If you're thinking about getting a new job — or are actively looking for one — it's time to also consider an entirely different opportunity.
Being an employee has its perks, but so does venturing out on your own.
Even if you only have a few years of professional work experience, you have enough skills to quit your job and start your own business.
Actually, you probably have the skills to start a business and succeed, even without that professional work experience.
For many, the idea of branching out and starting your own business is scary. The “what if's” can be overwhelming.
Truthfully, if you have the ability to learn, and you know how to use the internet, you can start a business and support yourself.
But if there are those “what ifs,” why leave the security of being a stable employee?
There are plenty of reasons! In fact, there are at least five reasons you should start your own business instead of getting a new job.
1. You'll probably have more room for growth.
When you're working for someone else, you can only grow as much as they let you.
This can be good if you have a great manager who pushes you to achieve more every day. Or, more commonly, it can be stifling as you do whatever people tell you to do.
When you start your own business, you're only limited by what you can do and learn.
Often, this means you can grow as fast as you want, and you can grow more than you would under some corporate banner. Where this really hits home is in your paycheck.
If you get a new job, you might also get a somewhat larger salary or some kind of a bonus. But you're more or less relegated to inflationary increases every year or two.
And even then, you have to bring in significantly more value than what you get because the company takes the largest share.
When you start your own business, your earning potential is virtually limitless. Plus, you get first dibs on all the money that comes in.
If you want to earn $40,000, you can. If you want to earn $400,000, you can.
2. You will be free.
Starting your own business means working for yourself.
You can do your work wherever you want. At home, at a coffee shop, in a bar, on the beach, wherever!
Unless you open a physical store (not a bad idea), you're free to work anywhere with an internet connection.
When you're an employee, you don't get to be in charge. When you start your own business, you're the decider.
If you need to hire employees, you get to be the manager. You get to choose your schedule, what you do, whom you work with, what coffee goes in the break room (probably your kitchen), everything!
Simon Sinek famously said, “Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.”
A lot of employees, especially in the first few years of job experience, aren't able to do something they care about.
As in "The Devil Wears Prada," many get “jobs that pay the bills.”
When you care about the work you're doing, you'll perform better, grow more and feel better while doing it.
Why just work to cover your expenses when you could work toward something you actually care about?
By starting your own business, you're free to do that.
3. It's probably easier to start your own business.
If you've ever been job-hunting, you know getting a new job can be miserable and taxing. You can't just squeeze into a job cannon and fire off into job land where jobs grow on jobbies.
You end up scouring company websites and job postings looking for opportunities. You tailor your resume to each company and opportunity to make yourself look better. Then, you go on interviews and interviews.
The stress alone is a nightmare.
It's enough to make even the most sane person halfway crazy.
But, you can start your own business from the comfort of your couch in a single evening.
It only takes a moment to create an online store, and there are several ways to monetize a blog.
Whether you want to consult, be a virtual assistant, start a blog or sell things, all you need is to make sure you have the right website builder to start your business with, and then you're good to go!
It's that easy.
4. You might not have to ever get another job.
On average, millennials spend about three years in one place before moving on to somewhere else.
Sometimes another company steals them away. Other times, that person just wants something new.
Either way, changing jobs every few years can be difficult, and frankly, it's cumbersome.
But if there's something you really enjoy doing, you can start your own business around that, and then you might never have to worry about getting a new job ever again.
It can be a little frightening to think of something as being your entire career. But if it goes well and you enjoy it, why change?
There's a very special kind of job security in starting your own business, and for many, that's invaluable.
5. It will likely be more rewarding.
You can be an employee and be completely fulfilled.
More often, though, we feel better and more accomplished when we create something for ourselves. It's like when we studied super hard for that test and came out with an A.
We earned that! The same concept applies at work.
Starting your own business will likely be more rewarding than getting a new job. And in turn, that will likely make you happier.
Don't we all want to be happier? I think that's the most anyone can hope for.
