Not every startup requires a silent partner or external equity there bud. There’s SBA loans. There’s friendly investors, there’s also no external capital at all for some. My Dad earns 7 figures off of a business he built by himself using no external equity (although some bank loans, which he gets below prime rate). Outlier Clothing is a clothing company that’s been getting a lot of attention lately, started by a graphic design guy with no background in clothing or fashion and no external equity. I have friends in Guangzhou and Bali that started up their own ventures several years ago so they could live an independent lifestyle and they had no startup. The problem with American competitiveness as I’ve said, is people like you, that assume every company has to be facebook, or want the security of some massive corporate venture and think it requires investors, etc, because they have no ability to think in terms of starting small or in any way outside the box. Our growth in the past and our entrepreneurial bent have been inextricably linked.
Every single one of these guys I’ve spoken to said the same things:
-There’s more opportunities right now than they can possibly take advantage of.
-Small business niches are booming, particularly in quality goods markets because corporations have been cranking out increasingly low quality products as costs are compressed.
-It’s hard, but not technical. You don’t need some crazy background.
-The biggest obstacle is people being afraid to take the leap. It’s what provides the returns for those that will.
-Don’t wait until you have a perfect plan (you never will), just jump in and figure it out as you go.
-Get out of the mindset of “what’s wrong with this” and just get it in and get it done (think positively)
I love that sh*t, would love to get connected with them. I make an effort to ask entrepreneurs every chance I get how it is they do what they do, or what it is they’re doing. I think it’s really fascinating, and I’m always a bit envious.
There’s a lot of survivor bias here. I don’t want to be an entrepreneur. I want to be a successful entrepreneur. But 2 out of three businesses fail within the first 3 years. How much capital is destroyed there?? And peoples’ lives with debts they can’t repay and/or family members that don’t trust them anymore. Other businesses fail after the three year mark, and of the remainder, only a portion pay out handsomely.
The successful ones look great. But it takes way more to be successful than just to get started. Getting started is a necessary but by no means sufficient condition. Most business school analysis says that the risk-return on entrepreneurialism is such that no rational person would actually do it. Franchising and private professional practice (doctors, laywers, therapists, plumbers, franchisers) are not the same, because there is an established mechanism for setting up and identifying a clientele, but truly new businesses - the kind that make breakthrough innovations and can pay out zillions - those are few and far between, even when the idea is a good one.
You also need to look at people who tried to grow a business and failed (often several times). If you’re young enough, you have some hope that if you fail, you can try your hand at working for a company somewhere. If you’re older and you fail… just hope you don’t have to support any kids or spouses.
I’m not saying that entrepreneurs are dumb or not admirable, but I think the idea that everyone (or even most people) can “just do it” is painfully unrealistic.
I think the difference is most people are looking for companies tha require large startup and trying to hit homeruns. A lot of the small businesses I’m referring to are more like freelance, although some are actually manufacturing. For me personally, I would be happy if I could make 80-100k a year just to trade the personal freedom of working for myself and doing what I believe in.
I’m fine with failing. I’m going to limit initial capital and if I fail, I’ll try again. That simple. I think I’d rather spend my whole life failing over and over than rotting in a cube 5/7 days every week waiting for life to resume on the weekends.
If the US becomes a problem, I’ll move. That simple. Secondly, I fail to see how balooning treasury debt will meaningfully impact an entrepreneur more than any other individual. Lastly, it’s about more than just the money. I’d rather not rot with the dreary corporate types my entire life
Not at all. Just pointing out that 2 presumably intelligent people referenced the exact same data for basically the same end goal but with somewhat contradictory conclusions.
This attitude works in theory. If you have deep pocketbooks, then you can afford to fail a lot. Otherwise, just one failure can put you out on the street. And when that happens, people won’t say “ah, he was an entrepreneur, how noble his failure.” They’ll say “he wasted his money on some silly dream.” Sort of the way people on AF do.
You can say “I don’t care about that,” but if it limits your other options in life, you will. If you’ve failed in a business, you may have some experience, but you are also a lot more dependent on other people’s opinions of you: your employability, your credit rating, your desirability as a mate.
If you are independently wealthy and can afford to fail, then by all means try your fortunes, but I think your argument was that everyone should be willing to be a failed entrepreneur: independently wealthy or not.
I’m not saying that entrepreneurship is bad… but you have to look at it realistically, and not idolize it the way Ayn Rand does.
Good deal man. I mean, I grew up my entire life working for a small family manufacturing business as the right hand man and made $60k a year through college starting and running my own landscaping firm, but obviously I’m the uneducated one here, and not the dumb@ss who has no background and can’t back up his claims.
My situation will allow for some failures. But moreover, I think a conservative business model that uses low capital, like starting a local outdoor clothing company would work well. I basically already have some guaranteed press and distribution through the local whitewater and adventure racing outfitters. I’ve been looking at this off and on for the past 5 years. Honestly, I think you can drastically alter the statistics by eliminating bar and restuarant as well as other “glam” startups such as vineyards.
My main point wasn’t so much that everyone should be an entrepreneur but that it has become much less common because people are more risk averse. The essence of the point was that the headline “America no longer land of opportunity” is misleading. Individuals are simply not willing to undertake the risks (which are not significantly different than historical levels) associated with seizing the opportunities.
I grew up in the country, and most people were self employed. Either doing their own cleaning service, or plumbing service, or maybe operating a small hardware store or wheel and tire shop, mechanic outfit, whatever. These are the small businesses I’m refering to, and they’re the fields that are still paying well and seeking new people. There doesn’t seem to be as much of that now. And I also believe the failure rates for said businesses are significantly lower than the glam startups or the swing for the fences ideas most people aim for in urban environments.
Different points of view I suppose. The guaranteed outcome of spending 5 days a week doing something I don’t believe in is a certainty I’m unwilling to accept.
i guess your internet search for Turd Fergeson didn’t reveal my experience. i prefer not to whip it out and measure here, so i’ll leave it at that. good luck to ya.
Nothing better than annoymous internet hints of grandeur. You must be one of those super successful startup entrepreneurs who made mega millions and decided to recently get a CFA for no apparent reason and then start spending your billionaire time posting on AF? Did I get it right?
yea brah. nothing better than basking in the glow of daddy’s success and parlaying that into a successful weed picking venture and calling that entrepreneurship. i think i saw your resume in my stack. you were the summer intern who was “responsible” for investing over $100 million in the two months you were at JT Marlin. nice picture bro, you look like a real winner. see that, it’s easy to be a d-bag on an annonomous forum.