Self-employment is lonely, risky, difficult, hazardous and stressful.

Wonderful when your business thrives, it can literally kill you when it struggles.

Those who are content and have enough for their needs frequently lack the inner drive and “fire in the belly” that is vitally important for most successful entrepreneurs. Family constraints also make a big difference. Very difficult for someone supporting a large family to voluntarily surrender a secure income to risk everything, including their life savings… even going deeply into debt… to go out on your own.

Termination As a Beginning is an example of what might occur.

I’m starting a business right now.

I have been interested in it for years, and I’ve only recently been pushed towards going ahead with it due to being at my wits’ end with traditional jobs and all the bullshit that happens in them.

If you’re not extremely motivated to start a business or to go out and hustle for yourself, it’s probably not a good idea. Pretty much everything you read from other people about not working for someone else scares you more than you’re already scared. Almost everything you read and see suggests that a specific type of person is most likely to succeed not working for him/herself, even if most of that stuff is incorrect. And if you don’t realize it without reading these stories, self-employment generally is a slow path to making money—that’s why I’m starting a business while I have a part-time job.

And in general, starting a business or working for yourself is not as cheap or as easy as some people try to make it seem—especially if you do it the right way. I have started giving entire paychecks towards some aspect of starting my business. Just this past week, I gave essentially my last two paychecks to an attorney who is assisting with proper business formation so that I don’t have to worry about legal issues down the road. And I just spent some time a little while ago looking at how much it’d cost to advertise on SiriusXM and similar avenues that would reach a large audience perhaps a little better than “traditional” online advertising—$10,000 a week for SiriusXM? Is that true?!

Most people are comfortable enough where they are, and most people don’t want to do what it takes to work for themselves. I’m no longer comfortable enough where I am or with any other options for where I could go, and I am now at a place where I’d rather take my paychecks at work and put them towards building a business than buying a lot of pointless stuff—and I am also now at a place where I can actually afford to do that. A lot of people can’t afford to not just stick with the security of a steady job, or they don’t have extra money left over from their paychecks or in their bank account to start something for themselves. Plus, when most people think of stuff like freelancing or starting a business, they think of making money—they don’t think of spending money to make money, or that there’s right this second no real difference between buying some items they like in the store or a nice car and investing money towards what they’d need to successfully freelance or start a business.

I agree with fellow Quora user Derek Lidow about fear and desire motivating people to be successful entrepreneurs—or, really, to even leave traditional “9 to 5” jobs to attempt it. Most people aren’t motivated enough to try and become self-employed—they’re comfortable.

The Middle class Indian makes up the majority of the Indian population.

Now, the thinking process of the middle-class family is- they want a life of peace. They want to have a good work-life balance, decent salary and a happy family.

This is the reason that most of the middle-class parents want their children to get enrolled is so and so course, and then get a good job, and then settle with a family.

The life according to their thought process is:

BIRTH— SCHOOL— COLLEGE— JOB— MARRIAGE— KIDS— OLD AGE— DIE.

I do not say it is wrong or right, everyone has a different perspective on life. Our middle-class parents have this perspective. They do not want their child to face problems in their lives further, thus advice us to get a decent and secure job.

The trend of preparation of government job started from this perspective. A government job has a good work-life balance, a good image in the society, a decent pay, a secure job. Government job is commonly called as the “ Aaram ki Naukri”.

Middle-class parents don’t want their children to work 18 hrs a day to build their company, neither they want their children to live life with meagre pay. They just want a decent job for their kids.

Starting an enterprise, conflicts with the middle-class ideology, thus it is generally not supported by parents. It requires a tremendous amount of hard work, patience and risk.

RISK is another factor that middle-class parents never want to face in their and their children's life. And entrepreneurship is a risk. A huge risk.

Risk is the reason many Indian’s don’t invest in mutual funds. They fear to lose their hard-earned money. And entrepreneurship is something that risks the time, money and career of their children.

But they too have their reasons for such ideologies. Most of the middle-class parents come from a not-so-rich background. They struggled in their lives to earn all the money they possess. Their struggle and emotions are linked to it. And Indian parents love their children dearly, they do not want their kids to face the same struggle.

The people in Western countries have different ideologies. And most importantly, their child-parent relationships are different from us. They want their children to be independent as soon as they complete their school. Most of the students pursue higher studies with loans which they themselves pay off when they start earning.

