FBC – 385 – Can Someone please define Corporate?!!!

Can Someone please define Corporate?!!!

Do you want to know the biggest lie that's being spread in the online space?

Chances are that you are actually convinced that this gigantic lie is the truth and that will hurt you… bad

Today, I want to expose those marketers who lied to you for years and help you uncover the truth.

In addition, I am going to rant because these lies can ruin people's lives

Tune in to find out what it is and more importantly, how you can take action today

— Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/freedom-by-choice/support

I want to rant about the kind of like mentality that people have in the online space right now that is driving me insane.

So basically, where I am, hear in in Bali, you have you have a lot of entrepreneurs. So the point is that maybe 95% of them are actually just a bunch of youngsters who bought a very expensive Mac. And they go to a coworking space and they think that's it. I made it. I'm an entrepreneur. Right.

A lot of them you see on Instagram, you see the life. You're like, oh, man, these people are living it and stuff. But they're actually living not even pay check to pay check because some of them are at crappy guest houses.

And I mean, unless they eat in the cheapest place possible, they cannot afford to actually pay the guest house. Well, which is, you know, still better than being stuck in an office or something.

But it is just the life that they're actually trying to portray on social media. And it’s light years away from how they actually live.

OK, but anyway, it's not really the point. The point is, you know, I met a few of them. I went to a few large gatherings and for like entrepreneurs. I meet a lot of these people and I have to hear the same old crap over and over again, and it's just driving me insane.

Can Someone please define Corporate?!!!

Well, the corporate system, you're just a cog in the machine. Oh, the corporate system is oppressing us. I hate corporate and stuff. And I'm like, Jesus Christ. Well, my problem is this, so last time I asked some people who basically they're spreading this idea, the corporatist, and the Devil Incorporated makes you a slave.

And I was like, well, OK, I do understand but can you please define corporate and this is when things got really interesting. Uh, you know, it's when you are working for a company and you get a pay check and you have to go to the office. And what I said, yeah, but well, if you look at Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos, they're employees of the company.

So they go to the office, they have a pay check. So is corporate that bad? You think they're cogs in the machine?

The CEO of Coca-Cola, he's corporate, he's getting a salary, and he’s going to the office and stuff. So does his life suck? Is he a cog in the machine? Oh, no, but that's not that's not what I mean. You know what I mean by corporate. No, I don't know what you mean!!

So please explain what you mean by corporate, because this is something that just drives me insane.  People don't realize when marketing is being used on them.

I would like to be a Jeff Bezos or a Zuckerberg. I'll have employees now. There are companies where people have employees and these employees are happy to be there. And some of these people who talk to you will tell you that kind of stuff.

So when I talk to people like this, and I ask them for a clear definition of what corporate is, nobody is able to tell me what corporate is. But everybody hates corporate.

So it's something that just drives me insane because, you know, that's just what people like to do. People just like to complain. They like to blame. It's not their fault. It's someone else's fault. So corporate is a good culprit. Yeah. Let's put everything on corporate even though we don't know what it is, you know.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you actually define corporate culture in business today?

Corporate is best defined as a structured operating environment where roles, processes, and decisions follow documented hierarchy. The word covers everything from a ten person agency with a CEO to a global company with thousands of employees. The unifying trait is delegation through formal structure. Solopreneurs operate corporate when they hire two virtual assistants and write standard operating procedures.

What is the real difference between corporate and entrepreneurial business styles?

Corporate optimizes for predictability and risk reduction at scale. Entrepreneurial optimizes for speed and learning under uncertainty. Corporate prefers nine month planning cycles. Entrepreneurs prefer two week sprints. Neither style is universally better. Mature businesses adopt corporate structures when growth requires reliability. Early stage businesses stay entrepreneurial because rigid process kills the experimentation that produces breakthrough revenue.

Should solopreneurs adopt corporate practices as their business grows?

Solopreneurs benefit from adopting selective corporate practices once revenue passes 250,000 dollars yearly. Standard operating procedures, written hiring criteria, and quarterly planning calls add stability without slowing the business. Avoid heavy practices like multi layer approval chains, which kill solo speed. Borrow the parts of corporate operations that scale a single operator into a small lean team.

Why does the corporate label feel so confusing to small business owners?

The corporate label confuses small business owners because the term mixes legal structure, operating size, and cultural style. A one person LLC is technically corporate by legal structure but entrepreneurial by operating style. A 50 person agency feels corporate culturally but lacks the legal scale of a public company. Separate the three meanings and the confusion vanishes.

About the Author

Martin Ebongue is the founder of martinebongue.com, an online business and lifestyle design blog focused on helping aspiring entrepreneurs build location-independent businesses. Since 2014, he has been creating and scaling online ventures across multiple niches, from digital products and affiliate marketing to SaaS and content platforms, while traveling the world. He shares the real-world strategies, tools, and systems that work, with a particular focus on AI-powered automation for solopreneurs. Follow him on YouTube, X (Twitter), and Instagram.

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