Hello and welcome to Business 300. My name is Philip Kulenshov and this is 300

seconds about business. We're all a busy people, so I have five minutes or less to get my point across.

This will be quick, like a Band-Aid. If you're a business owner or you're considering being one, what distinguishes you from being an employee?

What's the difference between being an owner and working for one?

Both roles are doing good work and both are important, but there is a difference that if forgotten about keeps the owner from playing his part effectively.

I'll get straight to the point.

There are fundamentally three things that set the owner apart.

Risk, responsibility and reward.

First, owners carry the risk for the business.

The owner puts in money, time and energy into building the operation in order to deliver value to customers, and he does this before having any customers.

There is no guarantee of a return. There is no employment contract. There is no income stability. In order for any business to exist, somebody has to make a bet that this thing is going to work.

We don't know the future. We don't know the market. We can do our homework and commit to working

long and hard. An owner makes the decision, but he does so with tangible risk. There's real risk

involved in starting a business, and there's even bigger risk involved in running it. If the

business works and there are customers, revenue, assets, and income,

now there's just more at stake that the owner can lose.

Employees don't share this risk.

Their experience is risk-free as it pertains to the business operation.

Sure, if the business fails or loses money,

the employee can lose their job and will have to get a job elsewhere.

But they don't have

anything tangible at stake invested into the business. The owner owns the risk for the business.

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