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Training

Entrepreneurship or Employment: What's your choice?

Do you want to be an entrepreneur or an employee? Maybe you have been an employee since you completed your formal years of schooling and would like to find something more challenging, like being your own boss. You may be a student entering the job market for the first time and so you are undecided about whether you want to be an entrepreneur or an employee. Whether you chose to be an employee or an entrepreneur, there are some fundamental skills that you will need to be successful at whatever you do.

Let us first define what the terms entrepreneur and employee means. An entrepreneur owns his/her own business. He/she is involved in the provision of a product or a service to meet the needs of consumers.

An employee performs any work for or supplies any service to an employer for wages. There are persons who find themselves in both situations at the same time working for an employer and operating his/her own business on a small scale.

In arriving at this decision there are facts to be examined. What are some of the advantages of being an entrepreneur? The list includes - independence, personal satisfaction, control, financial rewards, recognition, self-esteem and achievement. But note that you can also be an employee and have some of these advantages. On the negative side, the disadvantages are risks, long hours, loss of secure income, increased responsibility and delayed benefits. Well, these disadvantages may have you saying to yourself "I want to be an employee, I would rather be an employee". There are however many who look at these disadvantages as challenges to overcome in gaining what being an entrepreneur has to offer. What determines who seeks employment or establishes his/her own business must be based on a honest self-assessment which will give an indication of your success at one or the other.

Self-Assessment

Starting with a self-assessment can give you the information you need to make choices and to determine the the options  that are available to you.

Beginning with a personal inventory you can find out about your abilities, interests and attitudes. You will be able to find out what your strengths and weaknesses are and what you do well. Sometimes it is difficult to identify what could be your weakness. Your personality and attitude will in a significant way determine your success in what you do. Assess your feelings and action in different situations as they may be different e.g., in a large group versus one-on-one, or in a fast-paced versus slow-paced environment. You are unique, having different tolerance levels from others for chaos, detail and risk-taking. Evaluate who you really are now, not the person you think you would like to be.

Identify your skills and your achievements. Skill is defined as the ability to do something well. Skills you possess may be specialized e.g. writing computer programmes; employability/soft skills e.g. critical thinking; general skills e.g. organizing. Whether you are an employee or an entrepreneur you need all these skills. What are your achievements? Achievement may be tangible represented by an award or intangible in the creation of a system or some efficient processes. You may have been a head boy/girl, prefect or leader of your debating team - these are classified as achievements.

Let us look at your values - your personal values - what things are most important to you? What are the things you value the most in your search for work? Here are some examples:

1. Working as a part of a team against working alone.
2. Working under pressure as against a slow-paced environment.
3. Earning lot of money quickly as against a constant flow of money.

Interest refers to a personal preference for certain types of activities and in certain environments. It has been said that people who enjoy their work have some intrinsic interest in the activities they are involved in. There are several types of interest inventories to assist you in finding out what your interest(s) are:

Your interest might direct you to work with:

1. people
2. information or data
3. things (machinery etc.).

After you have completed your assessment you need to document all this information. This record is important as you try to decide on whether you want to be an employee (work for someone else) or an entrepreneur (create your own work and be your own boss).

Here is a simple exercise to find out whether you are equipped with all that is necessary to be successful as an entrepreneur.