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> Because the stress and risks of running a small business as a solo inexperienced first time business owner are insane compared to a regular 9-5. Believe it o

> Because the stress and risks of running a small business as a solo inexperienced first time business owner are insane compared to a regular 9-5. Believe it or not you get over this. It’s kind of like the fear of going up on stage to give a presentation. Some people get an addictive rush, these are usually serial entrepreneurs who just love to be in charge because they have no problems with risk/stress tolerance (mostly). You get better at handling the stress as you get more comfortable with where your business lies and what value you offer, et cetera. Hiring/firing is hard for people but you have no choice and certainly you’re not beholden to give people jobs. People are there to work, do their best at the moment, your job is to ensure them they’re looked after adequately and your door is always open to them if they have to talk to you. Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig. Failing that, you should strive to make it to VP-suite of your company where in most cases you’ll be tasked with running an arm of the business - the risks are there but it’s more of a simulated environment as well. The CEO will shit test you in almost everything you do and say and this is the grilling you will need, because they expect you to be capable of running things in their stead.

wepple 2y ago
> Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig. Failing that, you should strive to make it to VP-suite Utter horse shit. I want to earn enough to live without too many worries, and spend time with friends and family. Being able to leave at 5 is irreplaceable
- riehwvfbk 2y ago
  I don't think there are many places in tech where an employee can leave at 5 and expect to keep their job.
  - wepple 2y ago
    I politely disagree. If you think “hours spent at desk” correlates with performance, I don’t really know what to tell you. I do work late, and over my career have absolutely pulled all nighters and weekends and been on the redeye, but that’s when I stretch or flex, and it’s simply not sustainable.
  - The_Colonel 2y ago
    Of course there are. In my 20 years of experience I've never worked in a place which would expect people to work overtime. (this wasn't in my selection criteria BTW)
  - SoftTalker 2y ago
    There absolutely are, but they aren't startups.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    I've always been somewhat flexible, especially when traveling, but I've pretty much never worked super-long days as a routine.
  - aprdm 2y ago
    Not true at all.
  - zeendo 2y ago
    You've been brainwashed.
  - seattle_spring 2y ago
    Ironically, it's only junior engineers that haven't learned how to say "no" that I've seen hold this opinion.
  - wojciii 2y ago
    Most of people I know work 37 hour weeks and use sone kind of flex system where hours above 37 per week are saved and spent at later time. The only person keeping track of your time is yourself. Isn't socialism great? I don't work for free and neither should you.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- IG_Semmelweiss 2y ago
  As an entrepreneur, you can leave anytime you want, but of course, you can't leave the responsibility aside. With an employer not offering remote, you can set your own rules around it. You can work from Bali, if you want and your customers are OK with it. But i agree , the small business route is certainly not for everyone.
- tracerbulletx 2y ago
  Not to mention the existence of society literally depends on massive large coordinated efforts. It would be completely impractical to operate a society where everyone was an independent small business owner. Imagine trying to operate the global logistics system, or plan, build and operate off-shore oil wells. Being part of a team is a valid and honorable thing.
timcobb 2y ago
> You get better at handling the stress as you get more comfortable with Some people, but not many people... > Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig Why? > Failing that, you should strive to make it to VP-suite of your company Why? Why take time out of your day to tiger parent strangers on HN when you can just have your own children and damage them instead?
- cushpush 2y ago
  >just have your own children and damage them instead
- Thorrez 2y ago
  I agree with your first 3 sentences. But let's try to keep the guidelines in mind: >Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - timcobb 2y ago
    You are right. I'd edit if I could.
- avn2109 2y ago
  I am not the GP of course, but I kinda enjoyed being tiger-parented here, it's at least entertaining and might even be good for my career.
HWR_14 2y ago
> these are usually serial entrepreneurs who just love to be in charge because they have no problems with risk/stress tolerance (mostly). More accurately, they have made enough money from a successful venture that they can afford to fail and their risk/stress is lowered. I know serial entrepreneurs who failed several times in a row. Without some form of safety net along the way (an exit, taking money off the table in a later round, simply nice cashflows they were able to bank for a few years), they all seem to burn out.
copperroof 2y ago
No. Speak for yourself.
racional 2y ago
Believe it or not you get over this. You can get over it if you dig the day-to-day of running a business. But not everyone digs it. Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig. No they shouldn't because as an endeavor it just doesn't appeal to lots of people. The "everyone should try and become good at the stuff I think is fun" tone of this response is just weird, and grossly out of touch with observations of human nature.
poulsbohemian 2y ago
>Believe it or not you get over this. If your business succeeds. But if your business doesn't, you either enter zombie mode or you find yourself in the bread line.
hluska 2y ago
I don’t see much evidence of actual experience in this comment. Maybe you have a lot of experience and aren’t very good at conveying it but honestly, it sounds like you have thoroughly drank the startup koolaid. > Believe it or not you get over this. This screams either a lack of experience or a lack of meaningful social relationships. Many people never get over this - it is incredibly risky and stressful being a solo founder. > You get better at handling the stress as you get more comfortable with where your business lies and what value you offer, et cetera. Again, not true. Some people can do this and others can’t. Fundamentally, it depends on actually providing value, being aware of the value you provide and being able to quantify that. Those are three difficult skills and many people cannot acquire them. > Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig. Absolutely no. Many people should not attempt this. In fact, I’ve been doing this for around thirty years and I think the majority of people should avoid it. People with young families, credit card debt and spending problems have no business going out on their own. > Failing that, you should strive to make it to VP-suite of your company where in most cases you’ll be tasked with running an arm of the business - the risks are there but it’s more of a simulated environment as well. No, people should strive to make a living, pay their bills and find something approaching happiness.
Noneofya 2y ago
You have a strange notion of „everyone should“.

