9 to 5 Job or Entrepreneurship – Which is best for you?

9 to 5 Job or Entrepreneurship – Which is best for you? – that will be the topic of today’s article.

If you are looking to invest as an expat or high-net-worth individual, which is what I specialize in, you can email me (advice@adamfayed.com) or WhatsApp (+44-7393-450-837).

Introduction

Wanted to be your own boss? Don’t want to take instructions from someone else? Feel like you are in a situation where you are underachieving?

We’ve all been there. Some people are bold enough to take a big enough risk and start their business. But some get compromised with their life and end up doing their regular jobs.

Can you figure out whether or not you have the skills? The skills to start your own business and be the best at it? Nobody can be 100% accurate while deciding these things.

Yet, when you get rid of misconceptions and doubts, you will be able to do it with all you have.

Well, today we will eliminate the confusion among those who have it. Alongside that, you will also get to know a few tips to be best at whatever you choose.

I mean the option you choose between entrepreneurship and a regular job.

Entrepreneurship is the best, hands down

No matter how many times you’ve heard it, entrepreneurship is going to be the best option compared to employment.

Why? Well, this allows you to be your best self, achieve your goals, and get ahead in your life.

Majority of the people don’t move forward in their life while working in a job. This kind of makes them comfortable in their life.

A regular job gets you to pay your bills, spend some money for yourself, and if possible, you will save some.

Entrepreneurship, even though riskier, allows you to pursue your goals. If done right, being an entrepreneur will even make you wealthy.

Who doesn’t want to be wealthy, right? Imagine it like this. Let there be two cases, a case where you are an employee and a case where you are an entrepreneur. Let’s compare.

Case A (Employee):

You are an employee in a company and are making a couple of thousand euros or dollars.

You might spend two or three thousand euros on your expenses and your family’s.

You spend some for vacation or entertainment or to purchase some good things.

You will be left with a couple of hundred euros or dollars. You may even be left with a couple of thousand if you get a fat salary.

You may either invest this leftover money somewhere or just keep it as savings.

While working like this, you will work under a person who might be working for another person.

You might have to complete the job requirements within the time given. Sometimes, this may not be completed within the time given.

You might have to work overtime or feel a lot of stress while completing the requirements. Not every job is an easy task, some may require a lot of effort and skill, which is not for everyone.

You should be at work during the schedule, i.e., 9 to 5 in most cases. You may only be allowed a few paid leaves, and after that, each leave you take affects your salary.

By the time you retire, you will have saved some money. But it won’t be significant enough for your retirement dreams unless you invested it right.

Case B (Entrepreneur):

The first thing to remember is you are your own boss. The progress you make and the work you put in is for yourself.

For a successful entrepreneur, money will never be a problem. While an employee gets a fixed income, there are no limitations for an entrepreneur.

Imagine being tired to go to work at 9 after a weekend party. Especially when you want to sleep for another hour. Sounds difficult, right? That’s not the scenario when you are an entrepreneur.

You may go to your office (if you have one) whenever you want and leave whenever you want.

Nobody will be nagging you when doing anything wrong or are late on a specific deadline. You answer to yourself.

There are no specific requirements for experience or age limit. You can be an entrepreneur at any stage of your life.

This allows you to achieve your desires whether it is a noisy car or a massive yacht. Want to buy the new iPhone when it launches, you won’t have to wait until you get a bonus.

This doesn’t mean that you work for lesser hours compared to what you work in a regular job.

I’ve heard some people say that you only work from 9 to 5 in a job, whereas you work 24/7 when you are an entrepreneur.

Even though you put in a lot of effort and time, you will have your fair share of satisfaction.

So, there are various advantages to being an entrepreneur rather than a job.

“Can I Do Both?”

I understand that some people out there intend on starting a business. That too without leaving their job. Can you do that?

The simple answer is YES. You could manage to stay in your job and still find a way to run a successful business.

Why should you do so?

Imagine it this way. Let there be a situation where you are in a job and have stable earnings.

You heard somewhere that entrepreneurship is the real deal and you wanted to get into the game.

Hearing all the hype around you, you decided to kiss goodbye to your job and start a great business.

You somehow managed to get a loan and gathered all your savings and started a business.

Due to some unfortunate situations, your business didn’t exactly do well and you didn’t make any profits.

Now, all your savings are put into your business and you even availed of a loan. You must pay dues and you will fail because of the lack of profits in your business.

This further results in requirements for debts and places you in a debt cycle.

In that scenario, you will think “I wish I didn’t leave my job”. That’s what any sane person in this world think at that time.

