I recently listened to a podcast by John Sonmez at Simple Programmer where he was giving advice to someone about whether they should start a company with their friends. John says he views working for someone else as “an apprenticeship” that eventually everyone should move on the entrepreneurship as the eventual goal. I disagree. Not everyone should work for themselves.

A great book that represents a counter proposal to this theory is The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. The book highlights how often people mistake loving what they do as a calling to start their own business. They don’t appreciate the work involved in running whatever business they start, nor the skills required to run the business that aren’t the skills they’ve honed as an employee. As a technical expert, you may be fantastic at creating solutions with technology and overlook the work required to develop business or perform accounting required when you go out on your own.

You can read all about the “gig economy” and the trend of more people going freelance. I agree, it has become easier to participate in a marketplace that removes some of the headache of being an independent contractor. Especially if you’re a providing a commoditized service like ride-sharing. Perhaps you can remove the need to do business development (although wouldn’t you want to stand-out beyond everyone else in the marketplace?) You still have a need to run your business, even if it is a business of one person.

I continue to see tons of value in joining an organization and being an employee in a place where you feel you belong. One of the main driving principals behind larger organizations is the ability to benefit from specialized talents. When done right, an organization can support people with different skills and create larger value beyond any one individual. It can support someone who is fantastic at developing technical solutions and another person who is wonderful at creating sales opportunities.

They key for me in choosing to work for someone else, is to retain a strong internal scorecard of what makes you happy. Looking at any organization, I ask whether the culture I work within serves the priorities in my life. Does your work allow you to spend time on the work you love? Are you able to balance your work and home? Do you gain the security of diversifying your customer base (and therefore your income stream)? Do you enjoy who you work with? Are you compensated fairly?

Working for someone else doesn’t have to feel like giving away your intellectual capital without return. Not everyone is destined to be self-employed. The idealized state of working for yourself has hidden challenges that you don’t get prepared for by becoming great at your special talents. Learn what is involved in starting your own company before taking the leap and ensure you know what will be required of you.