I’ve been fortunate to have the experience of returning to the world of full-time employment having spent the past few years running my own business.
I say ‘fortunate’ because having gone both ways (employee to entrepreneur + entrepreneur to employee), I’d have to say this way round is far, far harder and it’s good to know that now, in case I ever get tempted again.
Fortunately for me, it’s only temporary and in a few months I’ll be back to running my own business and free from the shackles of the cubicle. In the meantime, I’ve learned several lessons from this experience.
Here’s what I wish I’d known (or reminded myself of) before returning to the world of employment:
- When you’ve worked for yourself even once, working for someone else is very, very hard to do
- A regular salary is not all it’s cracked up to be
- Being able to decide exactly what to do each day with your time is a massive privilege
- Keeping someone else’s clients happy is more stressful than keeping your own clients happy
- Trust your instincts about the promise versus the reality of a job
- The average office environment or cubicle is about as soul destroying as you can get and totally kills creativity and productivity
- You’re highly unlikely to ever be paid back for any unpaid overtime you do
- No matter how hard you work at your job, as soon as you walk away you’re usually left with nothing to show for it
- Office politics are not exciting - they’re stressful and distracting
- Not hating your job is not the same as enjoying it
- It’s amazing what the relative security of employment does to the productivity of employees
- Your employer’s priority is usually (but not always) their business - not you
- It is way too easy to get sucked into the comfort of a regular salary, not having to think for yourself and become distracted from your own personal goals
- If you left a job previously because you hated it, never go back to see whether you made the right decision. You did!
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10 RESPONSES TO "14 LESSONS I WISH I’D KNOWN BEFORE GOING BACK TO BEING AN EMPLOYEE"
I often wonder what it would be like to go back into the corporate world and be someone's employee. Sometimes I think it would be awesome. Less stress, more structure, sounds alright to me. But then I think that maybe I take my startup privileges for granted. Maybe if I went back it would totally suck.
I think it's different for everyone. Lea, you sound like someone who thrives in a unstructured, entrepreneurial world. But I think some people get fed up and run back to corporate because the stress of running your own business is too domineering.
Either way, this is a good check list for people who are thinking of becoming an employee after a long stretch of entrepreneurship.
Thanks for this list!
#10 really struck a chord with me, and it's a good point for anyone switching jobs or thinking about their current job.
After moving from a bad work situation to a better situation (place I wanted to live, nicer people), I struggle with feeling like I should be more thankful for my new position while feeling unsatisfied and unchallenged by the work. There is a lot of space in between hating your job and enjoying it...I guess I'm still somewhere in the middle.
I made the transition 3 months ago from entrepreneur to employee, something I hadn't done (for more than 15 hours a week) in almost 2 years. It has been incredibly challenging! It's tough, it's rigid. I miss my flexibility. I hate being the middle-woman between disgruntled callers and my boss. While its not personal, I still hate that stress.
The tips you suggested are ones I can wholeheartedly back up. Fortunately, my company is small enough (I am the only full time person) that I have gone directly to the boss and expressed my concerns with the needlessly inflexible schedule, lack of benefits, and mind numbing work. I sit in an office alone for 40 hours a week and it's already slowly killing me after only 3 months. We'll apparently be addressing those issues today. Hopefully something good comes out of it!
I knew transitioning back to employee would be tough, but sometimes you just don't realize how tough it is!
It's so funny, since quitting my job, my husband and I often talk about the merits of working for yourself. He thinks it sounds awful! He much prefers a corporate environment where there is structure, steady pay, clear guidelines about what he needs to be doing next.
I think it's different for everyone.
Ryan - I'd typically say I hate unstructured environments and like to know where I am and what framework I'm operating within!!! However as an entrepreneur running my own business, I can control that structure and give myself my own framework.
On the stress thing - my current role is WAY more stressful than running my own business...longer hours and a difficult client - but I that's just the nature of mgt consulting in my experience even though this company is still tiny.
Abbie - at least you know where you are and maybe the new job is still only a stepping stone to the next one??
Alaia - hope you got some resolution today??
Just some observations:
On number 2: Tell us that when you have children with chronic medical conditions to support.
On number 8: What about the skills you learn and the people you meet and make part of your network?
On number 12: And the difference from working for yourself is...? If your priority is not your business, how does it make you a living?
On number 13: Maybe not for you, but for me it frees me to dabble and experiment, knowing that I can quickly make a switch, and not have to worry about creating a living through my own business.
Great list!
#12 - Your employer's priority is usually (but not always) their business - not you.
It's good to remember that most companies will care about your personal goals if yours happen to fit into theirs.
Luckily you'll be out of this in a few months! Good luck!
Great list, Lea.
It's very reassuring to remember those points when the whole entrepreneurial thing gets tough.
This list is particularly good advice for young people, because, well... we're young. Most of us don't have the obligations that many older people do, such as a family to take care of, or even a mortgage, etc. It's not that those things are obligations in a negative sense, because they are truly rewarding experiences that I look forward to. However, we should take advantage of the flexibility and freedom to take risks while we're young, so there is a slightly better chance that we don't feel stuck now, and later on in life.
Number 10 really strikes a chord, because I have so many friends that stay in a dead-end situation simply because they don't hate it. I really feel this is giving up before one even begins. We shouldn't be playing to just not lose. We should be playing to win. Getting your hands dirty will always teach you more and give you more experience than taking a backseat by being an employee.
You make some good points but I don't think any of these are universally applicable. You may find it difficult to think for yourself while in someone else's employ, but not everyone reacts the same way.
One item that didn't even make your list is the security offered by employer subsidized benefits. I'd be willing to bet that, as soul-crushing as your cubicle may be, the security of knowing you have a retirement plan and helth insurance goes a long way toward soothing that.
I would have to strongly agree with No. 6.: "The average office environment ... totally kills creativity and productivity"
I am currently in what most would consider a good job. However, I feel like I have just wasted a year of my professional life. I'm not coming out of this job with any new skills. I didn't get to work with exciting new technology. I ended up having to sit in numerous meetings where insecure people tried to prove their knowledge and power or I was forced to read over policies all day.
And yes, this does have something to do with management and the culture of your workplace. So not every workplace is the same.
Thankfully, my last day is tomorrow and I'm returning to school. However, I feel like my mind is shot. I've lost my creativity and more importantly my confidence.
It would have been nice to know this was going to happen, then I definitely would have made sure I participated in more extracurricular activities to keep my creativity alive and my mind sharp.
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