There is a huge difference of sentiments, ideologies, upbringing between India and the rest of the world. But it does not mean that the ideologies of our parents are wrong. They are just different. It has something to do with Indian traditions and values.

In the world, people want to make their own identity but in India, people want to build an identity for the family.

But times will change gradually, and the ideologies will change too.

There are people who criticize India for being very job oriented. They think that Indians do not have any talent. But the truth is that talents here are shadowed by the daily life problems. There is a difference between developed and developing countries. Developed countries have more platforms for different talents, along with good money if you want to pursue your talent as your career. But in developing countries, there are low opportunities and above all that a high population worsens the situation.

If you compare India in 2020 to the India in 1970, you can compare the humongous differences. In the next 50 years, the change will reach new heights and the people who think India is just a job oriented country can see the difference themselves.

Multiple reasons…

In India, there is no unemployment benefit unlike in certain counties of Europe. There people can afford to take a chance and become jobless, still feel a bit secured with govt. sponsored benefits.

Doing a 9 to 5 job is easier in a mechanical secured environment, rather figuring out the challenges every day in business as an owner. One may not like to experience tensions through out the day.

Capital requirement for a start-up is not available to most of the graduates. Parents (even if they can finance) may not be comfortable at all, especially if the parents are govt. employees. They have never seen business risk associated.

Success of Entrepreneur is only 10% maximum in business. So the odds are not favorable.

Hope this helps..

Because we have a special prison here called the software Industry and all our potential business prodigies are chained to payslips they offer.

If you come to any of the Indian metro,close your eyes and throw a stone ,it will either hit a dog or a software engineer.

It indeed is true that IT industry uplifts a typical lower middle class Indian family to an upper middle class family with the huge pay check it offers.However it came with a price.Now our generation first becomes an engineer and then thinks about what they really want to be.The comfort has made them forget to dream and dare.

Below Picture summarizes the whole thing

Remember “When slavery was abolished,the rich invented PAYSLIPS”

There are several reasons. In no particular order, here are some:

• Money is not the be-all-and-end-all for some people. Being of service to their fellow beings is more important.
• Many businesses have high startup costs and the owner/founder is willing to postpone the larger “paycheck” in order to get the company going.
• For some in artistic endeavors, the art itself is the “pay”. If they have a benefactor that will cover their basic living expenses, they are happy.
• Some people don’t like being “bossed”. They are self-starters and would rather make just enough to cover their basic needs rather than travel to a job and be told what to do all day.

The world needs folks in all categories. Besides, there are so many of examples of people in the above groups who went on to positively impact the world &/or became fabulously wealthy. Think of Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Oprah, Steve Jobs, any franchise owner, Richard Branson, etc.

Self employment is not better than working for others. I see this question over and over again and it’s not true. There are pros and cons to both. The falacy of you will be richer and more famous if you are self employed is a bunch of bull. In fact most people that work for one company their entire life end up retiring with much more money that the people that were self employed their entire careers. I’ve been in both worlds and there are pros and cons to both sides. The biggest advantage of being self employed is you control your schedule and don’t have to answer to anyone else. The biggest advantage of being an employee is your paycheck is more steady and your retirement investment/401k is more secure. If you have an out going personality and don’t let your fear of uncertainty get in your way then you might be better suited to be self employed. If you like the normal patterns of life and showing up to the same place with the same people everyday then you might be better off as an employee.

I don't know about other countries, But in India, Self employment is best. Because

1. It can be In your own locality So you don't have to pay costly room rents like youths working in a city. Even you can convert your house to your employment related shops like Sweet stall, Electronic items shop, Flower shop, Etc.

2. Every second you working, your hardwork is directly applies for you and your job growth and experience. Not like a corporate overtimes, they force you to work for 10 to 12 hours and even you go home, they force you to work from home and you are not sure you’ll get a promotion.

3. I see many parents, whose business like a saloon, dress shops, sweet shops, other small jobs are running good, but ask their child to go and work for what you studied. Even you can take me as a example because, my father is tailor, earns 25k per month in my own town. but see me, working for a company as a mechanical engineer for 15k salary in Chennai. My situation is such worse. From the point of relatives and others view, I m working as a engineer, so I'm happy, Easy to search a girl for marriage and living a descent life But the reality is I'm earning 15k, Rent 5k, Food 5k, Petrol and other expenses 5k. I have nothing in my hand. But as a tailor, my father earns 25k. NO petrol expenses because he has shop in my house, Minimum food and other expenses, he will have 18k for sure, even in the month end.

