Job and Business – Striking similarities

Many of us who are in jobs, or in other words, work for employers, often think about starting our own business.  I have spent many days thinking about starting or doing business. During one of those days, I started wondering about the difference in doing a job and maybe conducting a business. Of course, differences are many in terms of investment of money, coming up with a great idea and so on. What about similarity? That is an interesting view point, I suppose.

What do we do typically in a business? Sell a product or service isn’t it? Of course, there are other aspects to business such as marketing, hiring people, manufacturing a product etc., but sales or revenue generation is the core.

Now let us look at the parallels. In a job you sell yourself or your skills to be precise. These skills can become obsolete like a product. When it becomes, you cannot sell them, or the value depreciates. There is also demand and supply. Consider this. An aged whiskey costs more, like wise experience in a job comes with a higher cost. In a business it is all about marketing your product. In a job it is promoting your skill set through your CV. You advertise in media for a product and try to sell through dealers/distributors. You display your skills in social media and sell through employment agencies. When your business is not profitable, or, if your business does not appeal to you anymore, you abandon, close it down and start some other. Likewise when your job does not pay you enough or you do not like it anymore, you change it.

Striking similarities? So the next time you think about your job, think about it as a business. With that you will be able to think about how to improve it, and how you can sell your skills, for higher returns.