Start a business or get a job? What’s best for you?

Scenario 1 — You just got out of a meeting with your boss and the HR representative. Surprise, your job has been “eliminated.”

Scenario 2 — You retired early from your first career and still feel like working.

Scenario 3 — You hate your job and want to work for yourself.

In all three scenarios you have a choice to take — do you start your own business or try to get hired by an employer?

In my current position as a business advisor, I work with people who want to start a business. Some of them do end up starting a business, while some don’t. Even those who have started their own business may be better off financially by getting a job.

There are certainly pros and cons to each choice. Also, if some “red flags” exist, the choice becomes much easier to make. For example, if you do not have any money to start your own business, you will experience difficulty trying to borrow money from a bank or credit union. In that case, working for someone else and saving money to start your business later, may be the best choice.

Let’s look at some other pros and cons (and some myths) of starting your own business.

Pro — You are the boss. 

Con — You are the boss. No passing the buck now — you are responsible for every facet of your business, including securing financing, hiring and firing employees, and paying the bills.

Pro — Ability to work flexible hours.

Con — Working harder and longer than expected. Ask any small-business owner and most will agree that there are not enough hours in the day.

Pro — Make more of the profit as the owner.

Con — Not having enough profit to pay yourself, or worse, your employees or vendors. Cash flow is all on you now.

If you think you are going to work less and make more with your own business, you may be surprised to find out that it is exactly the opposite. There are many facets to running a business — it’s more than just starting a business. If you cannot do some of the things, such as bookkeeping or accounting, you will have to pay someone to do it for you. Also, sustainability is crucial to a startup business. If you have just enough assets to get it started, and not enough cash or inventory or help to sustain the business, you could be out of business quickly. Hopefully, before you start a business and spend any money at all, you seek advice from the SBDC, WISE, or SCORE. These entities are funded by the SBA and do not charge a fee for counseling. They help minimize risks to entrepreneurs by sharing best practices and provide business-plan development, financial-statement analysis, and market research.

Seeking a job from an employer is certainly a frustrating process and can be filled with anxiety. However, it is nice to know you will have a steady paycheck, benefits, and for the most part, stable work hours. You can concentrate on performing the things that you are good at, and most likely will have co-workers who can handle other tasks unrelated to your specific job. If you are fortunate to get any vacation time, you may want to take the job for that reason alone. There may be no vacation at all if you start a business. I tell all my clients: if you start a business, I guarantee you will have expenses. I can’t guarantee you will have income. Maybe getting a job doesn’t sound too bad after all.

Michael Cartini is a state-certified business advisor at the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Onondaga Community College. Contact him at m.j.cartini@sunyocc.edu 

Scenario 1 — You just got out of a meeting with your boss and the HR representative. Surprise, your job has been “eliminated.”

Scenario 2 — You retired early from your first career and still feel like working.

Scenario 3 — You hate your job and want to work for yourself.

In all three scenarios you have a choice to take — do you start your own business or try to get hired by an employer?

In my current position as a business advisor, I work with people who want to start a business. Some of them do end up starting a business, while some don’t. Even those who have started their own business may be better off financially by getting a job.

There are certainly pros and cons to each choice. Also, if some “red flags” exist, the choice becomes much easier to make. For example, if you do not have any money to start your own business, you will experience difficulty trying to borrow money from a bank or credit union. In that case, working for someone else and saving money to start your business later, may be the best choice.

Let’s look at some other pros and cons (and some myths) of starting your own business.

Pro — You are the boss. 

Con — You are the boss. No passing the buck now — you are responsible for every facet of your business, including securing financing, hiring and firing employees, and paying the bills.

Pro — Ability to work flexible hours.

Con — Working harder and longer than expected. Ask any small-business owner and most will agree that there are not enough hours in the day.

Pro — Make more of the profit as the owner.

Con — Not having enough profit to pay yourself, or worse, your employees or vendors. Cash flow is all on you now.

If you think you are going to work less and make more with your own business, you may be surprised to find out that it is exactly the opposite. There are many facets to running a business — it’s more than just starting a business. If you cannot do some of the things, such as bookkeeping or accounting, you will have to pay someone to do it for you. Also, sustainability is crucial to a startup business. If you have just enough assets to get it started, and not enough cash or inventory or help to sustain the business, you could be out of business quickly. Hopefully, before you start a business and spend any money at all, you seek advice from the SBDC, WISE, or SCORE. These entities are funded by the SBA and do not charge a fee for counseling. They help minimize risks to entrepreneurs by sharing best practices and provide business-plan development, financial-statement analysis, and market research.

Seeking a job from an employer is certainly a frustrating process and can be filled with anxiety. However, it is nice to know you will have a steady paycheck, benefits, and for the most part, stable work hours. You can concentrate on performing the things that you are good at, and most likely will have co-workers who can handle other tasks unrelated to your specific job. If you are fortunate to get any vacation time, you may want to take the job for that reason alone. There may be no vacation at all if you start a business. I tell all my clients: if you start a business, I guarantee you will have expenses. I can’t guarantee you will have income. Maybe getting a job doesn’t sound too bad after all.

Michael Cartini is a state-certified business advisor at the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Onondaga Community College. Contact him at m.j.cartini@sunyocc.edu