[serious] If having a 9 to 5 job is a waste of time and not good enough for finances, then how are other options better? how owning a business is supposed to give more time now? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by dragnucs@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Most of the time I hear advice that a regular 9 to 5 job or other schedule of being an employee is making us a slave or at least depreving us from our time by keep us busy enough to not be able to do anything else. But what are other options that allow both enough time to spend on a personal life and make a good living? Most of the time, owning a business eats more time than being an employee. This is maybe a discussion about work life balance, or even being with or against the anti work movement.

I also refuse the idea that tells me to be absolutely frugal. Yes, I live bellow my means, but I also spen d money on my hobbies and what brings joy and meaning to my life. I also save up some money for investment but investing is the hard part when our stock market is too small.

The question is serious. What are the other options or other insight in the situation and its alternatives.

Question is open ended and you can add in more point of views.

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[-] marcela@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 6 days ago

Nobody will pay you unless you are creating surplus value to them. If you have the means to sell your own thing, you are the one enjoying this value.

You might as well spend more hours running your own business. The way I see it is that it is mostly mind-numbing. Between the extra hours in commute, the fatigue, and the eventual drop in productivity, the biggest damage is to your own intellect, creativity and health.

Arguably you could be better off if you invest this time and energy to yourself. But this is still not fair. If you don't have the resources, then you can only make a living by selling your own energy to somebody else. And your business might also fail, so you go bankrupt.

I really believe the solution to all this is unions. All the high-paying jobs have some union protection set up, hence they enjoy living wages and perks. It is only plain workers that haven't any.

[-] leftOverLife@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 days ago

I was about to mention unions. If everyone feels the same way as OP and are looking for a solution, they should unite and form unions, as they have more power collectively than in an atomized state, and unions are really the only way to make any real gains for everyone.

Unions and the broader labor movement of the late 1800s to the mid 1900s is the only reason that we have the weekend, 40 hour work week, integrated jobs, minimum wage, social security, overtime, and all the other perks which we all take for granted.

this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2026

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