Everyday Series | Season 1 | Transformational Choosedays | 003 | Business owner versus an employee

In this episode, we are going to talk about which is better: being a business owner or an employee?

Hey everybody, this is NJ here, the host of the NJ podcast. And this is Transformational Choosedays, everybody. This is part of the everyday series where we try to get you to say like Jay Z, "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business man. Let me handle my business dang." We want you to use business principles so that you can go and transform the quality of your life.

And on the show today, we're going to talk about, is it better to be a business owner or an employee? Is it better to be a business owner or an employee? Now, which one is better? Is it better to be a business owner or an employee? As a business owner, there are three benefits and there are three drawbacks that we can highlight.

These benefits are the earning potential not being capped, a flexible schedule and you steer your own ship. The drawbacks - downsides are more work and stress and more work and less play, well, at least at the beginning. And work can become addictive. If you really love what you're doing, you can be addicted to working, which is not too much of a bad thing, but can be a bad thing.

Now as an employee, the benefits can be a steady income, benefits such as a pension and healthcare, and no stress related to running a huge enterprise. Now, the drawbacks of that, include: your earning potential is capped, it can be harder to fulfil your passion if you're working at a job that's there to pay the bills and not as aligned to what you want to do out there. And there is a fixed schedule. Having talked about the drawbacks and the benefits of being a business owner and being an employee, which one is better? Some may say it depends on your personality and the lot that you have in life. However, I believe we all deserve the freedom that comes from building a system of adding value to others in the form of a business.

That is what I believe. Now to add some more depth to this argument, another dimension we can ask the question: who would you rather be? James Quincy is a gifted, intelligent, and hardworking man. He started his career with Bain and co and then went to go work with a smaller consulting firm.

After the successful stretch, he became the chief operating officer and president, and then CEO and chairman of the board at Coca Cola company. As a reward for many good performances. He earned over $10 million in compensation in 2017. Now the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett has invested heavily in Coca-Cola.

He works hard as a CEO, but most of his earnings come from the returns he gets on his investments, which don't require him to work at all. In 2017, he gained over $592 million in pure dividend income. What is the difference? James Quincy was compensated for salaried work - for being a pure employee. And Warren was compensated for ownership and investments through the business that he builds of investing that to yield that huge returns.

And he did not have to physically go and work for that because he's a genius. who would you rather be? I would be the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett because then you've got the systems and processes and investments that allow you to have the freedom of time and flexibility as well.

The income that is not kept by your efforts. James Quincy, I'm pretty sure has his own investments and his own businesses that he's built. And for the sake of this argument, if he was a pure employee, he would have a very healthy salary. I mean, $10 million. It's not that bad, but it's nowhere near to the type of income and the type of life that Warren Buffet's business and investments afford him.

I would honestly prefer to be a business owner because the only freedom that we really have is a business that we built that we own and control for ourselves. Being an employee is great. However, it can limit you. It can limit the vision that you have for yourself. So that's the premise of the book: you are a business is to start using business principles and business thinking to enlarge the vision that you have for yourself and to ultimately become a business owner. And what is a business owner? A business owner is someone who owns a business majority share in it and can disappear from the business for a long time.

Months, maybe even years, come back, the business is still running and They are still earning. So that is the difference between an employee and a business and don't get me wrong, you can operate as an employee and still be a business owner like LeBron James, who's an employee to the Los Angeles Lakers, is paid very handsomely there. And he is also a business owner in terms of his brand and also the endorsements and this sneaker deals that he has. So he operates in both. And I can tell you he has equity and in Liverpool FC, that's worth millions of dollars that he can pass on to his children and children's children.

So with being a business owner, has that benefit. Because if you're looking to build generational wealth, you can't necessarily, while I've never heard of this happen, where you can pass on a job to your child. I have never heard of that happening. Where, for example, if you work as an accountant and you have an accountant job, you can't necessarily pass that same job that you have to your child because of what the requirements are to fulfil that job. However, you can pass on a percentage of a company that generates a certain wealth to your child. So it's much better to be a business owner. Not knocking, being an employee. I've done it. I still do it to a certain capacity, but it is fantastic for you to start thinking about building a business that outlives you, and that gives you the freedom that you deserve and start thinking like one because what you think about, is what you bring about.

It would be much better for us to be business owners. I hope that you enjoyed this episode of Transformational Choosedays, where we talked about what is better being an employee or being a business owner. I honestly believe being a business owner is much better.

And we want to get you to say like, Jay Z that "I am not a businessman. I'm a business man. Let me handle my business dang." If you like the show, please like comment, share, subscribe. Let me know what you think. If you're interested in any merchandise please head over to the website. Choose this day to use business thinking for you to, at the end of the day, be a business owner, because that is the only freedom that you will have is from the business that you build your own and control for yourself.

And I will see you in the next episode.