5 ms·

"When you run a business, you can never get fired" This is objectively untrue for anyone who takes money from others. A significant portion of my income as a

by patio11 15y ago

"When you run a business, you can never get fired" This is objectively untrue for anyone who takes money from others. A significant portion of my income as a business owner can get pink slipped at the decision of any one of seven people, and they wouldn't even endure the minimal social awkwardness of pink-slipping me! All they have to do is not respond "Yes" to an email asking for something that I have no socially durable expectation of "yes" from.

tstone 15y ago
I can't understand what you are trying to say in the last two sentences. Maybe I am just tired but can you elaborate a bit more?
- LVB 15y ago
  I think he means he has 7 clients who could choose to severe their business with him at any time.
larrys 15y ago
"A significant portion of my income as a business owner can get pink slipped at the decision of any one of seven people" Can you explain this further?
- vellum 15y ago
  Patrick does work as a consultant. I think he's saying that he has 7 big-time clients and if any of them fired him, his income would take a big hit.
  - larrys 15y ago
    Thanks for clarifying. One of the issues in any business is how big any customer is as a percentage of sales and that is normally one of the first questions a buyer of any business wants to know. While it's hard to turn down work and generally more efficient to deal with a few big accounts vs. many small accounts that is definitely a risk. That said I wonder how many people getting hired by a company are fully aware of how large a companies clients are and what would happen to their job if any client left. At least in Patricks case he directly can keep his clients satisfied.
    - coopdog 15y ago
      Plus losing a seventh or even half your income and then having a gap to look for new clients (you can ask existing clients for referrals) isn't anywhere near as risky as suddenly losing 100% of your income for reasons that can be fully beyond your control
  - randomdata 15y ago
    But at least the risk is spread around. Having a fraction of your original income still coming in is far better than having absolutely no income coming in.
AznHisoka 15y ago
If you also run an online startup, chances are you rely on SEO or search engine marketing. If Google bans your Adwords account, or penalizes you to oblivion, I'll say that's pretty much the equivalent of getting fired.
- jaredmck 15y ago
  True story, although once you're spending enough on AdWords you'd have to do some pretty egregious stuff to get your AdWords account banned (and to some extent you're much less likely to get a major, lasting ban in organic search).
zavulon 15y ago
I would argue that 1/7 of your business != getting fired. While it's going to be tough, it's possible to recover from. You still have a significant portion of your business, and are extra motivated to do more (again, that depends on you). And when you get fired, you end up with nothing and have to start from scratch.

by patio11 15y ago

tstone 15y ago

I can't understand what you are trying to say in the last two sentences. Maybe I am just tired but can you elaborate a bit more?

LVB 15y ago
I think he means he has 7 clients who could choose to severe their business with him at any time.

larrys 15y ago

"A significant portion of my income as a business owner can get pink slipped at the decision of any one of seven people" Can you explain this further?

vellum 15y ago
Patrick does work as a consultant. I think he's saying that he has 7 big-time clients and if any of them fired him, his income would take a big hit.
- larrys 15y ago
  Thanks for clarifying. One of the issues in any business is how big any customer is as a percentage of sales and that is normally one of the first questions a buyer of any business wants to know. While it's hard to turn down work and generally more efficient to deal with a few big accounts vs. many small accounts that is definitely a risk. That said I wonder how many people getting hired by a company are fully aware of how large a companies clients are and what would happen to their job if any client left. At least in Patricks case he directly can keep his clients satisfied.
  - coopdog 15y ago
    Plus losing a seventh or even half your income and then having a gap to look for new clients (you can ask existing clients for referrals) isn't anywhere near as risky as suddenly losing 100% of your income for reasons that can be fully beyond your control
- randomdata 15y ago
  But at least the risk is spread around. Having a fraction of your original income still coming in is far better than having absolutely no income coming in.

AznHisoka 15y ago

If you also run an online startup, chances are you rely on SEO or search engine marketing. If Google bans your Adwords account, or penalizes you to oblivion, I'll say that's pretty much the equivalent of getting fired.

jaredmck 15y ago
True story, although once you're spending enough on AdWords you'd have to do some pretty egregious stuff to get your AdWords account banned (and to some extent you're much less likely to get a major, lasting ban in organic search).

zavulon 15y ago

I would argue that 1/7 of your business != getting fired. While it's going to be tough, it's possible to recover from. You still have a significant portion of your business, and are extra motivated to do more (again, that depends on you). And when you get fired, you end up with nothing and have to start from scratch.