about all the different areas required when running your own business.
To make it easier to build success faster work with a proven mentor. It is really the only shortcut that actually works in business and one of the reasons why I created the Essential Components of a Successful Business online course.
My husband, Michael Lechter, and I have grown multiple businesses from the ground up and turned them into major global successes. We have taken the strategies we learned and the lessons we learned along the way and created this course.
In it, you’ll learn how to find and use other people’s money to fund your project so there are no hurdles in your way as you begin. You’ll also learn how to create multiple streams of income by identifying, protecting, and leveraging your intellectual property.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS.
It is exactly what you need as you make your choice in the entrepreneur vs employee debate to transition from employee to highly successful entrepreneur and increase your exposure to opportunity.
“Sharon Lechter and Michael Lechter provided us with a customized step-by-step path to turn our book series into a multi-million dollar lifestyle brand. The information learned under their mentorship was clear, honest and linked to our best interests and those we serve. We are so grateful for mentors who don’t teach from a position of theory, but from a lifetime of “been there, done that.” – Dr. Dave Braun and Dr. Troy Amdahl, The Oola Guys – Best Selling Authors and founders of OolaLife.com and OolaTea.com