Entrepreneur Life vs. Corporate Life
Hi! Welcome to Twenty Set. Here you will find 4-5 new articles every week about personal and professional development written specifically for the young professional. If you like what you read, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Image Source: maxymedia via FlickR
Editor’s Note: This guest post about entrepreneurship comes from Jun Loayza who writes about interviewing and networking at his start-up company’s blog, FDEdge.
I have experienced the entrepreneur life and the corporate life. I understand the pros and cons of each and have realized that one is NOT better than the other. What I have realized is that the life that suits you most depends completely on your personality and stage of life that you are in.
Are You a Risk Taker or Do You Like Feeling Comfortable?
I was at my corporate job for about 3 months. I was a consultant and I have to tell you, it was such a comfortable and easy-going time. Don’t get me wrong, the hours were decently long (8am – 7pm everyday), but the work that I did was relatively easy and my responsibilities were not huge. We had casual Fridays along with bagels in the morning to spruce things up a bit. When I got home, I went to the gym, ate some dinner, and watched TV until I fell asleep. There was no work on the weekends, so I spent them lying on the beach with the girlfriend or going out to lounge with the buddies. It was very comfortable because they told me what to do, I did the work, and I could relax outside of work.
This life did not suit me. I felt that they were not using my talents and abilities to the fullest. I decided to resign and pursue my startup dreams with my pledge bro from UCLA. It was a humongous risk because I went from receiving a steady paycheck to no income at all. Do you have the guts to live off of your savings until you are able to generate some income on your own? If the thought of living off of your savings, cutting back on expenses, and not going out makes your stomach hurt, then you do not have the balls to be an entrepreneur. I currently work about 100 hours a week (I work weekends as well) pushing and willing my company to succeed. I work in the morning, I work while at the gym, I work while eating, and I work while sleeping (I sometimes have dreams about my company). This is the life that you will endure as an entrepreneur.
Do You Have a Skill-Set that You Excel In or Are You a Hard Worker?
I had to work hard in my corporate life and I have to work now as an entrepreneur. You work hard no matter what. However, the big difference is that you must have an outstanding skill-set as an entrepreneur in order to succeed. What do I mean by this?
In the corporate world, you can survive by just getting by. Once you make it into the company, all you have to do is not suck and you’ll continue to get your steady paycheck and move up the corporate ladder. You don’t need to do anything extraordinary nor do you need to do more than you’re asked to do. You live comfortably.
As an entrepreneur, you will need to push yourself to the limit just to get one thing done right. If you don’t push yourself to do it, then your company will not grow and you will not succeed. When you begin your quest, you will start off with a small, tight-knit team. My company started off with three people: the CEO, the CTO, and me (the CMO). The skill-sets that I have had to develop and excel in is marketing, PR, and business development. There is no one else in the company who is pushing for clients or who is analyzing the competition and doing extensive market research. If I don’t do it, no one will.
This is what I mean by excelling in a skill-set. In a large corporation, if I mess up or don’t do something well, there are about 50 other guys who can pick up my slack and finish what I’m doing. As the founder of your own company, if you mess up, you better find a way to fix the problem or else your company will fail.
The Entrepreneurial Black Hole
Everyone starts off with the same plan: “I’m going to work for a few years and once I get enough experience, I’ll start my own company.” This is the entrepreneurial black hole that people fall into and never get out of.
The perfect time to start your own company is during college or right afterward. You are fresh, full of energy, with no commitments like house payments or kids to tie you down. You can argue that you have no real experience, but let me honestly tell you, the corporate world does not prepare you for the entrepreneurial world. What you learn at your corporate job will most likely not carry over to what you will need as an entrepreneur. More importantly, the more you wait to be an entrepreneur, the more responsibilities you will have and the greater the risk. You cannot start a company with a mortgage to pay and kids to feed. The checks that you receive every month become bigger and bigger, and it becomes increasingly harder to give it up and start living off of your savings.
The entrepreneurial life is not better than the corporate life. Which one you decide to choose completely depends on your personality and life situation. The best thing for you to do is to go out there and try both. Get an internship with a corporate company and try out the comfortable life. Start a company while in your dorm room to find out if the risk motivates you and stimulates your brain. After my experiences with both, I now know that I am an entrepreneur at heart.
Editor’s Note: I’m running a contest this week at Twenty Set, and every comment on this post (and all others for this week) counts as an entry. Please review the prizes here. Thanks!
Popularity: 59% [?]
