“Would I rather start a small business or become a minimum-wage apprentice to a mentor? Why?”
The characteristics of starting a business versus becoming an apprentice vary. It depends on the kind of work or service you will be offering or performing, but whether you’d rather do the former or latter really depends on yourself and your attitude towards learning.
If you start a small business, you are likely learning everything from scratch. You have to guess at where the market’s going, at prices, at demand. You have to manage a business, own it, advertise, deal with all sorts of regulations, etc. But you have freedom to do whatever you want with it, take it wherever you want it to go (after all, it’s YOUR business,) and you will likely make way more money than you would have at minimum wage. You will earn valuable business management experience, but in general, you’d be on your own.
If you are an apprentice, your life is much simpler. You are doing what you love, learning from the best and their successes (and likely their mistakes as well!) You’re making a sure income at the same time as basically being ‘in training’. You are getting paid to learn a trade!
But it’s not all sunshine … you have to be committed to it, or it may get BORING. And your pay, although constant, is low.
The tradeoffs for you might be different for me. Do you want a great mentor and a stable income? Or do you want a challenge, something to call your own?
The adventurous side of me begs for the business. I have seen people successfully start their own business and take it to THE heights. The safe side of me wants a mentor, someone with experience and business sense, and to actually get paid to learn a trade (The electrical trade is what I would choose to apprentice in.)
And I finally came to my conclusion, after wrestling with this question for a few days …
*hold on, I’m gonna go wrestle with it…*
OK, I’m back. 😊
I have come to the conclusion that I would rather start my own business.
The obvious question is, WHY?
1) Freedom. Freedom to be my own boss, make my own business decisions, more spare time with which to pursue other projects, and so many other things. To be free is to be flexible, and my life already has need to be extremely flexible!
2) Higher pay. When you own your own business, if your idea was brilliant, you can get paid far above minimum wage, whereas if you work for minimum wage, the only reason someone would pay you more is if you exceed the others in your age/experience category.
3) Faith. I have the conviction that, whatever I decide to do in business, it should be directly related to Yahweh’s plan for my walk with Him. So I hope to be able to share my faith through my business, free from any regulations that would exist under someone else’s business authority.
It is also very important to me to be able to take time off work for Shabbat and the Feasts. In an internship environment, it can be hard to get time off work because you are simply not essential enough to work the schedule around. If I were to be my own boss, I could decide my work-hours (and workdays.)
4) Glamour. You guessed it – it is such a rewarding experience and a great reflection of character to tell someone that you started (and own) your own business. It tells people that you’re disciplined and you take initiative. It makes you look good, and it makes you feel good.
To conclude, what I want shouldn’t matter to you. That only matters to me. But to you … what path will YOU take? Are you thinking strategically about future job situations? In this period where all the public schoolers are getting a taste of homeschooling and more free time, are YOU managing it wisely?
Take initiative. I dare you.
~ Makaylajesalyn
Yah's Girl 