A lot of children are raised on the dogma of, “when you grow up, you are going to work for a great company.” So when they grow up, they seek out a job working for a solid company, so as to avoid all of the risks associated with “failure.” So they spend their entire lives trying their best to always work for a good company (often changing companies a couple of dozen times), and avoiding anything that looks too risky to them. Of course, they always risk the fact that their lives are not under their own control when they work for someone else. Or perhaps that is less of a risk, and more of a guarantee that they are under someone else’s thumb.

There is an alternative to working for a great company. You may also own a great company. The down side to this is, unless you happen to have been born rich (and thus really don’t especially need to work for your income), you are going to have to build the great company you intend to own. There are going to be startup costs, there will be a whole lot of times where you wonder why you ever signed on to do something that feels so completely crazy… and then, there are also going to be times when it all feels worthwhile. Like when you take it public and become a multimillionaire faster than a lottery winner.

Of course, there is always the very real risk that the company you build could implode, and your ownership could be worth about as much as a vintage pet rock. This is the chance a person takes in a life of entrepreneurship- you might experience the dreaded epic fail, or you may soar to a level most people will never even come close to experiencing. The risks are worth it to some people, but not to others. You have to decide some things for yourself.