Take It Easy

You know, I've been thinking the last couple of days. I know that probably amazes you, too. But what I've been thinking about is the difference between doing things the easy way versus the hard way. (Thinking for me = the hard way.) And I've come to the conclusion that when it comes to starting and running your own business versus being an employee, the conventional wisdom has it backwards.

Many people (if not most) consider being an employee (that is, having a J.O.B.--we remember what that stands for, right?) a lot easier than striking out on your own to earn a living. Just getting up in the morning, getting dressed, driving to the workplace, punching the clock, and performing the duties assigned to you by someone else has got to be far less taxing than all the morning routine above plus:

• Opening the building (if you have a physical location),
• finding customers/clients,
• sourcing the products/materials you sell,
• taking care of the company financials,
• hiring/training/retaining employees,
• buying & managing office supplies,
• keeping your computer system(s) in working order,
• worrying, Worrying, WORRYING about the business day and night,
• and much, much more.

Seems logical to me that the employee route is indeed the easy way to go through life. But from what I have learned--and am learning lately--about financial education and entrepreneurship, I contend that the reverse is actually true.

Yes, it is very true that business owners do have a lot more on their plate, many more balls in the air...pick your favorite cliche about being overloaded and apply it to business owners. But being business owners, they ostensibly are working in businesses that they are passionate about. And I'm sure they are passionate about the potential result of building successful businesses: passive income that provides financial freedom for themselves and their families. And those passions make all of the headaches of running a business well worth the while.

I've had several different jobs in very differing fields in my work life so far, including my current one as a long-haul, over-the-road truck driver. (I never in a million years would have conceived that I would have gotten into that.) And I've also run a few businesses on the side. Let me tell you, any time I spent working my own businesses was much more enjoyable than any time I spent working under someone else's employ. Even when my own businesses were a struggle, just the fact that I was calling the shots and doing what I wanted and loved doing made it so much better. 

An old saying goes, "If you love what you do for a living, you'll never work a day in your life." Now, if you have a job (working for someone else) that you just love, congratulations! Especially if it's one that benefits society as a whole, or makes life better for just a few people. More power to ya'! But let me ask you, does it offer you financial security? Do you derive income from it when you're not working? If the answer to those questions is "no", then does that really seem like the easy way?

Of course, I'm talking about the "easy" way to financial freedom, not necessarily the easy way to get through each work day. (But again, I contend that if you have a passion for what you're doing, then getting through a work day full of hassle after hassle is still easier than slogging through a slow day at a job you're not passionate about.) And isn't that what work life is all about, building your "nest egg" for your retirement years?

By the way, a couple of clarifications before I continue. First, when I say, "the easy way" to financial freedom, I do not mean to imply that it does not take considerable effort and diligence to build a secure financial future. It does indeed. But done correctly--choosing the right business and putting the necessary effort into it--business ownership is almost a guarantee to financial freedom.

Second, by "business owners", I mean people who build businesses that generate passive income streams, not those who just create jobs for themselves that won't pay them when they're not working it.

Business owners know that their nest egg will be better--more lucrative--if it's comprised of one or more passive income streams rather than a lump sum of cash in a retirement account somewhere throwing off meager interest. Except for a very small proportion of the employee base in this country--and the world, for that matter--working a job will not build the kind or size of nest egg that will provide a more-than-comfortable retirement, especially in today's economy.

So I ask you, which is the "easy" way and which is the "hard" way to build a secure financial future? Punching the clock at someone else's company, working hard to make them rich while you try to squirrel away enough cash for a hopefully comfortable retirement? Or building passive income streams that will continue indefinitely and possibly grow to a level to allow you to retire far earlier than you could by working a job?

I know which one I'm going to pursue, and I truly want you to secure your financial future, too. Really, I do! That's why I am committed to passing along all this critical financial education information in this blog, and invite you to join the Convoy. It'll be much more meaningful to compare notes and share success stories as we travel the road to prosperity together.

Thank you for reading today's post. Don't forget that this blog has a Comments feature, and that I do want to hear from you. Are you ready to jump on the on-ramp to the road to prosperity? Anything I wrote that you need clarification about? Anything at all, please drop me a note. I look forward to sharing space in the Convoy with you.