4 ms·

Purely anecdotal but this is the massive, major reason I've not seriously considered starting my own business as well. Hell, I don't even have kids but general

Purely anecdotal but this is the massive, major reason I've not seriously considered starting my own business as well. Hell, I don't even have kids but generally, it's the lack of "stability", whether real or imagined, in health care and other less formalized forms of insurance (likelihood of stable income over 5-10 year period) that keep me away. I do all sorts of work with photography, video, multimedia, and that general intersection of tech and the arts. In my case, do I want to start up a production company or identify a market for people who want or need these sorts of services and contract with them? Or do I find a gig with a company or university that pays a decent salary, includes health insurance, retirement investment, and the usual benefits? It's pretty obvious from my post which way I've gone despite the fact that the work isn't always inspiring or challenging or terribly lucrative. Because at the end of the day, it pays me that middle-class salary and offers some promise of stability. Could I be laid off or my position cut? Sure. But if I had to put a wager on it, the odds of unemployment/underemployment are much lower this way. Anyway, I don't intend to complain. My field is one of those where you may consider yourself lucky to have steady, non-gig work and I do consider myself fortunate to have a steady income, benefits, and some savings while doing something at least somewhat related to my interests and skillset. But if we're looking for the psychological picture of why people might be trading entrepreneurship with the potential for even greater earnings and contribution to the overall economy, I'd say the major issue by far is stability. There's not a whole lot of "safety net" in place for someone who wants to start a small business. When you constantly hear about them shutting down due to competition from big corps or dips in the economy or just shitty luck, the effect it has on most prudent adults is to make the prospect of entrepreneurship seem awfully risky and likely to leave you back on the job hunt within a few years.

tboyd47 10y ago
I'm in the same boat as you, but people like us who actually have a career they're confident about are the exception, not the norm. Immigrants start small businesses all the time without a safety net. Restaurants, smoothie shops, tailors, cell phone stores, contractors, convenience stores, etc. are often small businesses owned by foreigners (anecdotally at least, in my experience). Why do we always say that we need a safety net when we interact with these sorts of businesses all the time? Is it because we have big, amazing careers ahead of us as employees that we can't risk? Or is it just a cultural perception that those occupations are mostly for foreigners?
- a3n 10y ago
  Non-immigrant with a career: I have benefits and a career, my safety net. Might as well play it safe. Immigrant without a career: I gotta sell something!
- soylentcola 10y ago
  I have to say, though...when I was younger and taking a "roundabout" route to my career (to put it one way), I was a lot more interested in all sorts of work. Gig work, freelance, starting something small with a friend fixing computers or DJing or whatever. I think at least for me, while there's definitely some appeal in that sort of work, I was more interested when I wasn't making any headway in finding a "jobby job". Basically, I was much more willing to hustle when I didn't have other options but when given the choice between stability and a more self-directed, sink or swim route, I chose the former. That's not to say I won't eventually feel differently. It's just the case for my recent past/present.
- yourapostasy 10y ago
  > Why do we always say that we need a safety net when we interact with these sorts of businesses all the time? My two hypotheses, purely from personal experience, not at all based upon any valid statistical data. YMMV, freely-given opinions worth what you paid for it, etc. Immigrants likely have not yet grown up in the kind of media-pumped, over-saturated hyper-aware-of-health-factors as developed-nation (especially US) native-born citizens. If this hypothesis is correct, then native-born would have an exaggerated sense of risks, while immigrants have a more proportionate sense tempered by their lives' constraints (making do without what native-born would consider necessary safety nets). Native-born citizens might statistically be unhealthier than immigrants. Immigrants are a self-selecting group who are statistically going to exhibit certain degrees of greater perseverance than the wider population. This perseverance could be a contributing factor in diet choices, a major contributor to the rising poor health outcomes in native-born populations in the US. If so, then the immigrant group might not feel as much pressure to secure the safety net as the native-born population. Most diet choices in the US are unhealthy. Like very poor nutrient:calorie ratios, excessively high portions, or encouraging poor convenience-oriented habits over selecting and preparing whole foods closer to raw than processed. All only possible with the kind of extravagant energy per capita spent in the US that are not generally available in the nations immigrants tend to come from, leading to catastrophic US general population health outcomes.

tboyd47 10y ago

I'm in the same boat as you, but people like us who actually have a career they're confident about are the exception, not the norm. Immigrants start small businesses all the time without a safety net. Restaurants, smoothie shops, tailors, cell phone stores, contractors, convenience stores, etc. are often small businesses owned by foreigners (anecdotally at least, in my experience). Why do we always say that we need a safety net when we interact with these sorts of businesses all the time? Is it because we have big, amazing careers ahead of us as employees that we can't risk? Or is it just a cultural perception that those occupations are mostly for foreigners?

a3n 10y ago
Non-immigrant with a career: I have benefits and a career, my safety net. Might as well play it safe. Immigrant without a career: I gotta sell something!
soylentcola 10y ago
I have to say, though...when I was younger and taking a "roundabout" route to my career (to put it one way), I was a lot more interested in all sorts of work. Gig work, freelance, starting something small with a friend fixing computers or DJing or whatever. I think at least for me, while there's definitely some appeal in that sort of work, I was more interested when I wasn't making any headway in finding a "jobby job". Basically, I was much more willing to hustle when I didn't have other options but when given the choice between stability and a more self-directed, sink or swim route, I chose the former. That's not to say I won't eventually feel differently. It's just the case for my recent past/present.
yourapostasy 10y ago
> Why do we always say that we need a safety net when we interact with these sorts of businesses all the time? My two hypotheses, purely from personal experience, not at all based upon any valid statistical data. YMMV, freely-given opinions worth what you paid for it, etc. Immigrants likely have not yet grown up in the kind of media-pumped, over-saturated hyper-aware-of-health-factors as developed-nation (especially US) native-born citizens. If this hypothesis is correct, then native-born would have an exaggerated sense of risks, while immigrants have a more proportionate sense tempered by their lives' constraints (making do without what native-born would consider necessary safety nets). Native-born citizens might statistically be unhealthier than immigrants. Immigrants are a self-selecting group who are statistically going to exhibit certain degrees of greater perseverance than the wider population. This perseverance could be a contributing factor in diet choices, a major contributor to the rising poor health outcomes in native-born populations in the US. If so, then the immigrant group might not feel as much pressure to secure the safety net as the native-born population. Most diet choices in the US are unhealthy. Like very poor nutrient:calorie ratios, excessively high portions, or encouraging poor convenience-oriented habits over selecting and preparing whole foods closer to raw than processed. All only possible with the kind of extravagant energy per capita spent in the US that are not generally available in the nations immigrants tend to come from, leading to catastrophic US general population health outcomes.