- Olajide Abiola

People's desire and longing everywhere for financially improved and more prosperous lives continue to climb rapidly with frenzied intensity. This has made entrepreneurship the attractive vehicle to fulfill this yearnings, inadvertently creating divergent redefinitions and reconstruction of the term, which many in Nigeria have come to redefine as being one's own boss; the silver bullet considered as the sure pathway to a materially enriched and more liberated work-life existence. Faith based leaders, self-development experts and motivational speakers have all cashed in on this growing consciousness by providing diversely themed seminars and workshops for interested and aspiring entrepreneurs, with the main catch being transforming them from employees to rich bosses of their own businesses outfits.

Ordinarily, the underlining impetus for entrepreneurship ought to be value provision for wealth creation through intelligent risk taking.

However, desperation and an admixture of ignorance and greed have substituted this for money making for its own sake and freedom from structured work undertakings from multi- level authorities. The fact is, being one's own boss is not remotely a guarantee to becoming rich. But this is what many motivational speakers and clerics with no commanding and established entrepreneurial or professional career pedigrees mislead a lot of desperate individuals who have been sold the illusion of becoming rich and free by setting up a business in which one they're the boss, not answerable nor responsible to anyone. It is very instructive not to join the frenzy and bandwagon similar to the historically notorious California gold hitherto thriving in their respective works, but inspired by wild and exaggerated hopes of instant and overnight wealth.

Creating and operating a structured business will not guarantee stupendous material wealth or professional freedom. What makes for monetary enrichment are creating value in exchange for money on a proportionately large scale and having good financial management acumen.

It is very instructive to state that there are millions of employees very much financially richer and more stable, who enjoy highly flexible work/life balance than most business owners. Being an entrepreneur does not necessarily confer the title and function of being a boss on one in the real and pragmatic sense of the phrase. In fact, it makes you an employee of all your clients, especially in the early years of formation and growth when the business has yet to gain traction and win over adopters and patrons of the offered products and services;

coupled with having to operate on very lean budget and tight schedules, prospecting for new clients and working assiduously in retaining them through trust and confidence building; all of which are very enormous tasks. Even more so, satisfying the behavioral complexities of a customer in the present digital age with a view to fulfilling the age long business catch phrase “customer is king” is a very herculean task for a business owner, especially in sole entrepreneurship. This is particularly not surprising because of the limited resources and structure available to the small or fledging business owner as against established outfits with massive structure and staffing where work and resources are evenly distributed.

Not everyone is built and cut out for owning and running structured business outfits. Strategic entrepreneurship is also a good option. Some will do well as independent specialists, professionals and consultants, with earnings determined by the value of skills and frequency of utilization to solve problems for others on deal making basis.
Others simply need to acquire more education (not necessarily skills) to climb the career ladder faster and earn increased and bigger remuneration and perks.

It is important each person clarifies their strengths, weakness and financial goals early enough and find where they are most applicable and the platforms they are most suited for to create high financial value that meet their monetary goals. There are millions of poor entrepreneurs who are their own bosses and there are millions of rich professionals who are employees. It is not even surprising that 7 to 8 of every new business doesn't see their second and third years. You can be your own boss and be habitually poor. There are millions of struggling business owners out there that will never make a financial success break. It is not a curse. It is the same reason everyone is not singing, or acting or flying a plane, or sailing a ship.