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Jun Loayza is an entrepreneur, management consultant, lover of animals, and a huge fan of Daft Punk. He graduated from UCLA in 2007 with a BA in Economics and a minor in Philosophy. Jun is currently the Co-founder and CMO of Future Delivery where he is building a virtual world that compliments the professional and social lives of students and young professionals. He writes about personal branding and career development on the FD Edge Blog and has coached many students to achieve their dream job. Jun has no work-life balance because he feels that work is life and work is play; therefore, he constantly has fun no matter what he is doing. Outside of his role as CMO, Jun loves to maintain physical fitness, listen to new electronic music, and meet new people. Feel free to contact him at anytime to chat about career development, marketing and PR, or pretty much anything else that floats your boat.
jun.loayza (at) thefdworld.com
www.fdedge.com
Email this author | All posts by Jun Loayza
Sounds like you have your hands full. Being in a transitional period between the corporate world and the entrepreneurial world, I can honestly say what you are saying is the truth. I can work 40 hours a week, get my paycheck and so-so benefits, go home eat a nice dinner with the wife and watch Life of Ryan and Rob and Big. Sounds great, except something is missing. The passion and drive to do something more.
All the corporate world has taught me is that the little voices are not listened to and that the cube is not where I want to be 6 months from now.
Being on my own, hiring staff and getting clients is more stressful, there is no doubt about that, but the reward of a big contract, a new website or a happy client is well worth the sleepless nights and weekend work.
It depends on the person but I do believe that the entrepreneurial life is better than the entry level-mid level corporate life.
Greg, I think it’s great that you love the entrepreneurial life, but it really does depend on the person. It’s funny to me that everyone stresses how great being an entrepreneur is, but it’s also a life that not many can have just by sheer competition. The world would not function if everyone decided to do start-ups. We need people to work at large companies, and realistically, that can also be a great life.
The reason there are so many entrepreneurs online is self-selection. The person who’s happy in their cubicle is not surfing blogs to find something more. So take heart - there are plenty of happy people in their cubicles right now.
This is good. I like how he speaks it as it is (or could be). He’s right in that there are many many a folk talking-up the specialness of entrepreneurship - and it must just dominate one’s life.
Still, I must say - it won’t stop being a goal of mine. I feel like it has to be (as many must feel) because there’s a certain god-like, creative element to it. Also, low-level corporate jobs (ahem) just don’t continually satisfy. Like the author, I as well consult, or more clearly, I work for consultants. What they are teaching me is that I will never make as much money as them as long as I am working for them. Freedom, learning and growth, yes, but they are so ‘the man’.
Eventually we all want to be ‘the man’ (or wo-man).
It is true, entrepreneurship takes guts. It’s not the easy road, but it is perhaps one of the most rewarding roads a person could possibly travel. Sure, there are huge chances of failure - in fact, I think I heard somewhere that most people’s first shot at entrepreneurship ends up in so-called “failure”.
I could never spend my days in a cubicle, my talents being underutilized, simply doing what I’m told to do. Instead, I’m taking a big risk by leading an emerging organization that promotes sustainability in California’s institutions of higher education. Maybe this isn’t the typical way you would think of entrepreneurship, but this is an organization that a few of us founded, developed, and grew while we were in college, and we continue to drive the work forward, many of us living off of our savings or scraping together fellowships, consulting incomes, or other support from friends, family, and our communities.
We have invested so much of ourselves, our lives, our hearts and souls, and there is enormous risk inherent in pouring yourself into your work in this way. The what-ifs creep in occasionally as I’m falling asleep at night, but the intangible rewards and payoffs accumulate regardless. I have learned so much about myself, about management of time and people, about leadership and leadership development, about marketing and financial management, about collaboration, about communicating a clear and compelling vision and aligning others around that vision.
Perhaps many of us “entrepreneurs” will fail - perhaps there are too many of us for all of us to “succeed”. Or perhaps not. Where is the research to support that claim?
In my opinion, the only failure is wasted potential. To spend a life in a cubicle because it’s easier or more comfortable, furthering the interests of a company that cares nothing about you or the rest of the world for that matter, with your talents, your interests, your hopes and dreams falling away - that is the real failure.
Taking a risk to follow ones dreams, regardless of the outcome, can never be a failure. So I say, go out there and get ‘em while you still can.
Greg and Thrive,
Thank you for your comments and I love your enthusiasm for entrepreneurship. I understand why you feel that this is ultimately the most rewarding way of life, but there are many people out there who do not have the entrepreneurial spirit. I agree with Monica when she writes that the world cannot function if everyone had a startup.
With that said, I completely agree with Crystal when she writes how the worst failure is wasted potential. I believe that everyone should at least get a taste of entrepreneurship while they’re in college. They have nothing to lose, all the time in the world, and a huge amount of resources available to them at their university.
