Fear of starting a business: how to work with it instead of waiting for it to go
Fear of starting a business doesn't disappear before you begin. It shrinks when you begin small. This is the most honest way I know to face it.
Leer más →A secure job or your own business? How to think it through without drama
A stable job and starting a business aren't the safe choice and the brave choice. They're two different ways of buying freedom. The question is which one you want.
In Spain, a lot of people search for whether it's worth studying for a public-sector job or starting a business.
Wherever you are, the question is the same: the secure path, or your own thing?
And almost every answer cheats: it romanticises one of the two.
Some sell entrepreneurship as total freedom. Others sell the secure job as the only sensible option.
Neither is entirely true.
What a secure job gives you
- Stability. A fixed, predictable salary for decades.
- Peace of mind. Less uncertainty day to day.
- Time outside work. In many roles, clear hours.
What it costs: in some cases, years of preparation with no guarantee, and a ceiling that's fairly well defined.
What starting a business gives you
- Deciding. What you do, with whom, how and for whom.
- No ceiling. What you build can grow as far as you know how to grow it.
- Something of your own. That exists because you made it.
What it costs: uncertainty, especially at the start. Good months and so-so months. And the responsibility of everything depending on you.
Both buy freedom
This is what almost nobody says.
A secure job buys freedom from worry: you know you'll get paid next month.
Starting a business buys freedom to decide: what to do with your time, who to work with, what to say no to.
They're different freedoms. And each person values one more than the other.
There's no brave path and cowardly path. There's the one that fits you and the one that doesn't.
Five questions to decide
- How do you handle uncertainty? If a slow month keeps you awake for weeks, factor that in.
- What motivates you more: security or autonomy?
- Do you already have something to sell? A skill someone will pay for today changes the equation a lot.
- Do you have a cushion? Starting with no safety net is possible, but harder.
- What would you regret not having tried?
It doesn't have to be all or nothing
There are paths in between.
You can start something small while you keep your job. Validate an idea with real customers before quitting. Try for a year and decide with data.
Starting a business doesn't require jumping into the void. It requires starting.
And the secure job isn't giving anything up either. It's choosing a different way to live. Just as worthy.
What I'd tell you
Decide with data, not fear. Not fear of instability, and not fear of "settling for safe".
Test what you can before you decide. And choose what will let you sleep well ten years from now.
P.S. On what success means to me: being able to say no.