So I've had a couple internships on the street now, and I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that I just can't stand the idea of working for somebody else, being told when I can come and go, having to be and spend hours of my life Mon - Fri at a certain place and time, overall just being controlled. I feel like I was born into a world that isn't congruent with my way of thinking and everyone around me seems so content with the way things are.
There were moments during my internships that I did enjoy, such as completing a project or exceeding my superior's expectations, but those were momentary feeling of gratification and came after hours and hours of what I would without a doubt define as labor. Despite my interest in markets, economics, and finance I have a hard time picturing myself spending my life in it, or anything for that matter. Even before these internships, I never had much success in holding a job down for more than a couple months although I did complete the internships successfully. These thoughts have accompanied a downtrend in my GPA since beginning college mostly because I just don't have the desire to study things I don't really care about or find useless to further spend my life in some job.
Maybe it's just my standards or expectations? I've always been stubborn about them and refuse to lower them for anything; I always picture the absolute best and then aim for it, but maybe my expectations for life are just unrealistic. For my sanity, I'd like the WSO community to opine on this ongoing internal debate/crisis.
I feel exactly the same and the obvious choice would be to start a business because we feel this way. However, I feel that working full time could definitely be useful also. While the tangible skills gained from ibanking don't have much overlap with entrepreneurship, I feel that simply gaining the endurance to work 100 hour weeks will be incredibly useful for any future ventures. Also you meet a ton of really smart people who could eventually become your business partners that you wouldn't meet in undergrad.
Wait till you get a full time job. You will realize how being your own boss is the best job in the world.
Running your own business is much harder unless you're consulting solo - and good luck finding anyone interested in your advice coming right out of undergrad w/o a legit firm in your background. At least working at a good bank/consulting firm you're guaranteed great wages, benefits and exit opps while when running your own business you could go an entire year barely making anything (check out how bankers at no name boutiques run multiple businesses on the side ranging from other finance related services to even sales work). The best entrepreneurs are extremely obsessive about their ideas and are spending Monday - Sunday on their work - - or else their business isn't getting anywhere unless they're in something extremely mundane like waste management for example and are happy with low to moderate margins that produce 60K a year in income after paying for employees, contractors, etc. Being your own boss is great if your quitting Goldman as a managing director, apple as engineer etc and starting your business with industry connections, connections to capital, etc but if you start your own business and it isn't in a young industry where no one else has ventured into (zuckerbeg, gates, dell, bezos, etc) then it's always a MUCH better idea to pay your dues early instead of later on after having screwed up through a failed startup.
If your issue is simply that you hate working for others, you are probably going to hate life. You are almost undoubtedly going to have to work for others in your career. Sure, there are entrepreneurs who are successful at 18 and never have to worry about that, but they are few and far between. For most of us, we are going to need connections and experience before we have the wherewithal to turn an idea into a successful business. And even with connections, experience, and smarts it's not guaranteed to work.
Plus, lets be honest, most people romanticize being an entrepreneur in a way that isn't exactly accurate. Can you make your own hours? Yes. But to be successful the amount of hours and grind that will go into it will rival even your biggest IB sweatshop, at least at first. And the amount of stress that the uncertainty and possible lack of income could be debilitating for many. Then think about the fact that, while you don't have a boss telling you what to do and when to do it, you have clients/investors/etc that are going to do those things. And if you want to be successful you'll have to do them.
It might be a better life if you turn into Zuckerberg, but for most only kind of successful to not successful entrepreneurs it's just as much of a grind, if not more, as the rest of us feel. That's just the cold hard truth of adulthood. In reality, all of us don't want to be entrepreneurs, we want to be trust fund kids.
Good luck...
"The best entrepreneurs are extremely obsessive about their ideas and are spending Monday - Sunday on their work -"good comment by Husky32. As an investor, I'm CEO/CFO/COO and janitorial services all in one. Have the privilege of working from oceanfront home/office, yet spend 60-80 hours a week on my business. In my opinion, alot of discipline is required to be an obsessive entrepreneur & the rewards (financially & personally) can be fantastic. Good luck
Well... working sucks period. It's work. But yeah, being at someone's beckon and call does really blow, although my view is probably skewed since it stems from the IBD experience. I guess what I'm really wondering is when everyone got together and decided that we should all spend the majority of our lives as consumers and employees.
I understand what you guys are saying though. I'm definitely putting my time into a couple entrepreneurial side projects in hopes that I can dodge this bullet but I supposed I should probably start preparing mentally to suffer for a few years at least.
Did you just come to these conclusions? All I have to say is get over it or be homeless and then you won't have to worry about it. No one said you had to work for a boss and be an employee.
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