4. Your father made a good name for a shop, You’ll maintain that in your life and after some generation, your business can be made into a brand like Raymond, peter England, Louis Phillippe ,etc.

5. finally. I'm seeing my father for 20 years, working for 10 hours like 9 AM to 9PM with 2AM to 5AM sleeping break, shop will be on leave whenever he has no work , if he have fever, or something, He take leave whenever he need a vacation leave , medical leave ,etc. but see me, working for 10 hours straight without break, no medical leave even I'm sick, and no Fucking vacation leave.

so finally, if your father happily earned and lived by some business and he retired, Please you take over the business and be like your father. Not all men have the golden life living and working in their own hometown .I'm sorry , I cant type in a flow. these are in my mind.

Q. Why won't people hire me after being self employed?

I’ve been self-employed most of my working life, but have not had trouble finding a job when I needed one.

One possible reason employers may be reluctant to hire the self-employed is that they may have prior experience suggesting that about the time the formerly self-employed have learned enough about your job to be valuable, they may decide to go work for themselves again.

Or employers may simply believe that might happen.

Employers want employees who will stay until the employer lets them go. Most employees worry about finding another job if they lose the one they have.

The formerly self-employed already know they can have another job (working for themselves) if they lose this job, therefore they may be less inclined to eat corporate shit to keep their job.

Ha. Once established it is better then working for someone. Getting to that point is pure hell.

Working for others will bring you a peaceful life. Owning your own business will make you an answering service. It will have you begging and pleading and praying for workers to fulfill thier duties. Owning your own business will teach you to not sugar coat things to team members and customers.

I know multiple people that are more happy working for someone. I know many business owners that are not wired to have a boss. Even though customers can be the most demanding type of boss.

Some would think owning a business makes us batshit crazy. If it is greener grass you are after, go get it. You can learn first hand.

There are only financial benefits for some. Financial burdens for others that are hoping and trying to succeed. The playing field is not nice. Many people have lost all types of loyalty. People will take full advantage of your back if you let them. Workers are the same…

1. Join an engineering college - Most of parents expect their kids to complete High school and join an engineering college. Pre requisite is that there has to be campus placement in college (first question that parents of 'high school passed out' student ask is - what is the percentage of placements in your college?. It has to be 100%). Otherwise it is a big NO.

2. Job in a IT company - Once you complete your engineering, it is expected of you to join an IT company - Infosys/TCS/WIPRO/HCL/CTS.

3. Flat - Two years in to your job in a MNC/IT major, parents and relatives will start pestering you to buy a house/flat in your city. You would end up buying a house/flat by availing a home loan from a bank. This would result you in paying interest on principal amount and principal amount for next 20-30 years. So 20-30K from your salary will be deducted for foreseeable future.

4. Marriage - Job in a IT major. Check. Flat. Check. It is time to get you married. It is a great advantage if you work in above said IT majors and make anywhere between 4-8L per annum.If you work in these IT majors, you have tad bit 'sale' value. Otherwise, it will be difficult, but you will still sail through it.

5. Car - Now you are married and intending to start a family. It is time to get a car loan and buy a car. This would result in paying back the money for next 3-5 years.

6. Onsite - Right now it is too difficult to manage your family and loan. If you could just grab an onsite opportunity, you could pay back home and car loan within a short span of time, say 1-4 years.

7. India is a bad country to startup and to work in a startup.

8. Job Security. Stability. Too Risky. Societal pressure. Status in Society. No permission from parents - I am sure these are the exact words you would hear from people. I have never understood the meaning.

9. By the time home loan and car loan is settled, one would be little shy of 40+. Now your son/daughter, have to go to college. The whole cycle repeats.

