Business is any commercial enterprise that one engage in. It involves the act of buying and selling, having a production company where you transform materials into another form that is needed by man and profit is made through the process. We have many value chains along the line of any business. It could be a marketer who helps a party markets it's products while the marketer is paid perhaps from the profits. Business could also be in the form of rendering services and getting paid for it. If someone ask you; what business do you do? This question could be replied in many ways. It's either you own a business or you are engaged by someone running a business.
When you have a roadmap of investing a dollar to get some cents profit, you already got a business idea.
Owning a business or working for someone?
If I am to reply this question going by my opinion, I'll say owning a business is better. However, we must understand that not everyone can successfully run a business. So, when trying to answer this question individually, one must discover himself or herself to know if you have what it takes to run a business. There should be proper planning and feasibility studies. Timing and other factors should be taken into consideration. Some people are better when working for others. Such people, haven discovered themselves, shouldn't think of having their own businesses.
Most people delve into a businesses they have no idea about. I once experienced a successful yam farmer that sold his yams and changed his business to trading fish. Because he had little or no idea about the fish business, he lost his capital within one year and he had to return to farming to start from square one. Having the prerequisite knowledge or hiring an expert with the knowledge if need be is very important.
In this post by @alaiza, the basic elements and principles of business planning were highlighted where it is stated as follows;
There are four basic and important elements or conditions for business planning to be effective, in the professional exercise the following can be found: planning must be systematic, it must be projected into the future, it must have a time limit, and have a cost-benefit relationship, it has to do with the purpose to be achieved.
Not everyone are privilege to have the capital to start a business. You will have to work for someone in most cases to raise the capital. While doing this, many people make the mistake of working and resigning before starting a business. Instead of that, you are supposed to start your business before resigning from work.
Don't resign to start a business but start a business to resign from your work.
I presently work for someone and I hope to have my business someday. My plan is to work for some time, start a business, and then resign later to concentrate on the business. Owning a business is better than working for someone on the condition that you have the knowledge of the business, a good plan including risk factor management and the capital to run it. Otherwise, you should continue working for someone.
The kind of business I would like to have.
For the past six years that I graduated from university, I have been teaching. I have thought in schools owned by individuals and presently, I am teaching in a school owned by the government. In some schools that I was privileged to be close to the owner and the management, I understudied the rudiments of having a school and successfully operating it. I am gathering the experience in order to have my own school in future.
I plan to have a primary and secondary schools. I hope to work for some years and then start the school. My plan is to have my wife in charge of the school in the early stage while I supervise the operation for sometime before resigning to go and take full charge.
The last school I worked before taking up a job with government is worth more than $2 million. I love to have a school of that standard. Saving or taking a loan to establish a school will definitely not be enough to put such school in place in such a highbrow area. I plan to establish it in a low cost area where the demand of education is high. However, if I have $1 million, I will establish a school with much of the needed facilities from the beginning irrespective of the area I wish to establish it.
I already have a diary where I write most of my discoveries as a teaching staff in the art of running a school.
Philosophical meaning of the word business.
When considering the word business, it has many meaning beyond the commercial enterprise that I have been discussing before now. It could mean one's dealings, particular situation or activity, a matter needing to be dealt with or something involving one's personally. It could also mean matters that come before someone or a body for deliberation or action. Depending on the context in which the word is used, it could imply different things.
There is however a word that draws a similarity in the different meanings of the word business irrespective of where and how it is used. The word is "interest". When something is your business, there is an interest of yours there. The interest could be profits, settlement of a dispute, a case that requires your inputs in whatever form and so on. When you don't have any of such interest, then any issue under consideration whether enterprising or otherwise is none of your business.
When you don't have interest in it in whatever form, then it is not your business. You might be reminded at times that some issues are not your business. When such statement is made, you are asked to kill any possible interest in the issue and don't attempt meddling into the case.
This is my entry for DCC tag contest - #business. Check out the details here if you are interested in participating.