Lately, I have been observing the search queries [keywords]
used by people to get to naijapreneur!
One of the top
phrases used by searchers to get to this site is this;
“why become an
entrepreneur?” or “why should one become an entrepreneur?”
This is an obvious indication that there are a lot of folks
out there who are in search of valid
reasons for becoming
an entrepreneur. Luckily for them, I have written on this issue on
naijapreneur precisely these two unusual articles;
Why did you become an entrepreneur?
9 ways how NOT to start a business
However, the answers in these posts were written for
entrepreneurs who were already
in business and was intended to correct their erroneous
perception of entrepreneurship
as a money making venture only rather than a what it really
is –
a problem solving or value adding venture.
I didn’t write for those who were currently employees and
were in search of
answers whether to
quit their jobs and take the leap of faith or remain stuck on the rat race.
This is the essence
of this unusual article, to talk about entrepreneurship from the employees’
perspective and to further encourage you who have already
taken the leap of faith that
you didn’t make the wrong choice.
A little word of caution, this is a long one, so brace up
yourself for a long read –
over 3000 words! But I assure, the patient dog will eat the
fattest bone on this one.
You will never regret reading it to the end and you will
mostly like want
to share it with a lot of people.
Let’s begin!
The Anatomy of Employment [Job]
A job is the work you do for a business owner and receive a
reward in the form of salaries or wages.
It has fixed
schedules and a very clear description of what is expected of you.
A job is also the position you own in an organization for
which you are expected
to fulfill certain functions in order to get paid.
The availability of a position in an organization and your
consistent ability to perform certain
functions are the two key factors that determine the
ownership of a job.
Meaning that you can own a job so long as an organization
has a vacant
position you can
occupy and certain problems they need you to solve.
In other words, a job basically means trading your time,
skills, experience,
knowledge, talent, ideas, and contacts in an organization
based on the requirements
of the position you occupy in exchange for a financial
reward known as salary or wages.
As a result, every employee is a seller of time, skills,
experience, knowledge,
talent, ideas, and contacts while an employer is the buyer
of all these things.
Time, skills, experience, knowledge, talent, ideas, and
contacts are the value an employee
brings to an organization for which the employer agrees to
pay a certain amount of money
in return for the right to own and use these things however
he/she pleases. A job therefore,
is a functional
position employees are paid to occupy for a specified period of time.
A job is a risky thing to own
There’s an age long saying that goes like this; “there’s
always two sides to every story”.
The same is true for every concept ever conceived by man.
There are several sides to every idea,
concept, theory or
thing in life; what really differs is not the concept, idea, theory or thing
itself,
but ‘how’ we humans perceive or see them.
What really changes, is how we think about these things;
the individual subjective meanings we attribute to them.
And as it’s been scientifically proven, we humans see and
interpret
things from our own angle, that is, from our own side of the
story.
Rarely do we try to understand and view things from the
other side of the story;
that is, looking at things from the other person’s
perspective.
A much clearer understanding is often gained when we try to
see the whole angles or sides to a thing.
Only then can we accurately make the right decisions and
take the right actions.
So what has this got to do with the issue of becoming an
entrepreneur?
A lot…
In every organization, there are basically two parties
involved;
Workers
[employees] and
Owners
[employers].
A job [functional position] is what every employee owns in
an organization,
assets are what every employer owns in an organization.
Everything in an organization, including the workers is an
asset to the employer.
And with every asset owned by an employer, comes a certain
cost of maintenance.
This cost of maintaining an asset is regarded as a
liability.
An asset is anything that is capable of making you earn
money [generate income]
and a liability is anything that is capable of making you
spend money [extract income].
To employees, a job is a source of income [asset] because it
brings money into their pocket.
To an employer, an employee is both a source of income
[asset] and an expense [liability]. How?
A worker is only an asset so long as he/she is still capable
of generating income for the business
by consistently performing certain functions; remember our
definition of a job?
But always a liability in that money goes out of the
business in the form of salaries and wages
[cost of maintaining
assets] paid out to workers regularly.
These are the two sides to the story of employment; the
employees’ side and the employers’ side.
What every employee regards as an asset [generates money] to
them is what every
employer regards as a liability [extracts money].
The very same money employees regard as income is what
employers regard as expenses.
If you were to ask
every accountant this question; “on what side is salary and wages categorized
in
the financial report of every organization?” They would
gladly tell you that it falls under
the operating expenses column of the profit and loss
account.
