Entrepreneurship can be a hard nut to crack. If it does not work for you, try being self-employed but on a bigger scale.
The ideology that has been spread around for a while now is that if you are not an entrepreneur then you are employed in a formal 9 to 5 job. But that is far from the truth. One, these two things are not mutually exclusive and two, there is a third option called self-employment.
Key Takeaways
- Self-employment is different from entrepreneurship
- It can have fewer demands than being an entrepreneur
- Being a skilled freelancer is a good example of self-employment
- Personal branding is important in self-employment
- Self-employment is a great option in Kenya where full-time employment is difficult to find and entrepreneurship is out of reach for many people.
First, just to distinguish between entrepreneurship and self-employment, in the words of Vusi Thembekwayo, an entrepreneur can leave their business to run on its own for 3 months while they are on holiday, while a self-employed person cannot do the same with their “business”.
Self-employment is an alternative to entrepreneurship in the sense that it has separate (differing) demands on an individual in almost every area.
(Looking for self-employment ideas in Kenya? Well, I have explained over 47 ideas HERE with different budgets for getting started).
Entrepreneurs aren’t special
Admittedly, we have glorified entrepreneurship to the point where it seems like the more noble alternative to being employed or self-employed.
This is however a faulted view because the same things that make entrepreneurs great at starting and building businesses is the same thing that makes them bad at fitting in contexts of employment. The reverse is also true. The same thing that makes people great at being employed are the same ones that make them bad at entrepreneurship.
There is therefore nothing special per se within each of these groups. It should therefore feel just as good being self-employed as it would being an entrepreneur. Just like how coffee and tea taste great for different people.
Self-employment but at a bigger scale
In order to substitute entrepreneurship with self-employment, then the scale of self-employment has to be big.
Consider a freelance accountant. Someone who does simple accounting work for small businesses. How different are they from an accounting firm employing several people?
In order for freelance accountants to earn a significant amount of money, they need to have several clients each month. This is the same thing that would keep the accounting firm profitable. The only difference then becomes the model of operation. One is a company and the other one is a freelancer.
One way to do this is for instance Joining Fiverr to Generate Income at a global scale. People are already making a lot of money on such platforms as long as you are ready to work on getting your First Gig Reviews on Fiverr.
A personal brand under the gig economy
We are living in the world of the gig economy. A form of self-employment where people sell skills that were previously tied to specific work or jobs within employment. This has opened up endless opportunities for being self-employed.
A graphic designer for example does not need to be employed in a firm, they can just create a portfolio, put it online and accept design jobs from several different companies. A teacher does not have to be attached to one school, they can just register with an online tutoring platform and teach several kids outside the classroom context. The list goes on and on.
The common indicator of successful self-employment is personal brands that are known for specific solutions. For example, a famous guitarist is known and hired to play a certain genre of music. Or a DJ who is hired to play particular types of songs. Or a motivational speaker who is really good with a specific type of people (like students).
Not without hitches
Growing big under self-employment is limited because there is only so much one can do without taking on the business model of a company. A single individual can only handle a certain extent of work before they get overwhelmed as opposed to a company where work is divided amongst employees.
There is also a rugged side to self-employment such as the uncertainty of work, the hustle of chasing payments and landing new clients which are also present in entrepreneurship. However, if you can deal with this side of self-employment then you may as well give it a go.
