Full-Time Founders Vs. Part-Time Founders

Welee Fofanah
3 min readJun 4, 2021

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Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

How do you fuel a dream with little to no gasoline? This is a question many founders have to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask themselves. Sure with saved or inherited funds, one can launch a successful business, but what if either of those is not an option. This leads to what I have discovered- many founders working part-time to fund their dreams. However, I’ve also discovered a dichotomy that success is diluted once the perception of dual focuses is present. Is it even possible to be fully present with dual careers? Let’s explore the topic of part-time vs full-time founders.

In the U.S full-time is considered 40 hours or more, but if you’ve been in the workforce for some time — that’s just a payroll number. Full-time employment or part-time employment, is a matter generally to be determined by the employer. As a founder how do you differentiate the time allocated for your start-up? I’ve found that a helpful balance is actually scheduling work/ project hours. This helps me ensure that adequate attention is being given to my craft. In all honesty, my dreams are always on my mind and I’m constantly curating the next best move for Sa Wea Luxury inc.

When your working to start up a company, you have to prioritize your task to measure up with your goals. With no funding, the hours may seem to be relentless because let’s face it ideas don’t finance themselves. Many times due to lack of funding founders work full-time jobs, such as myself. However, when you’re pursuing your dreams, it should not feel like work. This is the concept I think a lot of individuals need to stray away from seeing it as a job- versus your dream. Thus, the main issue I have with the (PT/FT) terminology associated with a founder. Founders are dream makers, how can you measure your determination and drive with an FLSA status “ridiculous”.

Part-time founders can be an applicable term if there are cofounders in the mix, (in my opinion). However, I like to think of a start-up as a baby, maybe because of my other full-time job as a Mom. Does it make you less of a caring parent, seeking sustainable income to support your child, “No”? The same goes for founders, you want your business to scale and grow successfully, and that may mean taking on other roles. Part-time should not mean a break in your dream or less focus given. Let us open the discussion to individuals excelling at all roles in their life. I’m a full-time mom, founder, manager, friend, sister, community leader, and so much more. It is possible to pursue dual avenues in your life, as long as your dedication, passion, and ambition are fully present in everything you do, it will all balance out. Unless your Elon Musk, and work 120 hours a week, which in his case worked out pretty well. If your passion is to build something revolutionary, I’m sure you're already spending 24 hours a day daydreaming of a better future.

Sa Wea Luxury Inc. is a transparent company, with a full-time founder that is breaking all of the conventional stigmas.

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Welee Fofanah
Welee Fofanah

Written by Welee Fofanah

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