E-Paper
Founder earning ₹2 lakh monthly says job is better than entrepreneurship: ‘On paper, it’s a success story’
The founder shared that the business left them “mentally exhausted” and said it is worse than corporate pressure.
A founder’s post on Reddit is challenging the popular "hustle culture" narrative that starting a business is always better than a job. A hardware business owner claimed that while their venture is stable and profitable, they missed the structured environment and educated colleagues of their former corporate life.
“I feel job is mostly better than a business or entrepreneurship,” the Reddit user wrote, adding, “A few years ago I left my job where I was earning around ₹1 lakh per month to start my own business. Today the business is stable and makes around ₹2 lakh per month. On paper, it looks like the perfect success story — ‘leave job, start business, double the income’.”
Also Read: Indian co-founder raises ₹90 lakh after tweeting about needing ₹2 crore funding
In the following lines, the founder explained that the reality behind the “success story” is quite different.
“Running a business means you constantly deal with all kinds of people — suppliers, laborers, transporters, local agents, customers, and middlemen. In my case, I run a hardware-related business, and most of the daily interactions are with people who are not very educated or professional. Over time I realized something about myself: as someone who is educated, I prefer being around educated, professional people. I enjoy structured discussions, clear communication, and a professional environment. In many small businesses, especially traditional ones, that environment is rare.”
The Redditor observed that in business, one often has to “negotiate aggressively, chase payments, manage conflicts, and deal with unpredictable behavior”. However, while working in a “good company” an individual gets to work with “educated colleagues, structured systems, clear roles, and professional behavior.”
The business owner further added that the daily grind often leaves them feeling "mentally exhausted” and it is “worse than any corporate pressure”.
“This made me realize something: not every business suits every person. So today my unpopular opinion is: a job is not always worse than business.”
The individual continued, “For educated people who value a professional environment, the best businesses might be ones where your team, partners, and customers are also educated — like tech, consulting, finance, analytics, etc,” adding, “Traditional businesses like hardware, scrap, transport, etc., may make good money, but they require a completely different temperament.”
The business owner concluded the post by sharing, “Sometimes a job can actually provide a better quality of life depending on the kind of person you are.”
How did social media react?
An individual posted, “Do you realise that all of this proves only one statement - grass is always greener on the other side. Period.” Another added, “I completely agree with you, got laid off recently and had to join the family business of sales and service. Completely opposite of my strengths, I literally can’t relate to any problems my customers face, as I feel it is just because of Windows bugs and a general lack of computer usage. I sell refurbished PCs and low-end systems because that’s all customers want these days. I am in an identity crisis where some days I feel I can make it, and some days just don’t want to do anything.”
Also Read: 'Not a balanced person, healthy workaholic': Bengaluru founder's unusual hiring post sparks debate
A third expressed, “At starting or lower stages of business, it requires a lot of people skills, having to explain verbally, people not reading texts or documents, wanting face-to-face or calls, ad-hoc decisions with no structure or planning, etc. But as you go higher, you may delegate these activities to others/juniors, and bring in more processes, but that will increase costs/time.”
A fourth wrote, “Business makes you more street-smart than a job. You are out of your domain bubble, dealing with all kinds of things and people, from clients to labour. Also, there is no limit to your earnings. You can decide your upper limit. Also, business gives you more daring and a greater risk-taking appetite than your job, which will help you become a more confident, firm, and decisive person.”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
