2169: Owning A Business Vs Working A Day Job - What Everyone Needs To Know by Steve Chou of My Wife Quit Her Job on Self-Employment Basics

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Work Daily. Owning a business versus working a day job. What everyone needs to know. By Steve Chu of mywifequitherjob.com. If you read a lot of business and entrepreneurship blogs like I do, you've probably noticed that almost every article out there glorifies quitting your day job. Here's the thing. Even though my blog is called My Wife Quit Her Job, I'm actually not anti-day job at all. In fact, I'm a strong proponent of working full-time for someone else if that's what makes you happy.

[00:01:29] And I can definitely see the merits of working for someone else versus being your own boss. If you've followed my blog for the past several years, you're probably aware that I work a full-time job as a microprocessor designer and I run three online businesses at the same time. In fact, I'm kind of in this unique position to talk about the pros and cons of owning a business versus working for someone else because I do both every single day. And here's the truth. There are some days where I think entrepreneurship sucks.

[00:01:57] And there are other days where I think working for someone else sucks. And then there are days where I think both suck. Anyway, because there's so much anti-day job sentiment out there, I thought that I'd chime in and provide my own take of the pros and cons of working a day job versus running your own business from the perspective of someone who does both simultaneously. The Pros of Working a Day Job One thing that I truly enjoy about my day job is that it allows me to do things that I would probably not be able to do as a small business owner.

[00:02:26] Designing computer hardware and microprocessors requires a lot of upfront capital to start. And not only is it challenging from a technical perspective, but the large-scale projects that I work on often require a lot of infrastructure and collaboration. In fact, the scope of my hardware design projects are so large that there's no way that I could afford to do them on my own without a huge infusion of capital and manpower. The other thing that I like about working for someone else is that I can almost completely check myself out when I'm not in the office.

[00:02:54] For example, when I go on vacation from work, I'm truly on vacation. I don't feel obligated to do any work and I can fully relax and enjoy myself. And of course, there are always the other perks associated with working for a large corporation, such as health insurance, benefits, a consistent paycheck, and a whole gaggle of co-workers to hang out with. The Cons of Working a Day Job But on the flip side, relying on your day job as your only source of income is not only risky, but nerve-wracking as well.

[00:03:23] Recently, we had a small layoff at my company and one of my friends slash co-workers was one of the victims. Here's the sad thing. A few weeks ago, this co-worker and I just had this long conversation about the skyrocketing cost of going to college. His daughter was starting college in the fall and he was barely going to be able to scrape by with the large quarterly tuition payments. And then, bam! One morning, he showed up to work and noticed that the door to his office was locked. And then, he was promptly escorted out of the building.

[00:03:50] His steady paycheck instantly vanished, just like that. He went from earning a healthy salary with benefits to zero income. The reality of any day job is that you can be released at any time, and you are at the mercy of your boss when it comes time to get evaluated for raises and bonuses. So far, I've been extremely lucky to have great bosses as long as I've been working, but I've heard many horror stories from other less fortunate employees.

[00:04:14] The reality is that when you work a day job, you have very little control, and your situation can instantly go from good to bad at the flip of a switch. The Pros of Self-Employment The best part about running your own business is the potential money to be made. In fact, every one of my businesses makes a lot more money than my J-O-B today. Unlike a day job where you get a constant paycheck and puny raises every year,

[00:04:38] the amount you can earn with your business is directly proportional to the amount of work you put into it, and that's why I love it so much. With a day job, you're always going to be paid roughly the same amount whether you bust your ass or not, whereas you get to reap 100% of the fruits of your labor with your own business. Most importantly, running your own business forces you to learn how to sell and make money on your own without the help of a large company infrastructure. Plus, a nice byproduct of all this learning is that it boosts your confidence and self-esteem. Here's a little secret.

[00:05:09] Even if I lost everything tomorrow, I can confidently say that I could pick myself back up and get back to where I am today within a few short years. Why do I feel that way? It's because running my businesses has taught me how to sell and market myself effectively, which are skills that you will not learn at your day job. In fact, this is why most people who get laid off and can't find another job often struggle to make ends meet. The same people who thrive in a large company environment with lots of infrastructure often find themselves helpless without it.