I went to a seminar today... and hence I have just figured it out.. You're in luck! Thanks for asking.
Even though us Indians consider ourselves citizens of 21st Century... Most of us are held back due to our family's or our own 20th Century mentality.
If you look at Americans or pretty much citizens of most countries outside India, you'll find that they have always followed what they love doing. A guy who loves to paint actually becomes an artist, a guy who loves spending time on the Internet becomes a blogger or an Internet personality. Someone who likes to make things becomes an Engineer or a craftsman. I'm not saying there are no cases like this in India or in Pakistan... These cases have a lesser occurence here. Every artistic job is frowned upon here... We proudly show the world that we are stereotypical and archaic in these matters: A boy in the family will be the breadwinner... hence he'll be an Engineer, the girl will be married off.. and if she has to do shit in life, she'd be a doctor.
Now, back to our topic..
The biggest factor I find regarding the failure of Indians starting Businesses or being in a job that they love is, Failure. We Indians are over-meticulous; we think of Failure more than Success. It's universally true that with big risk comes big rewards.We think of the risk before the reward.That is why, if we even start businesses, most of them fail... these failed businesses become examples for our youth, but not in a positive way.. Obviously when you start a job, you start a job with least risks and a "smooth-sailing".. Most of us find a business to NOT be that one job, no matter how much we'd love doing it.
This is an over-used line, but it really goes with the topic:
Japanese Mentality :
If one can do it, you can do it, If no one can do it, You must do it
Indian Mentality:
If one can do it, let him do it, If no one can do it, HOW CAN I DO IT?!

Can't say these lines are not true for today's India.
I feel that once we scrap this mentality and achieve our full potential, there is no country that can even come close to what India would become.

Good question. There are a lot of factors due to which India has fewer entrepreneurs. Some of these are:
1. The education system: Everyone knows this. We had a great education system in ancient India. Creativity and curiosity were promoted. Practical education was emphasised over theoretical education. But then the British came and changed this. We tried to copy their education system and hence, created the most fucked up education system in the world. Currently, schools don't promote creativity and do not allow kids to freely express themselves, be curious and question things. The only thing they give a shit about are marks. Competition for marks drives kids, not the curiosity to learn something new. This discourages a lot of people who could be great entrepreneurs.
2. Lack of rebels: Rebels are very important for societies. They question the current ways of doing things and they change things they find wrong. India lacks rebels. Forget rebels, we don't even have people who can say, "I don't have passion for engineering, I won't do it" to their parents. Rebels are very important. They challenge the old and replace it with the new. We, however try our best to supress rebels and make them live a life of conformity. Rebellion is hated by everyone from school teachers to parents to any random uncle who lives in your neighbourhood. Everyone wants kids to live the default life. Those who don't want to, are viewed as losers. Very discouraging. But Its these rebels that make great entrepreneurs. If you discourage them, you won't have many entrepreneurs.
3. Mindset of society: Indian society truly hates entrepreneurs (before they succeed). My uncle is currently working on his second start-up after his first one failed. I truly admire him. But many of my relatives? They consider him a loser who couldn't get a job. He will make it big one day and hopefully make everyone shut the fuck up. So mindset of people plays a big role. Why would someone go for entrepreneurship if most of the people he knows are against it? Only true rebels still have the balls to go for it.
4. Fear of failure: This is a big problem too. Indians truly fear failure. My classmates cry when they get 94% instead of 96%. Most of the people I meet just want an engineering degree to get a job. A job is considered a cloud of safety which most people are too scared to leave. They just don't have the guts to take risks because risk = possibility of failure. Has anyone become a successful entrepreneur without taking risks or failing?
5. No passion for anything: I believe that you need to be passionate about something if you want to be an entrepreneur. Make your passion your business. But in India, I barely see people in real life doing something they love. I joined an engineering coaching class (and quit 3 months later) only to find that most of the kids there had no interest in engineering. But they still come to that class and learn and mug and cram so they can get into an IIT and get a "good" job. If people don't have any hobbies or interests, they won't have many ideas. I haven't seen any entrepreneur till date who wasn't passionate about his business. And if we have a bunch of people who aren't passionate about anything, we will never have many entrepreneurs because these people will be busy working in companies of entrepreneurs from other countries (aka the MNCs).

There are a lot more things. But these few are the main factors. Its not that all Indians are like this. But a majority of our population fits in with this. However, thigs are changing slowly and we are seeing more and more start-ups. Hopefully, things will change for better in the next decade. Its these times that create the best entrepreneurs. :)

Being self employed and working for someone else both offer stresses. They are just different stresses.

Being self employed provides a level of self reliance that you don't get anywhere else. Many of us enjoy the independance. It isn't easier, but often times the most rewarding things aren't easy.

Another element is with that independance comes the ability to make your own fate. If you work hard, and are good at what you do, you are likely to have more flexibility and money. There is not a company providing stability, and that has both and upside and a downside. Stability comes at a price. The company pays you consistently but when you are thriving, you rarely see a huge uptick in earning.

