Overrated Career: Small-Business Owner

December 11, 2008 RSS Feed Print

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The Appeal: Work for yourself, and you're automatically the CEO. You get to make all the decisions, set your own hours, and keep all the profits. And you're inspired by the stories of other entrepreneurs who became wealthy.

The Reality: Most new businesses fold within a few years. There are good reasons. For one thing, running a small business usually requires you to be good at many jobs: salesperson, buyer, accountant, marketer, operations manager, even janitor. Few people can do it all. Yet hiring others often cuts too deeply into profits. In addition, you must be a self-starter—no one is going to make you do anything or structure it for you. It's all on you. Even though you set your own hours, they tend to be long. And you have to provide your own healthcare and other benefits. For an individual, that can be very expensive, especially if you or a family member has a pre-existing condition.

An Alternative: Be the No. 2 person in someone else's small business. You'll have a seat at the table and a say in company decisions. But you'll go home with fewer headaches than the owner does. And probably go home earlier.

Learn more: The World's Shortest Management Course (abridged), by Marty Nemko

Tags:: entrepreneurship,; small business,; careers

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DON"T USE YOUR RETIREMENT! You will loose it!
Remember, EVERYONE gets paid before you. Other employees, every single vendor, uncle sam, state and city licensing agencies, every nickel and dime fee, utility companies, maintenance people, marketing people. After all that you HOPE to have some scraps left over. SCRAP? Most likely your spending this money to restock, or put back into Marketing.........

Marlene of SC 7:39AM September 27, 2010

Just think: if it weren't for entrepreneurs, no one else would have a job, including Mr. Marty Nemko.
Every successful small and major corporation in the world began with one or a few people who had an idea--a better way or something new--they built a product or service, sold one, then used the profit to sell two... some of these corporations have been around for a 100 years, many others for just a few years.
Businesses like Intel, Nordstroms, Macy's, Microsoft, Florsheim, Wells Fargo, Safeway, and thousands of others--all had to deal with similar hard hurdles to start, including "being good at many jobs", insufficient sales revenue to support growth, long hours, and so on....
The ones that successfully run the startup gauntlet become sufficiently profitable to then provide jobs for others, enrich their communities, and (generally) provide something of value to others, locally or maybe even internationally.
If people should stop starting new businesses because it's hard, then, I guess, women should stop having babies, too. Seriously, if you believe in yourself and want to start a new business, then GO FOR IT.
Yes, it's a risk... it's a challenge... and yes, even though the odds are that you won't succeed, 20% do succeed. You might be among the 20%. You won't know until you do it. The percentage of successes are much higher for those who try a second time. And there's inexpensive help via SBA, community college programs, and other resources. GO FOR IT.

Steve Heitmann of OR 8:32PM May 20, 2010

Maybe it's the tough economy, maybe I'm not as good as I thought I was, but owning a small business was the most expensive lesson in my life. Maybe I bought the wrong business. The advise I would give is make sure you know exactly what you are getting into. Talk with lots of people in your prospective business and get their input. Negotiate everything; lease, credit card processors, vendors, etc., etc., etc.! We didn't and screwed ourselves.
Remember, EVERYONE gets paid before you. Other employees, every single vendor, uncle sam, state and city licensing agencies, every nickle and dime fee, utility companies, maintenance people, marketing people. After all that you HOPE to have some scraps left over.

Chris of NE 9:09AM May 03, 2010

Overrated Career: Small-Business Owner

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