Stop Looking for a Job – Become an Entrepreneur

The following is a guest post by M.W Larsson from The Daily Middle. 

"All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively.  Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth.  Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer." - Niccolò Machiavelli

For better or for worse, modern life requires money. There is no way around that fact. Even if you wish to become a hermit, sooner or later, you will need some money.

For most of us, this means having a job. We can talk all we want about work as fulfillment, etc, but at its most basic, a “job” is a way to obtain income to live your life. You trade your time and skills for money. And looking at it in that basic sense begs the question, “if you are going to trade your time and skills for money, why not do so for yourself?”

But before we answer that question, let’s take a look at “jobs” and see why they are becoming less and less desirable.

In terms of economics, a “Good Job” should provide two things: enough income coming to live a comfortable life, and a sense of stability that the job will be there in the future (hence, giving workers enough confidence to take a loan to buy a home, etc.)  

However, something has happened in recent times that is undermining this equation – “jobs” that both provide enough money to live comfortably, and also carry the sense of stability that comes from knowing that job will always be there, are quickly disappearing. There are several reasons for this:

• Outsourcing – More and more, jobs and industries are being outsourced. Why pay top dollar when someone else will do the same job much cheaper? And why pay for a product made in the US when China can make it for one tenth the price? The council of foreign relations estimates 400,000 service jobs have been shipped overseas in the past decade, and more than 2 million manufacturing jobs have been lost in the past 20 years (and since companies are not required to keep this type of data, these numbers are from 2004 )
• Increased Competition – So, service and manufacturing jobs vanish…. But the workers remain. That means increased competition for any job.
• A “Faster” Pace in Everything – This may sound odd, but think about it – we now judge a company’s financial health not on a decade, or even a year, but on a quarterly basis. Business moves (and changes) rapidly today. One internet story, and a stock price plummets. There is no safe job anymore. Not even Government work.

So what’s the solution? Easy – take matters into your own hands and work for yourself.

If you break down a “job” into trading time and skill for money, and add in the fact that no employment is secure, the prospects of working for yourself become a lot less daunting. And ask yourself – who better to take care of you than… you?

In all honesty, we feel the key to survival and happiness is not to become a wage slave. Taking care of yourself by providing your own source of income is bold, to be sure, but also prudent, given the alternatives.

"‎The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain." - Colin Wilson

Some Work for Yourself Tips

There has never been a better (or easier) time to be your own boss and provide your own income. Many of the characteristics that work against jobs (outsourcing / the fast pace internet) actually can work for an entrepreneur.

The big key with working for yourself is to find a need and fill it. This isn’t an article to tell you “what” to do in this respect (there are four million books out there on starting a home based business). However, we can state that almost any job done at a desk can be done from a desk anywhere. Use your imagination.

Whatever business you choose to start, the key is to start a business with the following characteristics:

No Fixed Asset Requirements (i.e. renting office space/buying expensive equipment/hiring employees).

The ideal business is home based, maximizing fixed costs you're already paying (which can lead to tax deductions based on the square footage of that space used in your home.)

Area Served

The product or service you provide should be able to be marketed nationally, or better yet, internationally...starting a business with a product or service only marketed locally significantly limits your upside. This is the age of the internet – there is no good reason you can’t sell a service abroad.

Based in Economic Reality

The product or service must reflect the current and future economic realities of this country. And while we mentioned foreign outsourcing earlier, outsourcing means not just foreign workers, but independent contractors right here in the US (experts think more than 40% of all workers will be contingent-workers in the next ten years). Here are some statistics that may give you an idea of the economic future in this country (perhaps think twice about developing a business around luxury products as an example):

• The official National Debt has just surpassed $13 Trillion (not including the massive debts of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae which are backed up by the Federal Government, estimated at $6.3 Trillion.)
• Our Unfunded Liabilities (Social Security/Medicaid/Medicare) are approximately $60 Trillion.
• Our National Debt is now growing 3 ½ times faster than decades ago.
• We are the world's largest debtor nation with a National Debt that is 14 times larger and 89% of GDP (not including Fannie/Freddie debts and unfunded liabilities.)

