Many people do not have a clear understanding of business and profession. They used to think that both terms were the same. However, they are not.
Key Takeaways
- Business refers to commercial activity that involves the sale of goods or services in exchange for profit, while profession refers to an occupation that requires specialized education, training, and expertise.
- Business is usually driven by market demand and competition, while ethical standards and professional norms drive the profession.
- Business owners are entrepreneurs who take on financial risks to start and run a business, while professionals are usually licensed and regulated by professional bodies or associations.
Business vs Profession
The difference between Business and Profession is that business doesn’t require a person to have a specific qualification. On the other hand, the profession requires you to be skilled in your niche and have a certification in that. Business is generally concerned with the buying and then selling of articles. In a profession, you are required to provide services through your skills.
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The main objective of a business is to earn a profit. Every person has their tactics to make a considerable amount of profit in the industry.
In the profession, one aims to provide top-notch services to the company. They have to be experts in that particular field in order to do so.
As business is concerned with buying and selling, it doesn’t require any certificate or a degree from a person. What all matters is that if you can increase the profits, the business is making.
However, the profession requires you to be qualified in your field, as you will be providing services on the basis of your qualifications.
Comparison Table
Parameter of Comparison | Business | Profession |
---|---|---|
Definition | It is a type of economic activity in which a person produces and sells articles to make profits. | A profession is concerned with providing services that require a person to have a specific qualification in a particular niche in order to successfully do that. |
Purpose | The main goal here is to make money. | In the profession, the purpose is to provide services. |
Qualification | No qualification is required. You are just required to produce, buy, and sell items to earn. | Qualification is required. You must have expertise in the area you are providing your services. |
Involvement of risk | The risk factor is quite high here. | There is almost no risk factor. |
Advertisement | Businesses use advertisements to boost their sales. | Advertisement isn’t allowed because of the professional code of conduct. |
What is Business?
Business is an economic activity in which a person earns a profit by making or buying and selling goods and articles to customers.
The primary purpose of it is to make a profit. A business doesn’t mean that it is a company or organization. It might include anyone from a street hawker to a shoe manufacturer.
The main reason people consider doing business is to make money. However, it is pretty essential to know the needs of customers and act accordingly to spike your sales up.
In business, you are responsible for providing goods and services to your customers. One must pay attention to the quality of their products. You can build a good relationship with your customers in this manner.
To know how efficient a business is, you can always consider checking its profit. Profit lets you see if you are doing any good or not. Business involves a lot of risk-taking.
There is almost no way to anticipate things in business. Sometimes, things might work as you want them to, and sometimes they won’t.
What is Profession?
A profession is an economic activity that requires a person to be highly skilled in any one particular area to be able to provide top-notch services to the public.
Professionals get their expertise from prolonged training in which they are made skilled to perform a particular set of tasks.
It requires a lot of formal learning and experience on the job to become competent in one specific niche.
Some examples of professionals are doctors, engineers, pilots, architects, etc. One can be called a professional only after getting a certification from their respective college or university.
Professionals are required to work under some guidelines defined by their professional bodies. The purpose of a profession is to provide its services to the people.
In return, professionals charge some amount of fee as their earnings. Unlike any business, one cannot start practising a profession overnight.
It requires one to be a member of the respective professional body, which provides them with a certification that ensures they can provide their services to the public.
Main Differences Between Business and Profession
- A business is a kind of economic activity in which profit is earned by making, buying, and selling certain goods to customers.
However, in the profession, one needs to be highly skilled and specialized in a particular field to provide services to the public. - The primary purpose of business is to make money. Understanding the needs of your customers and acting accordingly will spike sales.
In the profession, the goal is to provide services for which a professional charges compensation, i.e., some fee. - A business can be established anytime. All it requires is action from the entrepreneur. However, a profession works only if you are a member of a particular professional body and possess the certificate to practice your expertise.
- Anyone is free to start a business. There are no particular educational criteria to be eligible for it.
However, in a profession, you must undergo prolonged training before providing your services. - Advertisements can be done by a business to increase its sales. In a profession, you can’t advertise because of the professional code of conduct.
- https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED478127
- https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/umem18§ion=12
Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
I am in the media profession and the main business comes from ads and sponsored deals. I stopped by to tell you that I appreciate your work.
Of course, business and profession are so closely related to each other.
If you ask me, business is what a shopkeeper also does by selling goods in exchange for money. A profession is more like a job, for example, a chartered accountant.
right but important point to note here is that a CA can also open a business. So business is generic in nature and profession is specific in nature.
I am in the business of supplying baby clothes to retail shops. What will be my profession known as?
Hi Ashu,
Your profession will be wholesale dealer in baby clothes.
According to you, who earns more? A person doing job or a businessman?
The easy and straightforward answer is a businessman. But business has more risks than job. However the returns are multiplt times than of job and can easy recover the losses if any in a business.
I always thought that when someone does a job for a company then it is profession.
No, no. Even a business can be a profession. Please read the differnces given above carefully.
When the business doesn’t work then people think of doing a job and if job sucks then they think of starting own business.
haha yes John, you are right.
The grass is always greener on the other side.
If you have passion for something, you will do good in the profession and also in business.
Spot on Bobby, its all about passion, be it any field of life.
Hi! wordpress-434761-1362451.cloudwaysapps.com
For me, getting into own business is so much better than being in a job
Can you please also add difference between profession and employment?
Hi Phil,
Here you go: https://askanydifference.com/difference-between-profession-and-employment/
Hi Piyush,
I am on the way of doing business and also follow my passion that is building course on driving motor bikes.
Wish me luck!!
Hi Kolten,
Good luck to you.
So what I am getting out of it and what I always believed is that profession can be any field of work whereas a profession can turn into business when we have own clients. On the other hand, a profession typically turns out to be a job.