Everyone who has a work either works for someone and gets paid or works for themselves. If you have a 9-5 job, you are most likely working for someone. Anything outside this is working for yourself-entrepreneurship.
Successful entrepreneurs believe the best way to make money is to work for oneself. Be your own boss and have the freedom to create, run and determine the direction your business takes. They say that’s a cool way to make money.
They also tend to believe that having a 9-5 job is bad idea for someone who has a dream to achieve. In other words, if you’re really serious about your dream, you should have no business with a 9-5 job.
This is why you hear statements like this: Your salary is the money they give you to forget your dreams.
Chrisjan Peters, a Dutch entrepreneur said ‘’ there is nothing wrong in having a salary if you are ok with lowering or giving up your dream(s). If you are ok with being limited in your options, you make yourself dependent of people where you have no influence over and therefore become very vulnerable’’.
This is the kind of sentiment that drives the belief that entrepreneurship is what we all need to become rich. That may be true to a large extent because the Dangotes, the Adenugas and the Otedolas of this country are entrepreneurs. Same applies to the top richest men and women in the world.
And of course, we can’t discount the fact that establishing one’s business is a faster route to financial success.
But in a country like Nigeria, whether you need to come from a wealthy background or have access to financial capital to become a successful entrepreneur is a different discussion.
It’s easy for everyone to advise graduates to stop looking for jobs and start their own business.
In January, 2019, the former governor of Osun State, Mr Rauf Aregbesola reportedly advised graduating students of Fountain University, Osogbo not to bother looking for jobs after their graduation. He asked them to create jobs for themselves.
What a good piece of advice from a governor that served his people for eight years!
Granted, unemployment rate is sky high in Nigeria, but advising fresh graduates to ignore their chances of getting a job or asking those who are already employed to quit their job for entrepreneurship is not the best piece of advice in a country where small business groan, fail and die due to issues like access to capital, electricity and government regulations.
You don’t have to quit your job to become a business man or woman. As a matter of fact, you can keep your 9-5 job and run another small business. Haven’t you heard about side hustle?
There must always be an improvement in your role and salary.
Again, your salary is not the bribe they give you to forget your dreams. It’s the monetary compensation you get as an employee from your employer. You work for it and you deserve to have it. So, don’t be deceived to believe that you can never make it by having a 9-5, not all business owners are rich, and not everybody is cut for entrepreneurship.
If you are a fresh graduate and you stand a chance to get a job, prepare yourself and go for it. Don’t ever be discouraged you won’t get a job. And if you’re already working, don’t be tempted to quit your job because someone says entrepreneurship is the only path to financial success.
Work your 9-5 and your business for as long as you can. Try make and save money. And don’t forget to also invest. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you working for someone and having a side hustle.
Just do what works for you and have your eyes on the big goals.
Credit: Pulse