The really funny thing is that neither the employees nor the
money paid out as salaries or wages
to them are regarded or treated as assets in the financial
records of a business or organization.
The balance sheet is the only financial statement that
describes the overall assets and liabilities
of a business or organization. But guess what? There’s no
record of employees and the money paid out to them.
Why? Because the income employees earn is the cost employers
bear as a result of using the
employees as assets for generating money for the business.
Both the employees and the money paid out to them are
regarded as cost of operation and
are written off as such in the profit and loss account of
every business or organization.
I honestly wish there’s an easier or less harsh way to put
this, but I am sorry for what I am about to say next.
As an employee,
you are an expense [liability] to the organization you work for!
Truth is bitter!
Believe me, there’s absolutely no easier way to put this
than I just did. It didn’t feel good
too when I realized this bitter truth. For crying out loud,
as an employee, you’re being used
as an income
generating tool. Meaning you are very, very expendable – they can do without
you.
Why?
Because you are only as good as the money you make the
company or your employer.
They can willingly get rid of you whenever they wish or
think you are no longer valuable and
only they can determine how valuable you are or not on the
job.
There you are!
Why do you think it’s always easy for employers to lay off
employees at the slightest economic down turn?
Because they want to
cut down on operating expenses and unfortunately for the employees,
they are top on the list of operating expenses.
So when push comes to shove, and every employer is faced
with the harsh realities of survival,
the workers are the very first point of call when it comes
to the reduction of operating expenses in every organization.
Whether it is a profit making organization [business] or not
for profit organization [social],
salaries and wages paid to employees is always an expense.
It’s because of this singular reason
that has made a job a risky thing to own.
Why?
Because in the end, what you think you own and call an asset
because it brings you money is
what the very person [employer] who controls how much money
your so called asset [job] generates for you,
considers otherwise.
To them, they own you [asset] and because you are a source
through which money is extracted
from them
[liability], they can decide to let go of you whenever they feel they can no
longer put up
with your cost of maintenance – expenses!
What are you working for, a job or a business?
I can almost hear you screaming out these words right now in
your thought;
“but employees also make employers money [asset], in fact,
without the employees,
employers can’t do business.”
Very true, quite true indeed. But here’s the real truth; the
estimation of the value you bring
as an employee to an organization is best evaluated by the
owner.
And if the owner says, “Hey Tom, your services are no longer
needed in this organization;
therefore, you are hereby fired!”
There’s little or nothing anyone can do about that, the
highest you would get is a fair compensation for the dismissal.
And if the organization pays out any form of gratuity or
pension, the better for you. Besides that, nothing else counts.
You are fired, is you are fired. Nothing more, nothing less.
So if I were you, rather than argue about your perceived
right as an asset in the eyes of an employer,
I would begin to take
my financial future more seriously than banking on one job which obviously will
never be my own.
The earlier you come to terms with this reality, the better
for you and everyone you love.
The outcome of your financial future is not in the hands of
your employer, neither is it in the hands of the government.
Your financial future is in your hands, decide today what
you want it to be. I have written this unusual
article to help you confront the bitter truth of your
financial future and challenge you to take up the responsibility of
putting an end to
financial struggle in your life.
As it is increasingly becoming obvious, most especially
since after the global economic meltdown,
everyone is getting to face the often avoided truth that
there’s no such thing as job security.
The only security is the one you build, own and control
yourself – a business.
Counting on a job to
make you financially secure is an illusion that you need to wake up from fast!
Why it pays to work on a business rather than a job
A job is short term solution to a lifelong problem. Staking
all your life on it will be a fatal mistake.
The problem [financial struggle] will continually outpace
the solution [paycheck] you are proffering.
This is because a job was never created to solve your
financial problems for life. It was designed to make you needy
[dependent] for life. It was designed to pacify [make less
painful] the problem of lack of money but never to nullify [abolish] it.
As long as the job remains, the trick is to make your
financial problems less obvious. But once the job stops,
that same old problem of lack of money which was never
actually solved suddenly resurfaces again.
Why? Because all a job does is to shift your focus from the
problem [financial struggle] to the paycheck
[temporary cure for lack of money].
For as long as the paycheck keeps coming, your problem of
lack of money appears to be over.
But is it really over?