The last main reason I have seen, is many do it from necessity. They lose a job and struggle to find a new one. Getting frustrated, they begin to work for themselves. Some do well, some just fail again. But often, when a job is not easy to find, sometimes work is easier to find.

I think it is because a lot of youngsters are preparing only for exams.

They are preparing for IAS, CAT, GATE and several other exams. Every year lakhs of candidates apply for these exams. These exams demand serious dedication, focus and hardwork which doesn't leave any room for other things such as entrepreneurship.

It is not that youngsters are afraid of taking risks. They do not have time for taking risks. It’s just that they are busy in their exams preparation so much that they are not able to experiment with their cool ideas.

Number of entrepreneurs will increase if students take some time free and think about their ideas and opportunities available to them instead of giving exams.

No. But I can see why you jumped to that conclusion.

I have heard a joke that the solution to depression on being laid off is to call yourself a consultant, though you don’t have any clients yet. It is hard to earn a living as a consultant or sales professional. And if you don’t have any sales this month, technically, you aren’t unemployed.

Your definition of self-employed clearly doesn’t include the skilled tradespeople like electricians, plumbers, and other blue collar self-employed who are turning away work due to sheer demand. And they are the majority of the self-employed, though contractors in IT and other professional jobs are counted as self-employed as well.

It depends on what kind of person you are. I wouldn’t recommend self-employment to people who like stability. Also, I wouldn’t recommend job for people who like growth and taking risks.

You see, self-employment means you might not have a stable income, you might face a lot of discomforts, there will be a lot of compromises needed to be made, a lot of risks taken. People (your friends, the loved ones, or your closest family members) might not understand you. (My dad still asks me on a monthly basis why I quit full-time, even though that was like more than six months ago “you’re earning so much less, plus, you lost all your social guarantees, perks, etc. and for WHAT?”. He won’t understand me, I think. So I stopped bothering to explain.

Self-employment, however, also means you get bigger freedom of choice. You can choose your strategy and goals. You set the KPIs, you report to yourself. (I would also say, you actually report to all the people you hired because if you’re a responsible entrepreneur, not a jerk, you gotta make sure you act responsibly towards the people who you hired cause they spend a huge portion of their lives helping you build your company, so if you’re not a piece of shit, you have to respect that and know that you report to them in the first place).

But anywho, self-employment offers a wide variety of paths, you’re free to take, as long as you’re not scared of risks and failures (cause they’ll happen for like 500%)

Job, though, means that unless you’re a lazy chicken wing, all you gotta do is work hard, reach the KPIs that your management sets for you, invest in your company’s and self-growth with your knowledge, skills, and ideas, and there you have it - a career, a stable income, social securities, (maybe even Taco Tuesdays, wine tastings on Fridays, and Christmas parties for employee’s toddlers, etc.). You really cannot ask for more. Your life is all packed and wrapped like a nice present.

But here is a catch. For those people who want freedom and always question what the grass on the other side really is like, job means a trap, a golden cage. A nice, really nice cage, what else can you dream of? But it just feels like that. And those who have got such thought at least once in their life, know what I’m talking about here.

At the same time, people who want stability are dead scared of all the compromises that self-employment might require them to make. They will never understand, nor make such a sacrifice.

These are two very different values. And both need to be respected.

So, yeah, job and self-employment both have great pros and cons. It just depends on what you want from this life THE MOST, and go for it.

I love the answers here. hah. It’s funny when I tell people I’m self-employed.. every once and a while someone makes a comment that they’d love to try it out, but for some reason.. just don’t. Let’s see, here’s what I would be thinking if I was a hiring manager and talking with a self-employed person….

• “Damn, if I could make that happen for myself.. I’d probably do it. “
• “So if they like being self-employed, and have made it work.. why are they looking for a job now? Is it because they can’t make it anymore being self-employed.. does that mean they suck?”
• “If they are just looking for a job because they can’t make self-employment work, what happens when they are tired of this job again.. will they just go back to being self-employed”
• “Self employed people are kind of like lone wolves, I don’t think they are team players”

To some extent.. all those lines could likely be true, unless the person in question truly has decided they no longer want to be a self-employed person, and prefer employment. If that’s the case, you’d probably want to make that clear. In your specific scenario, it’s hard to say why you haven’t landed a job.. It could be lack of experience, or the perception of jumping around as a self-employed person.