by Kynene Nwaobasi

Caveat: This article is only for people who are or want to be entrepreneurs.

 

If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to build theirs.

I mean, job security is amazing. It’s like signing your time and energy over to achieving someone else’s dreams and in return you get a good salary, pension and coffee breaks. Your work time and play time is all fixed nicely for you. All you have to do is get up every morning and go to work. Its not so bad if you’re the type that likes to rest on a bean bag in a comfort zone.

Employees aren’t allowed to dream outside the box. Your boss wants his company to make the best XXX in history? You better key into that dream and contribute your quota towards it, else you get fired. Sometimes, in very large organizations, you don’t even know who your boss is.

Think of all the big names you know. Mark Zuckerberg. Steve Jobs. Larry Page. Even Kim Kardashian! They are all entrepreneurs.

I only worked for one year of my life and I learned 3 important things in that time;
1) If it’s not yours, it’s not yours!
I worked hard and I worked smart. I stayed up at night working and brainstorming, putting together that perfect pitch that would fund a company project or having that Skype meeting that would ensure I got paid. My boss would delegate to me whatever she found tiresome, whether it was in my job description or not. And then I had to wake up really early, go for meetings etc etc.

When a pitch failed or some funding didn’t come through, it was my fault for not pushing hard enough. When things went well? Wow!! All of a sudden my boss was on the news for a film I wrote, planned and pitched. I read through all the articles we made after our project began to garner accolades and not once was my name mentioned. Not once!!
“But I worked so hard for this.” I cried to myself. “I designed the proposal that got us funding. I went for all the meetings. I did all the pre-planning and dealing with pompous actors. I sat in Post-Production for nights.”

But hey!! Nobody cares. It wasn’t my company, I was simply another hardworking employee. And when our project brought in plenty of money, I got my salary at the end of the month. Not a penny more. And my boss went on to congratulate herself with a brand new SUV.
I could sleep at night smiling with the knowledge that it was all my effort and that without me, my boss wouldn’t even be on the news. But I don’t want that!! I want to be on the news. I want to take the credit for my hard work.

2. You can’t serve two masters at the same time.
I was an entrepreneur before I started working. I had a hair business that was blooming, I had my own events management company plus I did freelance writing for magazines. My bank account was smiling and I could afford to buy whatever I wanted.
Then when the economic recession in Nigeria started, I thought maybe I might do better with some job security and stability. I was so wrong.

Barely 4 months into my job, my hair business started crashing. I didn’t have enough time on my hands anymore to supervise it. Even when I got home from work, I still had so much work related paperwork to attend to. My customers started leaving, then I realized my business was falling into pieces right before my eyes. My business needed me, just me. It needed me to be there to pamper and grow it just like a baby.

Eight months into my job, I woke up one morning and realised I wasn’t fulfilling destiny. Not mine, at least. I was helping someone else fulfill her destiny. I had not done one thing in 8 months to take me closer to my goals in life because I was too busy doing my job!
Since I quit my job, I’ve been investing more time into my business and my career as an Actress. I make more than my salary at my former job every month. When my work begins to garner accolades, it will definitely be my name on the headlines. I can now take the credit for my own hard work.
Never fool yourself that you can chase your dreams while chasing someone else’s. You’re either an entrepreneur or an employee. You can only choose one side of the coin. Simple!
So when you wake up every morning ask yourself: “Whose dreams are you chasing?”

3: Employees are never in control.
Your salary is your salary, regardless of how smart you work. You’re not in charge of your time. If work starts at 8am you can’t show up at 10am. Better be up at 7am everyday to get ready for work.
I went through this routine for a full year so trust me, I know how it feels. Now that I work for myself, I can work all night and sleep through the morning. I choose my work hours, I choose what time I want to have that meeting, I choose everything!! I take risks. I live my passion. I’m living life on my own terms and I dare say, this is the true life of an entrepreneur.
I’m so happy with myself!

As an entrepreneur, I am on the right path to changing the world. I see myself achieving all of my dreams, its so clear now. I work hard everyday for myself and all my ideas and energy is channeled towards making myself better. And happiness?? I’m so happy its contagious.
I know everyone can’t be an entrepreneur, some people have to work for the entrepreneurs. I have been on both sides of the coin, and this side is much sweeter. I only thought to share how sweet it is with you.

Just remember: If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to build theirs.

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
Kynene Nwaobasi is an actress, film producer and technology enthusiast. This article was first published HERE