What you never stop to ask yourself is this; “who is
actually making the problem of lack of money less painful,
me or my boss?” If you ever come to this realization, then
maybe you’ll stop feeling secure about an uncertain job.
The feeling of being
secure can only come from what you have a direct control over.
How can you feel secure about a job your boss directly
controls? How can you feel secure when you are not in charge?
How can you call a job yours when someone else designed the
position you currently occupy?
How can you feel secure or safe about a company you work
for?
The very notion of “a job” negates the essence of security.
Remember,
a job is only a functional position you are being paid to
occupy for a specified period of time.
It always has an expiration date. Security can only come
from being in control and you can only control what you own.
Unfortunately, in all my short stay on earth, I’ve never
come across a job that is owned.
What I’ve seen so far are job positions that were created
for people to occupy.
Just because you fill the position doesn’t make you the
owner and since you’re not the owner,
you can be replaced. Why? Because a job you call your own is
only yours to own temporarily as long as the boss says so.
Owning a Job VS owning a Business
A job was created to be “worked in” [physical engagement]
and not to be “worked on” [mental engagement].
A job is like a car; you’ve got to be in it before you can
drive it. Your physical engagement will always be a requirement.
There’s no other way to having a job than to “work in” one.
You can never be free from what you “work in” [job],
you can only be free from what you “work on” [business].
The former [job] requires all your time, while the later
requires some of your time.
You do a job, but you build a business. You engage in a job,
but you create a business.
You are inside one doing all the work [job], but on top of
the other calling all the shots [business].
A job requires your presence to make money; a business
depends on asset to generate money.
A job gives you money [active income]; a business makes you
wealth [passive income].
The difference is TIME.
A job takes your time and gives you money, but a business
frees your time and still gives you money.
In a job, your time,
skills, experience, knowledge, talent, ideas, and contacts is being exchanged
for money;
the more money you make, the less time you have. And time is
an irreplaceable resource, once used it can never be replaced.
Eventually, you would run out of time because there’s a
universal constraint placed on every human–AGE.
Remember the two key factors that determine the ownership of
a job –
availability of a position in an organization and your
consistent ability to perform certain functions.
Well I have got news for you; age is the barrier to them
both.
The older we grow, the less we can physically do. The less
we can physically do,
the less functional positions we will be needed by employers
to occupy.
Ultimately, as we age we lose our capacity to physically
perform.
Life has been designed in such a way that there’s an
opposite relationship between age and our capacity to perform.
As age goes up, our
capacity to perform comes down.
This implies that there’s a deadline on our working years;
much like an expiration date when despite our increasing needs,
the ability to work would have diminished. The reality of
this fact of life poses a rather disturbing question to you;
“how long will your
earned income serve you when your working years are over?”
I am sure you’ve never thought of asking yourself that
question.
Don’t wait till that time to find out, it would be too late
then; now is the best time to start. START NOW!
Are you saying being an Employee is bad?
Absolutely Not!
There is nothing bad with being an employee per se.
At some point or the other in our adult lives we would be
engaged in some form of employment or the other.
But here is the truth, a job or being employed is a
transition. Meaning, it’s not the end, but only a means to an end.
What is bad is holding on to employment as the solution to
the long term problem of financial struggle.
What is bad is thinking that a job is all you need to be
financially free or secured.
The inherent danger of employment is being caught in the rat
race for life.
It is when you begin to view your job as the way out of your
financial struggle that makes employment bad.
Having a job isn’t bad, betting all your financial future on
it is what is bad.
Having a job isn’t
bad, thinking it’s all you need to be wealthy is what is bad.
Why? Because as you’ve seen so far, a job is a short term
solution [paycheck] to a long term problem [financial struggle].
You cannot solve a permanent problem with a temporary
solution.
That you are employed in a job right now is good, forgetting
to do anything on your own that will guarantee your
financial future
apart from your job is what is bad. As you work, always bear it in mind that a
job is only
temporary and therefore you must begin to plan on how to
start your own business.
Never let the illusion of a paycheck distract your vision of
a financially free future.
You can start a part time business that will help you build
assets [wealth] while you
are still working for
a paycheck [money].
Don’t get carried away by the temporary thrill of working
for money that you forget to
start building a
business that will guarantee perpetual wealth.
Money is too short a solution to solve a long term problem
of financial struggle.
Wealth and not money, is the lasting solution to financial
struggle!
Credit: Tito Philips
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