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Most small businesses fail because most of the people who start them think it's a free ride to making money. They go into work late, they take random days off to go on vacation, they think they can set their own hours and more, but those three things are why most fail. They think they are entitled to all of this just because they used their own money to start the business. They also think they don't have a boss to answer to and they call all the shots which is completely wrong. Yeah you don't have A boss you have thousands of them now and they are called your customers.
Education is closer to being a golden ticket than running your own business. Get a high quality education from a high quality institution and you're more likely to be successful; whether it's at running a business, or working for someone else.
I think self employment is becoming the only practical choice to earn a living. Unless you have inside connections to get a good job, you're out on your own. For those without an inside connection to a job, it makes more sense to put whatever effort you would put into a job into doing your own hustle.
If you have been conditioned to obey orders and lack independent judgement, it'll hold you back. Thinking out of the box is essential.
Do you need some emotional authority figure in your life to grant permission to fend for yourself? Are you afraid of "stepping on someones toes"? Is your older brother gonna taunt you for showing some independence?
The good news is that even though there are fewer jobs out there, there is LOTS of work. Don't find a job, MAKE a job.
A guy with a fullsize pickup truck and some lawn tools can at least do SOMETHING to get going. Maybe you grow that into installing sprinkler systems and other specialized stuff. Clean gutters. Haul scrap metal. Build fences and decks. Believe me, a good dependable handyman will get calls.
I pay a girl $100 to clean up my rentals after tenants move out. If she does 2 a day, she's making $1000 a week.
I have a friend who started a landscaping supply business in high school with 2 flatbed truck loads of railroad ties. He sold the railroad ties and just kept adding more and more to his business, today he's a multi millionaire.
I myself have a nice semi-retired hustle - I build workbenches in my garage and sell them on craigslist. It takes about 3 hours to build a batch of 5, I sell out within a couple of weeks then I build another batch. Anyone with a job can find a few hours on a weekend to do this.
I also buy and sell cars. It's fun and a good way to meet interesting people.
The other cool thing about a business (if you're licensed) are the tax deductions.
Another thing is the skill you develop on your own gig. Being an employee usually is a very narrow, limited experience. You know a lot about a concentrated skill set. Being on your own makes more use of your abilities. You'll learn valuable stuff that is applicable to more things than you can imagine.
And unlike what a lot of posters are saying, it DOES NOT require 80 hrs a week or a huge amount of cash. It's all about using your time effectively, something that's very difficult to learn as a "workin' stiff". And you can start small with a weekend gig. It doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition.
Starting a small part-time operation should be as much about learning how to think like a businessman as trying to make wheelbarrows full of cash. BABY STEPS!!
If you can find a way to break out of the rut of thinking like an employee, self employment is well worth it. And if it doesn't work out, you'll have knowledge and experience you'd never have gotten otherwise, and the satisfaction of at least TRYING.
Last edited by tommy64; 03-08-2014 at 11:54 PM..
Reason: fixin' up my spellin' an stuff....
Having your own business is the only way to have control over your destiny. As we have seen with massive layoffs in recent years, we all are disposable and can be let go without any warning or reasons. At least when you have your own business you will never face that again, although you have no guarantees that your business will make it.
I have tried to have my own business and it never went well. I do better personally working for someone else, but having more than one stream of income is helpful. I have a side business I make a little money on, but it is not consistent to have a business and quit my regular job. To have your own business, you often take a lot of risk. I am personally risk-averse.
Don is right, we are disposable at our regular jobs. Layoffs happen all the time, it is better to be in a situation where you are not vulnerable to that. Having something on the side to make money is a great idea.
It's not easy but it's possible to have a successful business. The problem is that most people don't have the drive, intelligence, perseverance, or risk tolerance to run a business.
I think self employment is becoming the only practical choice to earn a living. Unless you have inside connections to get a good job, you're out on your own. For those without an inside connection to a job, it makes more sense to put whatever effort you would put into a job into doing your own hustle.
If you have been conditioned to obey orders and lack independent judgement, it'll hold you back. Thinking out of the box is essential.
Do you need some emotional authority figure in your life to grant permission to fend for yourself? Are you afraid of "stepping on someones toes"? Is your older brother gonna taunt you for showing some independence?
The good news is that even though there are fewer jobs out there, there is LOTS of work. Don't find a job, MAKE a job.
A guy with a fullsize pickup truck and some lawn tools can at least do SOMETHING to get going. Maybe you grow that into installing sprinkler systems and other specialized stuff. Clean gutters. Haul scrap metal. Build fences and decks. Believe me, a good dependable handyman will get calls.
I pay a girl $100 to clean up my rentals after tenants move out. If she does 2 a day, she's making $1000 a week.
I have a friend who started a landscaping supply business in high school with 2 flatbed truck loads of railroad ties. He sold the railroad ties and just kept adding more and more to his business, today he's a multi millionaire.
I myself have a nice semi-retired hustle - I build workbenches in my garage and sell them on craigslist. It takes about 3 hours to build a batch of 5, I sell out within a couple of weeks then I build another batch. Anyone with a job can find a few hours on a weekend to do this.
I also buy and sell cars. It's fun and a good way to meet interesting people.
The other cool thing about a business (if you're licensed) are the tax deductions.
Another thing is the skill you develop on your own gig. Being an employee usually is a very narrow, limited experience. You know a lot about a concentrated skill set. Being on your own makes more use of your abilities. You'll learn valuable stuff that is applicable to more things than you can imagine.
And unlike what a lot of posters are saying, it DOES NOT require 80 hrs a week or a huge amount of cash. It's all about using your time effectively, something that's very difficult to learn as a "workin' stiff". And you can start small with a weekend gig. It doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition.
Starting a small part-time operation should be as much about learning how to think like a businessman as trying to make wheelbarrows full of cash. BABY STEPS!!
If you can find a way to break out of the rut of thinking like an employee, self employment is well worth it. And if it doesn't work out, you'll have knowledge and experience you'd never have gotten otherwise, and the satisfaction of at least TRYING.
There are MANY businesses that do not need a licensed.....they have the same tax deductions.....that is the only think I disagree with in this post.
When we built the 100 X 80 foot building to house our $500,000 well rig + other equipment we were still living in a large camper.
............Long story short, it really seems if you have even at least some common sense and business sense, with enough ambition you can pretty easily start your own company and make it big. Is this the new American Dream? A golden ticket to success and riches?..........P.S. In before people probably start posting "Start your own company then answer your own questions about how easy or hard it is". I just want to start a discussion on the idea of starting a business and just how easy it is to obtain success and riches, or if there are many more failures then I am imagining. Keep in mind I'm considering a hard working and person with some knowledge and drive is starting the company.
We did well with our own Manufacturer's Rep business, which we ran from 1990 - 2005. We were in the textile business and it died out in 2005 so I went on a drove a truck for a few years until I retired, which was very much like being self employed, but not quite.
The money was available to us in the rep business and we took advantage of it. We outworked our competition and used technology to keep track of our hundreds of customers.
I ignore all those people who go around saying, "you will work yourself to death". I worked a lot before I became self employed. It was nothing new.
The answer is, "yes", I think. You can establish your own business and make money at it. It takes luck, work and judgement, but it can be done.
FWIW...We (wife & I) were both successful sales types before we set out on our own. Neither of us had ever interviewed for a job we didn't get, and - interestingly enough - neither of us had been to college. I had risen up the corporate ranks to director level, and we both had traveled on business extensively. When we started our business we were 45 years old.
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