[00:05:38] Running my own business has taught me how to make do with very few resources, and unlike a day job, I know that my revenue will not disappear overnight because I cannot be fired. The cons of owning your own business Now that you've heard the good parts about running your own business, here's the sucky part. I'm always checking my smartphone. I'm constantly thinking about my customers, and I'm constantly thinking about my employees as well. Of course, this could just be my personality, but I care more because I own it.

[00:06:07] Sometimes I can't go on vacation without being tempted to check up on my sales and to make sure that everything is running smoothly while I'm gone. And here's the truth. Because I run a public blog that directly discusses the growth of my online store, I often feel pressured to demonstrate consistent growth every single year. It's almost like I'm running a public company without it actually being public. Sometimes when I go to sleep at night, I ask myself how much money is enough, and whether I should continue to spend all of this effort trying to make more.

[00:06:35] Should I just grow the business for the sake of growing it, or should I just cut back and enjoy what I've got? This is the trap that most unhappy entrepreneurs get caught up in. They grow their companies just for the sake of growing it. They grow it because of their pride. They grow it because of their thirst to create something huge. And what ends up happening is that their business ends up consuming all of their time. All of my businesses already make me more than enough money to cover my family's living expenses and my kids' college tuition.

[00:07:03] I don't spend much money at all, and I don't have expensive tastes. The hardest part about owning your own business is not letting it run your life. Growing any business past a certain point is extremely stressful, and my main issue with self-employment is the struggle in attaining a good balance of lifestyle and profit. The status quo In my current situation, I've decided to work full-time and run my businesses on the side because there are elements of both that make me happy.

[00:07:29] And thus far, I have managed to do both without impacting my lifestyle and family time. Even though I'm forfeiting a certain amount of control by working for someone else, I don't really need the money, and getting laid off wouldn't be that big of a deal. These days, whenever someone asks me whether they should quit their job and start their own business cold turkey, I often tell them not to quit. Start your business on the side while you're working, and then make the decision later. For a lot of people, the ideal of running their own business often clouds the reality of doing so.

[00:07:58] There are definitely pros and cons to both. And despite what you read about online, you can live a happy life doing either. You just listened to the post titled, Owning a Business vs. Working a Day Job. What Everyone Needs to Know. By Steve Chu of MyWifeQuitHerJob.com Best thing that's ever happened to you financially. Go. Easy! Sold my car on Carvana. Amazing offer. Really? I hit 200 on a scratcher.

[00:08:26] Did the scratcher come to your house and hand you a check? No. How many scratchers did you hit to get that? I hit a button on Carvana.com once. Okay, that's fair. It's like the lottery, except you always win. Not like the lottery at all, actually. Exactly! Inexplicably good. Offers worth bragging about. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply. Right now, when you buy more carpet at the Home Depot, you save more. During our Buy More, Save More event going on now,

[00:08:55] upgrade your carpeting with the top brands and save up to 15% off installed carpet projects. Installation starting at just 49 cents per square foot. Select from a wide assortment of carpet to fit your room, lifestyle, and budget during the Buy More, Save More event at the Home Depot. Offer valid August 27th through September 13th, 2026. Base price for standard installations only. Excludes Traffic Master and stock carpet. For licenses, see HomeDepot.com slash license numbers. And thanks to Steve, when his wife became pregnant and she planned to stay home with the baby,

[00:09:23] they knew that they were going to need to find more income. So they started a little online store called Bumblebee Linens. Well, in just a year, they were able to replace his wife's salary of $100,000 a year, and they started My Wife Quit Her Job to document it all, including income reports. As of 2016, Steve said that he expected to have the website's first seven-figure year, which is obviously huge. But he didn't stop there. He started the My Wife Quit Her Job podcast and even held his very first e-commerce conference called the Seller's Summit.

[00:09:54] So clearly, Steve has done a whole lot, and you can learn much more about it by visiting mywifequitherjob.com. And that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the post and that you're having a great one. And I'll see you back here again tomorrow, where your optimal life awaits.