"but I've seen enough successful and completely beloved hole-in-the-wall operations, run by people you would never mistake for intelligent, that I question the

"but I've seen enough successful and completely beloved hole-in-the-wall operations, run by people you would never mistake for intelligent, that I question the fundamental truth of it." You've committed a fallacy by looking only at the successes and determining it isn't difficult. The vast majority of businesses fail, and you never see them. Most of the rest never amount to anything more than someone busting their ass for the same (or less) money than they could be making punching the clock 9 to 5. That's the fundamental truth of it. But of course, we live in a world where everyone is above average, right?