I agree, I think the difference between the entrepreneurial life and the corporate life is all up to your own lifestyle. The corporate life seems more laid back and comfortable, but not as rewarding, while the entrepreneurial life is much more fast paced, high-rewarding, yet risky at the same time. I think it really depends on your personality. I know when I sit in my cubicle every day filling out forms and paper-work, I sometimes ponder about starting up that new business I have dreamed about since I was a strapping young college student. Do you guys think it is still too late for me to follow my dream? I am older and do have more responsibilities to attend to like mentioned in the article, but does that mean it is too late for me?
This is an awesome article. I personally agree with the concept of taking the most risks when you have the least to lose. It is true that a start up takes much of your life away, but it, in effect, makes your life more meaningful. Instead of a work(bad)-life(good) balance, you just have one meaningful life that combines both(ups and downs).
Working in a startup could really be over 90 hours a week, as if you were in a Lord of the Rings journey, you wouldn’t say “I’m only going to travel 45 hours a week and chill for the rest.” You would only count the hours you are not traveling and resting in order to travel further.
All in all, I want to say that, in order to accomplish uncommon things in life, you must live your everyday life uncommonly. Live like everyone else, and you will end up like everyone else in your one precious life.
Great article Jun,
I couldn’t agree more with the things you said, especially regarding the entrepreneurial black hole.
Personally, I feel that I have a bit of that entrepreneurial spirit in me (along with many others who have yet to discover it). However, while readers have discussed the lifestyle choice of entrepreneurship, I would just like to point out that there are others like me who have obligations to fulfill that are hindering my opportunities.
Coming from a poor family means my parents have barely saved in their IRA, or 401k. Because of this, their welfare after retirement is going to be entirely dependent on my income. As a result, by coming to college, I made the commitment to mitigate any risk to them by working hard to excel in class, work in school, do internships and hopefully come out of college with a decent job. While I have begun several projects with my friends, I find it really hard to focus on it during the school year with such a busy schedule. Realistically, I know I can probably give up some of my time studying, give up an internship, take the extra loan so I don’t have to work, and that’ll make time for me to pursue my projects, but to be honest, when you’re in a situation where others are dependent on you, it’s hard to give up any opportunity you have for a guaranteed steady job.
Of course, this is not a pity statement whatsoever, and I still a firm supporter of entrepreneurship. I just wanted to offer other readers an insight so they’ll think twice the next time they decide to make fun of someone in their boring cubicle, with their lack of balls, as they say. To many of my friends at home, that’s a job they can only dream of. As of now, I am content with my decisions and I am still doing what I can in my spare time to pursue my projects. This just means a little less sleep, and a little more effort, but it’s definitely worthwhile.
Good article. Apart from age, I think the following are also importanat :what stage of life are we in currently, How does the road ahead look in the corporate career? Does one have potentially profitable ideas right now?
@Jun and @Monica - Totally agree that we need people working for the companies and corporations, there is no doubt to that. It takes something and someone special to take a risk and go off on your own. That is a trait that is not necessary for everyone to take. Several co-workers in my 9-5 do not see how I do it, running around till wee hours of the night trying to start my own business and they are very happy (well sometimes happy, more like comfortable) and content coming to their desk everyday. Also, without people that want to jump onto a corporate bandwagon, entrepreneurs wouldn’t be able to scale their businesses. I could never do what I do alone and thank goodness for the employees we do have who love working for us.
Great conversation!
Jun,
As a student interested in both corporate and entrepreneurial world, your insight into how they differ and how it all comes down to what your heart tells are very convincing. Doing what your heart tells to actualize your dream as an entrepreneur sounds exciting and rewarding, and I agree many people are comfortable with the stable, comfortable corporate world. I am soon entering the corporate world, yet I strive to keep my ambition and dream alive.
Thanks to everyone for the comments. This is a great discussion about entrepreneurship, and I’m so thankful that Jun was willing to write this for Twenty Set. I always want to talk about entrepreneurship, but it’s difficult for me to speak to because I don’t work at a startup. It’s nice to have people like Jun and Ryan (today’s guest post) that are living and breathing these issues, now.
Rhosty, my advice would be to consider starting a business part-time if you still want to. It’s not going to grow as fast as it could if you were working full-time, but that way you can still honor your commitments and pursue your dream with less risk.
Great post. And I agree with most and probably all of what you said.
Man if I had read this post of yours first I probably would not have submitted an answer to your question on LinkedIn: mine feels totally redundant now.
Mike
Mar 18th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
[…] I recently wrote a blog post that was posted on Twentyset.com. My blog post is called Entrepreneur Life vs Corporate Life. […]
Mar 31st, 2008 at 11:07 pm
[…] I recently wrote a blog post that was posted on Twentyset.com. My blog post is called Entrepreneur Life vs Corporate Life. […]