Business or Job? Here's All You Need to Know About.

The fundamental difference between a Business and a service is that while the former involves producing and selling tangible/physical products and services, the latter offers assistance for money (here, the service means working for someone, i.e. job).

Businesses are usually more profitable than services/jobs as you can scale the business faster. You can create a product and sell it a million times at the same quality. Also, you can streamline your business processes using business tools and create high revenue-generating businesses. To scale a service, you’ll need to invest in your education and work experience to earn more salary, as it’s not possible for you to physically work continuously. Thus, scaling service is hard when compared to a business. However, it’s less risky since there is a consistent or stable income source, which is not the case when you are doing a business.

Job

The distinguishing factor of a job is that the risk involved is significantly low compared to a business. The thing that kills budding entrepreneurs initially is the cash flow. Once you run out of cash, it becomes difficult to carry out the business operations. However, in the case of a service/job, you are trading your time for money.

So if you have the time, you’re going to get the money. You don’t have to make huge investments into anything except for education before applying for a job. All you need is to gain experience, industry knowledge and grow from there. Suppose you want to work in the financial services industry, here the cost you'll incur would be your education & training expenses. Once you land a job, you'll be paid every month or weekly basis. The ROI depends on the salary package offered by the employer.

Business

Business is of usually two types; A Product-based business and a Service-based business. Product-based: Building economies of scale is one of the crucial tasks of a Product-based business. Anyone who wants to get into the business needs to know about the economies of scale. The concept says that if you’re making many units of a product, the cost of each unit of product goes down. It also implies that big companies will always have a competitive advantage over smaller companies. Therefore, it may cost you INR 7000 to make one unit of a product, while it may cost only INR 3000 for a large company or a rival to make one unit of the same product. This is because large businesses produce their products in bulk. Small or new businesses, on the other hand, can’t afford to produce in bulk.

Service-based business, on the other hand, levels the playing field. It allows smaller players to compete against larger players successfully. So if you have the skill, you can simply trade-off that skill for money without requiring any huge capital investments. This means that your initial cash flow will be positive since all the costs that you’ll incur will be comparatively low to what you’ll gain.

Product-based businesses tend to be more capital-intensive than service-based businesses. In a product-based business, you set your product’s price after considering all the other factors such as cost, profit margin, demand, etc. Further, the uniqueness of your product plays an important role in the success of your business. The first and foremost feature of your product that makes it stand out is its ability to solve an existing problem or help customers meet their needs. Great ideas and availability of funds play a key role in the success of a product-based business.

Business Vs Job – Stable and better source of income

Both job and business can be the best choice for different individuals. A business can be a good choice for ‘A’, while ‘B’, to avoid the business’s income swings, would prefer doing a job. However, the money that you earn in a business has no limits. This is because businesses are easy to scale, and there is no limit to creativity and innovation. Apart from that, in a business, there is huge reliance upon the marketing and sales team to promote brand awareness and create demand for the product. With extensive and strategic marketing, sales are likely to grow. Therefore it helps to maintain the cash flow needed to run day-to-day business operations. While businesses can be considered a better source of income, jobs, on the other hand, tend to generate a stable source of income.

Some of the factors that determine the superiority of the job and business over one another in terms of income stability and success are; risk, effort, responsibility, and lifestyle. For business, generating a higher income depends on the entrepreneur’s strategies meant for that particular business. To earn a higher salary and position in a job, you'll have to work for a certain period and gain relevant experience.

For example, your primary objective should be to provide great customer service (i.e. better than your competitors) if you run a business. Here, the customer is the king. In a job, your priorities would be to efficiently and effectively complete the work given by the employer.

Whether you want to do a job or business, you should be capable of leveraging your skills and knowledge. You should be able to translate your skill into your business and your work.

What is better – Job or Business?

The best part about doing a business is that there is no limit to how much you can earn. What matters is your effort and a well-planned business model. You don’t need special education to be a business owner.

A job provides a stable source of income. You’ll get paid at the end of every month. So, there is a regular flow of income. You also get several benefit packages from your employer, such as life insurance, health insurance, etc. And the efforts that you put into a job are low compared to the efforts you put in a business.

Initially, the source of income for businesses tends to be inconsistent, and it’s risky since there are times when you have to give up everything just to keep your business running.

On the other hand, even though there is a stable source of income in a job, it’s comparatively limited. It doesn’t matter how hard you work, at the end, you are at the mercy of what your employer offers to pay you. There is no job security, unlike in business where you have job security. There are limited freedom and flexibility in a job. You also need a formal education to get a job.

After discussing both the pros and cons of each, it’s evident that business provides more income opportunity, more freedom, more control, and more impact. However, the question of which one is better is subjective to some extent. It’s for you to decide which path you want to follow, whether you want to do a job or business.

Also read:

1) Ways that Can Help Improve Brand Visibility Globally
2) How to Build a Brand from Roots?
3) A List of Popular Brands that Failed in India
4) How to grow your brand? Best Tips & Tricks
5) OkCredit: Simple, Paperless & Secure solution for businesses

FAQs

Q. Which is easy, switching from a business to a job or vice-versa?

Ans. It’s easier to switch from a job to business than switching from a business to a job.

Q. Which is easy, doing a job or a business?

Ans. Running a business is relatively harder than doing a job. As a businessman, you’ll have to make sacrifices and take on risky bets. Thus, efforts required in running a business are generally high.

Q. Is there no risk in a job?

Ans. Risk is everywhere. You can lose your job when your employer becomes bankrupt or during a time of unprecedented crisis such as COVID-19.

Q. What are some cons of running a business?

Ans. Some businesses tend to be capital-intensive, some are risky, and in some businesses, you need to hold the inventory in bulk.