Entrepreneurship versus Family Business: A Difficult Choice

Life becomes tough at points where we have to make some important decisions which have a lifelong impact. One such decision is related to making career choices. Out of the many alternatives available, each with its own pros and cons, one must cautiously weigh each one of them to make a prudent career decision. One such combination of choices may be – opting for a self-created entrepreneurial venture, or choosing to join the already established family business.

Let us now evaluate these two options on the basis of some common parameters. A self-created venture calls for extreme levels of enthusiasm, creativity, and preparedness – to start from scratch in arranging the factors of production, bearing all the risks, and shouldering all the responsibilities alone. This requires a cluster of 4 C’s, including Courage, Conception, Capability and Capital, to establish an enterprise without the background support. Entrepreneurship, therefore, is not an easy venture to enter into. However, it creates immense satisfaction and a sense of independence for an individual to start with something of one’s own, and that too, on one’s own. It is an inner motivation that pushes one to touch the sky of one’s dreams. The beauty of a self-created enterprise lies in the fact that it creates a constant urge for moving on and making one’s dreams come true. Additionally, it can bring that rare inner happiness which one has been craving for, and which is felt when one accomplishes one’s dreams. For all this to happen, it is essential for an individual to be self-motivated, disciplined, target-oriented, inclined to move with the times, and capable of adapting to change. There is also a strong need to be on one’s toes, to work really hard in the direction of dream fulfillment.

An alternative to entrepreneurship, if available, may be joining the family business and taking the family legacy ahead and forward. One can be the good son or daughter of the house and can take up the family business, aligning one’s personal dreams with the happiness of the family.

In doing so, there are the benefits of constant background support, capital availability, guidance, and training; and one can be free from the fear of starting from square one. There is a degree of convenience of having things already processed and functional, thereby giving the individual an opportunity to channelize their energy in the direction of business expansion and diversification. This may not only bring a good name to the family business but will also reap long-term benefits for future generations.

Towards the end, the question arises, “Is the individual ready to take up what his/her forefathers have already created, or is he the one who is constantly making an effort to chase his or her dreams and accomplish them on his own”? The discussion is a never-ending debate and a final choice can be made on the basis of several factors taken into account together. The individual has to understand his own feelings and set his own goals to reach a final conclusion.

• The article was originally published in Career Ahead July 2020 issue.