That’s why some people out there wish to stay in the job and still start a business.

This is not some rocket science kind of thing and you can achieve it with perfect planning.

How can you do so?

Here are some useful tips on how you can start/manage your business. Especially, while doing your 9 to 5 job at the same time.

Let us take a look at the step-by-step procedure on how you can do so.

Track the free time available after or before your job.

For example, let’s say that you are an early bird and wake up around 4 AM or 5 AM.

Your job starts at 9 AM. Therefore, you have 4 to 5 hours available before your job.

Your job ends at 5 PM or 6 PM, and you go to bed at 9 PM. You will have another 3 to 4 hours at hand.

Now, let’s assume you are a night owl. Remove the hours that are taken up for your job and your sleep. You again have pretty much the same amount of time available at hand.

In either of the cases, you are left with a time of around 7 hours to 9 hours. You might have to subtract 3 hours from the time available to you.

Why? Well, you are no robot. You still need time to eat, get ready for the office, and spend some time with your family.

Therefore, as a person doing a regular job, you still have 4 to 6 hours that you can use for your business.

And this is just during the weekdays. You will have much more time during the weekends. However, try to spend some quality time with your friends and family during the weekend.

After all, remember the saying that “All work and no play makes jack a dull boy”.

Decide how to utilize the time available for your business

You now have a better understanding of the amount of time available for you. Carefully create a plan on how to utilize this time.

If you don’t properly make use of this time, you will end up wasting whatever time’s available for you.

Your time utilization plan should clearly define your business activities. Don’t you have anything figured out regarding which business to start?

No problem. Use this time to research a profitable business idea. Make sure that the business you select will favour you in gaining profits.

Already have a business idea? Then assess how to start your business. Note down all the activities to be done to start it, in a detailed manner.

Some people may already have a struggling business. If so, then use this time to research and devise a strategy while running the business.

Make sure that you put more time into what’s important

Sometimes you may have to deal with a work-related project. At some other times, you might need to take care of your business endeavors.

Something you have to consider is that businesses need a lot of time from you. If you want to achieve greatness in your business, you must be willing to make certain sacrifices.

If you are the breadwinner of your family, then you must take care of your family. This means you have to focus more on your job to pay the necessary bills.

By doing so for a few months, you can then pay more attention to your business later.

Whenever someone with a family starts a business while doing a job. Most dependents suggest leaving the business and ask you to start focusing on your job.

During this period, try to save some money so that it can be invested into your business. It can alternatively be used for taking care of your family in the future as well.

Family is everything and there is no denying that. But it doesn’t mean that you have to give up on your dreams for your family.

Discuss with dependents how you can make more time for your business.

Have a vision of your dream lifestyle and how your business is going to help you with that. This will keep you motivated.

A job with no growth is not something you should do forever. At the same time, killing your dreams is also something that you should avoid.

Make sure that your family understands the importance of these aspects. In particular, tell them how pursuing your dreams will help them have a good future.

Some people may not know how to convey this precisely to their families. Start by telling them how much you love them and how you want to make enough money to take care of them.

Besides that, communicate with them about stability in professional life. Along with that, tell them about the free time you get.

Hearing this, they will sympathize with you on the concept of how you want to make them happy.

There are certain important events such as birthdays, weddings, funerals, etc.

We must always make some time available for such events as they are very important.

On the other hand, there are events like promotions, bachelor’s parties, and others.

These may or may not be so important, and the significance of such parties differs.

For example, you won’t get much from a weekend party with friends or colleagues. Whereas you might use that time for your business and then you can have many more parties like that.

Write down your goals and make sure that you stay on track

Your business goals should be written down concisely. You may even be trying for a nice promotion in your line of work (regular job). Note that down.

Write down whatever you think is important and whatever you want to achieve. Don’t just write it down, stay focused, and put consistent effort into it.

Regularly track your progress. This helps in knowing how far you are from achieving your visions.

To get to your dream lifestyle, you should be willing to make changes. Never forget this.

You’ll never regret the changes to your lifestyle after getting the success you’ve desired.

Is entrepreneurship the only way to succeed in life?

This is a question among young entrepreneurs these days. So, is entrepreneurship the only way of becoming wealthy in your life?

No! Most small-scale private business owners fail. And after that, they put an end to their business endeavours.

One of the major reasons for this is that they aren’t prepared for this.

Nowadays, it has become quite hard for people to succeed as entrepreneurs. Especially, with the increasing competition among businesses.

Adding to that, most companies face certain shocks from external events. You can take the COVID-19 situation as a good example of this.

