My Job Isn't Risky, My Paycheck Comes Directly From Me

My Job Isn’t Risky, My Paycheck Comes Directly From Me

Why a corporate job is riskier than being an entrepreneur. 

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If you’re a new small business owner, some of your family and friends may have expressed concern about the plight of your financial future as an entrepreneur.

How are you going to support yourself?
Will you make enough money?
Why are you taking such a big risk?

I’m currently gainfully employed by my 3rd startup and people still ask me these questions. You would think that 14 years of entrepreneurial experience would silence any doubts, but a lot of people still can’t seem to wrap their heads around my chosen path.

I’m truly baffled by this belief that making your own money is riskier than working for someone else.

When did the pursuit of supporting yourself without leaning on anyone else become risky?

When you work for someone else, your job isn’t guaranteed to you.

Your employer can fire you tomorrow for any reason at all and you’re left to look for another employer that has the power to do the same thing to you.

When Did We Stop Trusting Ourselves?

Learning how to make your own money is a skill you have to develop — but once you master it, you can support yourself no matter what profession you decide to pursue. It’s a beautiful, powerful skill to have.

And yet, so many people who want this skill are scared to make the jump. They call it risky.

Where’s the risk in developing the skill to make money off of your ideas?

We use the word risky to label entrepreneurship when we actually mean different.

At face value, true risk is when we entrust our future with people and entities who view us as disposable. Why do we label working for someone else as safe when that safety net is an illusion?

We’ve been told our whole lives that to become an employable individual who can buy the house with the white picket fence and save for retirement has to land a corporate job.

Someone left out that there are multiple roads to get to the same destination. Just because entrepreneurship is a different path it doesn’t mean that working for yourself isn’t a safe option to build the life that you want.

My Paycheck Comes From Me

To me, there’s nothing safer than relying on myself to support myself financially. I can create and write my paychecks at will and I don’t need to wait on anyone else to make that happen.

If you’re a small business owner and you’re constantly questioned or judged by your friends and family about this, remember that they’re just lacking perspective on the different paths to self-sufficiency.

If you ever question if the struggle of learning how to run a business and create your income is worth it, think about the power you’re yielding.

Remember — you’re securing a job for the rest of your life that you can’t get fired from.


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Sophia Sunwoo