Are you in business or just self-employed?
What could be the difference between the two?
A lot!
I myself could not believe it until it was proven by our facilitator during our Ka-Entrep sessions in 2007 at CSE. Our seminar facilitator asked us one by one, and all the while we thought we were in business, but as it turned out most were just self-employed, we really don’t have a business but just a job at home.
“So what is your business?” The facilitator asked, “I do homemade salad dressings, the feedback I’m getting are good. In fact, I get lots of orders. I can say business is really good” replied the participant.
“You make the salad dressings yourself?” the facilitator continued. “Yes, ma’m!” was the the quick reply “it’s my own formula, my secret recipe.”
“So I take it that you won’t entrust your secret formula to anybody else, so only you must work to do your salad dressings, right?”
“I make personalized items – mugs, plates, t-shirts, keychains, even personalized chocolate bars” when it was my turn.
“Do you have anybody helping you?”
“No ma’m, I do all the work myself.”
She then said “since you’re doing all the work yourself, and you are here attending to this seminar, it only means that there is no production happening in your business now?”
“Yes ma’m, but I have no pending orders anyway”
“aaahhhh, so you have no pending orders right now. I presume you also do the marketing and promotion of your business right?”
Most participants almost have the same flow of discussions. It was then that the difference was made clear to us.
If your business can’t run without you, if your items can’t be produced by someone else, if you’re doing all the work from ordering, purchasing, marketing, production, selling and so on and so forth… then you’re not really an entrepreneur! You don’t have a business!
You just have a job at home.
What if you got sick? Or you have to attend to important matters, like this seminar for example, then your business is put on hold. Business should not be like that! An entrepreneur does not always have to be around for his business to function.
A good quality of an entrepreneur is that he can multiply himself… master the art of delegation, learn how to set specific steps and standards so you can entrust them to somebody and still get the same result as if he did them himself. That is what an entrepreneur is. Only then can he say that he have a business and not just a job at home.
Maybe at the start, it is just home-based work, not yet a real business. With lack of capital, experience and all. It’s understandable, but it should not stay that way. Remember and learn how to apply these three word… leveraging, networking and delegating. And elevate your self-employment status to that of a full-pledged entrepreneur.
Comments
17 Comments on Are you in business or just self-employed?
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roysville.com - BLOG2u Philippines on
Sun, 21st Sep 2008 12:55 pm
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News Boy on
Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 1:01 am
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josie on
Thu, 16th Jul 2009 9:18 am
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Leomar on
Fri, 17th Jul 2009 6:00 pm
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Angel Cuala on
Fri, 17th Jul 2009 6:26 pm
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Roy on
Fri, 17th Jul 2009 6:45 pm
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ever on
Sat, 18th Jul 2009 1:37 am
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Jena Isle on
Sat, 18th Jul 2009 10:25 pm
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Dinah on
Tue, 21st Jul 2009 5:12 am
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Luke on
Sun, 9th Aug 2009 5:15 am
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ceblogger on
Thu, 20th Aug 2009 11:44 am
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Ka-Entrep Batch 31: Calling all entrepreneur and aspiring entrepreneurs | Roysville on
Thu, 15th Oct 2009 12:50 am
[...] He explores real world issues like entrepreneurship in the Philippines where many people are merely self-employed versus being full fledged entrepreneurs. To find out the difference, check out Roy’s encounter with his facilitator. [...]
Thanks, now I know the difference. Always thought it was the same thing.
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it’s an eye opener for someone who wants to start his/her own business
josie’s last blog post..Love until the end
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Good points! Now i know the difference of having a business and just doing home-based work. Thanks for sharing all these info!
Leomar’s last blog post..Filipino students won 27-medals from global math tilt
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Nice one here, Roy. When I decided last year to work at home, I had an idea of what you mentioned. Unfortunately, the Dengue tragedy in our family happened before I was prepared.
Eventually, I am again looking for a job. However, I learned a lot from that incident especially about putting up a business.
And yes, the difference means a lot and aspiring businessmen should understand it.
Thanks for this detailed post.
Angel Cuala’s last blog post..My Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2009
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Hi Sir Angel!
I was fortunate to know of CSE and attend their entrepreneurship seminar. Learnings which I can share here.
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i think it’s time for us to think , better to make our own business.
thanks for this!
ever’s last blog post..bAlik OffiCe nA nAman AkO.
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OO nga ano, Roy. Totoo nga. The points you’ve presented are true. Delegation is the key. But close supervision should still be implemented. Kaya kung minsan nag clo-close ang ibang businesses ay dahil napabyaan ng may ari. Thanks for the pointers.
Jena Isle’s last blog post..What Do You Observe as a Blogging Code of Conduct?
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wow, that’s an eye opener. I never really knew the difference.
Dinah’s last blog post..10 Random Things To Be Thankful Today
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I asked my parents a question similar to this several years ago. They are doctors by profession but businessmen by occupation. I said, “if business is merely trading something for money” then even employees are businessmen since they trade their service for salary. The answer that came back is similar to what your facilitator said. I guess that’s why accountants, doctors, and lawyers are called self-employed professionals and not businessmen. (those who aren’t employed, anyway) But how about priests? 
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nice insight! my wife must be in business then. she has a small band of furniture makers working under her.
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[...] entrepreneur (even established ones) because it will help you learn a lot of things like the difference of being in business and being just self-employed, and it will shape to become an entrepreneur of great [...]
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Roy Reply:
July 16th, 2009 at 9:24 am
hi josie
indeed it is. it was to me, that’s why I want to share it.
thanks for dropping by
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