Employee or Entrepreneur?

Can someone be an employee and entrepreneur at the same time? Theoretically no but practically yes. It is said that entrepreneurs make more impact, more money, have freedom to do at will, are their own boss and so on. But many employees make more impact and money than entrepreneurs, head big companies with thousands of employees and do lot more new things. Word entrepreneur today is a like a charm and every second young graduate wants to ride the bandwagon. Three decades earlier when I graduated, this word was almost unheard. Some top graduates got dream jobs, some went to career jobs and mediocres like myself landed into ordinary government jobs. Some sailed along the flow while some faster than the flow or into a different direction. In the end, those sailing fast and in a different direction got on better positions than those sailing along the flow. Sailing fast and changing direction requires energy, passion and new skills. An entrepreneur is courageous, takes risks, challenges status quo, does new and different things. An employee can also do these things and many of such employees end up better than many entrepreneurs. I’d call them ‘employeeneurs’.

 When I was a young officer in a government job, I got first promotion and posting in next grade in the main Ministry that used to control my previous organisation. When I was leaving the post, my boss, a kind and great mentor, over a farewell cup of tea, advised me to go along the flow in the Ministry as I would be a small fish in a big sea and would be eaten up by sharks if I swim fast or smart. The boss knew I was always looking for more work and new things to do. In the power corridors of Ministry, more work meant more trouble, long working hours, pressure, tension and no rewards. I moved to Ministry and subconsciously kept my previous pace of trying doing something extra that I wasn’t required to do. In those days, I had no idea that taking initiatives and risks was a top attribute of entrepreneurs. I was just acting on my instincts and habits. Within couple of years, I started getting recognition in the Ministry as a guy who would voluntarily and happily take work of others. That didn’t help me in my salary or perks but when a new organization was being setup and the top boss was looking for a good officer to start a new project, someone recommended my name and he selected me for a deputation posting where my pay got doubled and I sincerely thanked God besides taking a big sigh of relief. This was kind of a turning point in my career as I got a chance to work in emerging world of internetworking, taking a 180 degree from my previous mechanical and renewable energy background. I had to unlearn lot of things and learn bundle of new things but the journey has been quite inspiring and rewarding. After learning new skills, I left the job, and with two other university friends who also quitted their government jobs, started a small computer shop that today makes 1,900 people telecom company.

Most of us at work try to go with the flow and being unsatisfied or unhappy, keep looking for other opportunities with no focus on learning and doing new things. We forget that as we constantly look for opportunities, the opportunities also search for better professionals. Luck happens when both opportunities meet.

A good professional (anyone with 16 years of education) doesn’t sit and waits for the orders. Waiting for orders and job descriptions are for entry level workers. A good officer re-writes his/her own job description, gives marching orders to self, takes initiatives, does a lot of volunteer work within the job, goes beyond the call of duty, and is hard on self rather than others. Without initiatives for brining improvements in workplace, he/she would end up as mediocre. Future belongs to courageous who keep learning new things, keep trying doing new and better things, challenge and break the status quo and move forward. A professional employee with entrepreneurial skills is hard to find and lavishly rewarded, sooner or later. Their LinkedIn profiles are scanned by the head hunters and HR professionals. They don’t search for jobs rather good jobs search them. So why not be like an employeeneur?