Job vs Online Business: Which is Better?

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From kindergarten to college, most of us are told that our objective in life should be to get a high-paying job. Our whole focus throughout years of education is to get that career that puts you on a fast-track to success.

What that means can vary. Some people see “high-paying” as five figures yearly, some see it as six figures or more.

The point is, this grind is romanticized and idealized to the point that not many people know there are other options out there.

What if I were to tell you that online businesses unlock the potential for you to live comfortably without having to work as many hours a week?

You might not believe me right now, but by the end of this post, maybe I’ll have changed your mind. I’ll be comparing a high paying job vs owning an online business.

If you don’t have time to read, click the play button below to watch my comparison instead.

How Income from Online Businesses Works

As you might have guessed, our main source of income comes from online businesses. These days, it’s mostly from high-ticket dropshipping and affiliate marketing. I’ll give you a quick bird’s eye view of how it works.

It’s sort of like a cycle. We use dropshipping businesses to make quick cash, which we then reinvest into our other dropshipping businesses, affiliate marketing businesses, or Kindle publishing.

If you want to learn a little more about how dropshipping works, we’ve written a guide about the basics here.

Going from 0 to $2,000 a month from any of these businesses is one of the most difficult parts – if not the most difficult of all. It’s like the first step, and you know what they say: the first step is always the hardest one.

But once you get to that point, it’s replicable. You can take your methods and apply them over and over again.

You can’t really do this if you’re just making $2,000 per month as a salary working for someone else. That monthly salary is all you get, aside from maybe occasional raises.

Anyway, say you’re making $2,000 a month from your online business. First off, I want to congratulate you: that’s a great milestone to reach. It’s not necessarily the end of the road for you, either.

I know we have stores that sometimes make $20,000 a month, and others that do less. But you can go even further than that.

Sure, once you get to a certain amount of money per month, you can just automate the business and take what you’re getting. I know people who do that. They move to another country like Thailand, where $2,000 a month is a comfortable income.

However, I want you to consider this angle: these online businesses that are making you money are like assets in your virtual portfolio. On platforms like Empire Flippers, you can sell your businesses. Selling them can get you 24-36 times the monthly profit value.

I’ll put it this way: that site that makes you $2k a month (or anywhere from $24k-36k a year) can suddenly make you $48,000-72,000 once you sell it. That means after 12-18 months, you have something that’s worth $72,000-108,0000 if you decide to sell it within that time frame.

And once you make that sale, you’re still not necessarily done. The knowledge you used to make that profitable site is still there, and you can do it all over again.

That might sound crazy, but that’s something that we actually do yearly. We sit on a few online businesses, develop them, and then sell them.

Read Also: Dropshipping vs Affiliate Marketing – What’s Better for Beginners?

High-Paying Job vs Owning and Online Business

Okay, so this is where I’ll get to the heart of the issue: a direct comparison between a high-paying job and an online business.

There are several different qualities I’ll be comparing them in:

  • Write offs
  • Income protection
  • High spend
  • Flexible hours
  • Scalability
  • Location independence
  • Commute time

Write Offs

Before I get into write offs, let me give you a quick disclaimer. I’m not an accountant, so if you have more questions about tax write offs, please reach out to a tax professional.

Anyway, when it comes to working in a high-salary position, there’s only so much you can write off.

Comparatively, when you have your own business, you can write off so much more. You get a lot of tax benefits from forming an LLC or an S Corp.

On average, I think salaried employees actually pay a lot more in taxes than business owners for that reason.

Income Protection

You might be raising your eyebrows at this one. You’re probably thinking that a steady paycheck from an employer is more stable, right?

That’s not actually the case. In some situations, you could end up fired or laid off, and then you’ve got nothing except possibly unemployment pay.

When you have a dropshipping store with multiple suppliers, there’s nothing you can really be fired from. Sure, a supplier could drop you, but you can always get another one. You may not even need another one because you’ll have others that you’re working with at the same time.

High Spend

When you hear the phrase, “high spend,” chances are, you think it’s a bad thing. But I want you to look at it in terms of lifestyle.

When you’re spending more, especially if you’re using cash back credit cards, you’re getting points back that you can put towards free hotel rooms, flights, or any other number of rewards. And this all from the basic, constant expenses you spend every month to keep your businesses running.

You can’t do this to the same degree with a regular job.

Flexible Hours

High Paying Job vs Owning Online Business Comparison Point: When you own your own business, you get to set the rules. It’s even possible to work no hours a week at all if you want that and you’ve gotten to a point where you’ve automated your business’s day-to-day functions.

In a salaried position, you’re usually given a set number of hours you need to work each week, if not a specific shift. Typically, you’ll work 40 or more hours weekly in order to be a full-time employee with all the benefits that entails.

Well, when you own your own business, you get to set the rules. It’s even possible to work no hours a week at all if you want that and you’ve gotten to a point where you’ve automated your business’s day-to-day functions. (That involves proper outsourcing, which we talk discuss at length in this guide. <-put link to outsourcing article, not outsourcing podcast here once it’s up)

Scalability

I talked about this a little bit earlier, when I said that your methods in an online business are replicable. That’s what I mean when I say “scalability.”

Once you’ve figured out a method for making $2,000 a month (or any other number, really), you can simply copy and paste that method. Rinse and repeat as many times as you need to in order to get whatever goals you’ve set for yourself.

Until you figure out a way to clone yourself, you can’t really do this when you’re working a regular job for another employer. You’re a part of their system, so you have to follow their rules.

Read Also: Dropshipping Do’s and Don’ts to Reach $2,342,061.36 for a Single Store

Location Independence

High Paying Job vs Owning Online Business Comparison point: If you get to a really high level in your online business, you don’t even need to take your computer with you to work at all, because it’s systematic at that point. Your business essentially runs itself.

If you’re working for someone else, I want you to stop for a moment and imagine your workspace.

You probably imagined an office, right? More likely than not, that office is somewhere outside of your home. It’s probably got a mediocre coffee machine, desks, and maybe rows of cubicles.

Of course, it’s possible that you’re a remote employee working from home, but you still likely have a designated workspace and computer, as well as set working hours.

You can say good-bye to all of that when you have your own online business, because it’s tied to your computer. Wherever you have an internet connection, you can work. The world is your office at that point.

If you get to a really high level in your online business, you don’t even need to take your computer with you to work at all, because it’s systematic at that point. Your business essentially runs itself.

Commute Time

Assuming you’re not a remote worker, you usually have to drive, bike, or take public transportation to work.

Some people love the commute, others hate it. If the second half of that statement applies to you, then you’ll love that another aspect of owning an online business is absolutely no commute time…unless you count moving from the living room to your computer as a commute.

Depending on where you live, the lack of a commute can add a couple hours to your day that you can use however you please.

Wrap Up

Having a high-paying job can be great – there’s no doubt about that. But working 40 hours a week oftentimes takes away from other things that matter, like your friends, family, or even just your hobbies.

That’s why I wanted to show you this viable alternative to that 9-to-5 grind. With an online business generating a modest $2,000 a month, you have an asset that can eventually be worth $72,000-108,0000.

Replicate the methods you used to get to that $2,000 milestone…and suddenly, you’ll have several virtual assets each worth $72,000-108,0000.

This isn’t just a pipe dream. With diligence and knowledge, you can get there.

We have a free Online Assets Playbook you can grab to learn more about these business models. In addition, check out our Instant eCommerce Assets program to get even deeper look into how to develop your own online portfolio.

Learn how to Build $1,000,000 in Online Assets Using High Ticket Dropshipping

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