Should I work for myself or others?

Something that's been on my mind lately: the whole... prospect of financial freedom and breaking the mould of the expected route of the 9-5.

Disclaimer first though: thinking about financial freedom doesn't mean I wanna be filthy rich. I'll define it more as being able to generate multiple income streams while having the liberty to pursue practically what I want (as God leads), however it may look like.

Corporate Life vs Entrepreneurship

It's quite a dilemma for me, honestly.

I've interned with Singapore Airlines in 2018, and man that was the best time of my life. I'm not kidding when I say I get an adrenaline rush every morning as I commute with the throng of office crowd at 7am, and go for one hour lunch breaks with colleagues.

But the best part is of course knowing that my small actions directly or indirectly contribute to the success and running of the company. I could see the ripple effect of my actions and my work, and every day I would leave office with a huge sense of pride and satisfaction. I just absolutely love it that I was part of something huge; part of Singapore's pride.

But fair enough, if let's say I interned at a small unknown marketing agency instead, maybe my experience with the corporate world wouldn't be as, positive, so to say. I think I'm a person driven by purpose and prestige, so I literally need to surround myself with work that I know will at least eventually have a huge impact.

So yes, based on that experience alone I concluded that I like working in a 9-5... but maybe only in a very small handful of selected firms in selected industries.

Then there's the question of entrepreneurship.

I've learnt that your 20s is the time where you're supposed to take the most amount of risk and step out of your comfort zone. And if I wanna so something new and wild, now seems to be the perfect time to take the plunge without having much liabilities, and subsequently repercussions.

Honestly I don't even know what kind of business I'll start, but all I know is I'm getting increasingly open to the idea of me trying to strike it out there on my own. I do owe it partially to the fact that I just discovered that the 9-5 is quite a trap :( No wonder they call it a rat race.

Now I am not saying that the work people do in the marketplace is bad. It's the system, not the work itself, if you get what I mean.

Anyway, back to my point. It's a very, very long explanation, but this video gives a good summary of the whole history of "factory schools", how we are programmed from young to think that money is evil, as well as the rarely-discussed pitfalls of capitalism.

At this point I must clarify that I love going to school, I love what I'm learning and all the other activities I get to be part of. Yet sadly, the purpose of schools has never really changed since the beginning: to produce productive humans to fill the stations in factories, and in current context, the office desks.

I know this is kinda morbid, but unfortunately this is the world we live in.

So, in conclusion? I think there's a place for all kinds of jobs, all kinds of lifestyles in this world. As for me, it probably boils down to seasons— I can't see myself spending my entire career in the corporate world, and the reverse is true for doing my own thing.

Thanks for sticking around, and do hit me up to share your thoughts regarding this!

If not, continue to kickass wherever you are 👊🏼