The year 2020 impacted restaurants, travel companies, and airlines drastically.

The business was very rough for restaurants and construction companies. Most of them even filed for bankruptcy because of the pandemic.

It is a proven fact that many salaried individuals were able to become millionaires.

Not every salaried individual became rich. Certain professionals like doctors earned a lot of money.

Some people have been saving and investing for a long time before 2020. Usually, such people live frugally and cut down on most expenses.

Very few people have successfully become wealthy during this period. Those people were mostly involved with entrepreneurship.

Therefore, the chances for you to succeed in your business are fifty-fifty.

I have discussed the topic along with in-depth information in the article given below.

Is it true that the only path to real wealth is entrepreneurship?

Should you invest or should you start your own business?

Only two options are available for people who consider themselves underpaid. I meant those individuals who are underpaid in their regular jobs.

They can either start their own business or invest in something. By investing, we don’t just refer to the stock market. In recent times, there are various possibilities (for investing).

Some of the common investment assets include real estate, bonds, mutual funds, and so on.

So, how can you choose between starting your own business and investing?

Don’t worry. We’re here to help you decide in this scenario. I have provided some tips that are helpful for you to choose what’s best for you.

Risk

Not everyone can fit into the same sized tuxedo. Similarly, not everybody can benefit from starting a business. The same applies to investing.

While choosing between these two, you have to consider certain factors. Factors such as skills, level of knowledge, available resources, etc.

Both investments and starting a business come with their own risks. You may fail in investing and lose all your hard-earned money. The same might happen with starting a business as well.

Having extensive knowledge related to the field might prove to be beneficial.

Starting a business needs a lot of money, even if you avail of a bank loan. This is for monthly expenses, payment dues, equipment, raw materials, etc.

Businesses often have other types of risks as well. For instance, your business may experience loss or even go bankrupt.

Furthermore, your money won’t be available to you unless there’s a good cash flow.

Yes, businesses are advantageous, but this doesn’t apply to everyone. That’s when investing steps in to save the day.

Very few people get into investing to achieve their dream lifestyle.

Most people avoid it because of varied reasons such as:

• Lack of knowledge
• Fear of losing money
• Fear of scams
• Not enough resources
• Lack of proper guidance

Yes, there are many investment platforms available these days. These platforms even boast that you don’t need any knowledge to get into it.

That’s not true. DIY investing is risky compared to being assisted by a financial expert (like us).

Without proper knowledge of the investment asset, you are just gambling. In most cases, such ignorant investing leads to losses.

Time

We’ve already discussed the importance of time to start a business. Entrepreneurs indeed spend more time in contrast to salaried persons.

You might have to sacrifice a lot of time to successfully manage your business.

This includes the quality time that you generally spend with friends and family.

However, the process of managing your investments has certain benefits.

You can manage all your investments on your own, which takes a lot of time. Alternatively, you can get the services of a financial professional.

You may even find certain investment vehicles, which don’t require your time. At least most of it.

Monitoring your investments won’t take as much time as managing your business.

Some people have an exceptional portfolio, that doesn’t even need monitoring.

Skills and Knowledge

Skills and knowledge are of the uttermost importance when choosing. Sure, it is hard to determine which is accurate for you.

Nonetheless, without proper knowledge, you are most likely to fail.

The same applies to skills. Some people are skilled in investing. Whereas some have the necessary skills to manage a business.

Always try to choose the field in which you have the capability. Only then you can put all your effort into it and succeed.

What do I suggest?

Again, not everyone can succeed in everything they choose. Nevertheless, you should try hard to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams.

If you still need a stable income, then go ahead with your regular job. This is highly suggested if you are the only source of your family’s income.

Stay in your job until you have enough money to start a business or invest.

If you have an extensive set of entrepreneurial skills, start a business. If you don’t have enough time to start or manage a business, then invest.

Investing may not be as easy as you might think. It requires concentration, knowledge, and some other skills.

You may even end up spending more time than what is required to manage a business.

Do you want to sit back and relax while being an investor? Don’t worry! We got you covered.

Most of our clients have invested with us and received nice returns. We work hard and actively manage your investments so that you don’t have to.

You can benefit from our expert financial services and achieve financial freedom.

To access the top-notch services offered by us, please click here.

That being said, I hope that this article was able to help you in clearing your doubts related to entrepreneurship.

Pained by financial indecision? Want to invest with Adam?

Adam is an internationally recognised author on financial matters, with over 622.8 million answer views on Quora.com, a widely sold book on Amazon, and a contributor on Forbes.