The point of the above is not to “scare” you into starting your own business, but to show you that if you just look at the cold hard facts, “taking care of yourself” is a very desirable goal. In fact, if you ask yourself the question of “how will I survive in the coming years?” entrepreneurship is the most logical conclusion one can reach. The simple truth is this: the economic numbers above do not bode well for those in “jobs”. Plan accordingly.  

There’s much more to the topic of entrepreneurship (and we’ll likely explore it deeper in the future). But we’d like to leave you with one final thought: In order to become successful, study success. Hey, this is America!  Within a few miles of almost everyone is a bookstore or library (yes, they do still exist!). There are hundreds of books on successful people, successful businesses and business practices, motivation and self improvement, and every “success” magazine you can think of (Entrepreneur/Inc./Fortune/etc), Audiobooks, DVD's, and everything else you’ll ever need in starting a business.

Take advantage of what’s out there, and take control of your future.

Comments

[Pat @ Do Not Wait]

I believe in this in a sense. However, not everyone has that entrepreneurial drive that you speak of in this article. Some people are "intrapreneurs." They thrive working their way up in a mega corporation. They love to put in their work at the office and then go home to relax.

My only suggestion is to start earning money on the side so that you can slowly see if you have what it takes to work on your own.

[Holly]

Loved this excerpt. The quotes are a nice touch. I also agree with the notion that you should look for opportunities to sell your skills, which may not cost much more than a laptop, scanner/copier, fax, software, and a fast internet connection.

I really like the idea of working for myself and this motivates me to dig into resources (including FMF's previous posts) on becoming financially self-sufficient.

[Holly]

Sorry -- I mistyped 'excerpt' when I meant 'post'...I will go to check out "The Daily Middle" now.

[Sunil from The Extra Money Blog]

Pat - a great point to start the discussion trend. i completely agree with this. the post is very good and valid in its own right - but what to do when a person simply doesn't have it internally? Granted that entrepreneurship has become a calculated discipline that is taught in major universities and therefore chances to succeed are higher/better, but despite that one needs to inner desire and drive. this is what separates the two breeds in my opinion

[Apex]

This post is valid for the few who are cut out to be entrepreneurs. Most simply are not. Unfortunately this post is written as if its for all and in that sense it delves into the multi-level marketing type of pitch which comes off as giving the impression that anyone working for "the man" is a sucker.

If 100% of people tried to become entrepreneurs, our economy would collapse, commerce would come to a scretching halt (who would build the cars, drive the trucks, deliver the mail, stock the grocery stores, etc, etc, etc. No mature economy can function with more than a small minority in the employer or self employer category and the rest in the laborer category). In addition most people would fail, people would be starving both from not being able to make it on their own and from the rest of the legitimate businesses failing because there is no one to do the labor cause everyone is working for themselves.

If 50% of people tried it you would get the same result, everything would collapse. So it is important that people realize this advice is not for everyone, its not even for most people, its for a minority of people.

For those who really want to do it and have a strong desire to do it and to be risk takers while still being smart about managing risk, it can be a great encouragement. But this kind of advice needs to be tempered with the reality that its not for most people and even for those who it is for, a large number of those will still fail.

We cannot all be Major League baseball players and no we cannot all be entrepreneur's either. It's simply a fact of human nature, a fact of mature economies, and a fact of math. Optimism and positive thinking won't change that. And comments like you are just a pessimist and a downer, no one would succeed if everyone thought like you are neither helpful nor do they change the facts.

And BTW, I both work for the man (have for 17 years) and am a real estate entrepreneur. I also did the start up business entrepreneur thing for a few years in between working for the man (which I succeeded at and sold off, so I am not a sour grapes grumpy gus). It's just that the optimism needs to be tempered with some cold hard truth at times because people who are true entrepreneurs at heart tend to be extremely unrealistically optimistic and that can lead people to expect better results than are warranted.

[Simplechecking]

I disagree with the notion that an economy of 100% entrepreneurs would collapse. To expand on the above example: those who build cars, drive trucks or stock grocery stores can easily be independent contractors - and mail delivery should be out of government hands and privatized anyway. However, yes - many people aren't cut out for entrepreneurship; but that's because our educational system is set up for the "time-clock/cog/working for the man" society that has been predominant for the last century. Things are changing, and quickly. The time-clock job is rapidly disappearing. We need to gear our educational system towards a world of entrepreneurs and freelancers.