wepple 2y ago

> Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig. Failing that, you should strive to make it to VP-suite Utter horse shit. I want to earn enough to live without too many worries, and spend time with friends and family. Being able to leave at 5 is irreplaceable

riehwvfbk 2y ago
I don't think there are many places in tech where an employee can leave at 5 and expect to keep their job.
- wepple 2y ago
  I politely disagree. If you think “hours spent at desk” correlates with performance, I don’t really know what to tell you. I do work late, and over my career have absolutely pulled all nighters and weekends and been on the redeye, but that’s when I stretch or flex, and it’s simply not sustainable.
- The_Colonel 2y ago
  Of course there are. In my 20 years of experience I've never worked in a place which would expect people to work overtime. (this wasn't in my selection criteria BTW)
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  There absolutely are, but they aren't startups.
- ghaff 2y ago
  I've always been somewhat flexible, especially when traveling, but I've pretty much never worked super-long days as a routine.
- aprdm 2y ago
  Not true at all.
- zeendo 2y ago
  You've been brainwashed.
- seattle_spring 2y ago
  Ironically, it's only junior engineers that haven't learned how to say "no" that I've seen hold this opinion.
- wojciii 2y ago
  Most of people I know work 37 hour weeks and use sone kind of flex system where hours above 37 per week are saved and spent at later time. The only person keeping track of your time is yourself. Isn't socialism great? I don't work for free and neither should you.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
IG_Semmelweiss 2y ago
As an entrepreneur, you can leave anytime you want, but of course, you can't leave the responsibility aside. With an employer not offering remote, you can set your own rules around it. You can work from Bali, if you want and your customers are OK with it. But i agree , the small business route is certainly not for everyone.
tracerbulletx 2y ago
Not to mention the existence of society literally depends on massive large coordinated efforts. It would be completely impractical to operate a society where everyone was an independent small business owner. Imagine trying to operate the global logistics system, or plan, build and operate off-shore oil wells. Being part of a team is a valid and honorable thing.

timcobb 2y ago

> You get better at handling the stress as you get more comfortable with Some people, but not many people... > Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig Why? > Failing that, you should strive to make it to VP-suite of your company Why? Why take time out of your day to tiger parent strangers on HN when you can just have your own children and damage them instead?

cushpush 2y ago
>just have your own children and damage them instead
Thorrez 2y ago
I agree with your first 3 sentences. But let's try to keep the guidelines in mind: >Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- timcobb 2y ago
  You are right. I'd edit if I could.
avn2109 2y ago
I am not the GP of course, but I kinda enjoyed being tiger-parented here, it's at least entertaining and might even be good for my career.

HWR_14 2y ago

> these are usually serial entrepreneurs who just love to be in charge because they have no problems with risk/stress tolerance (mostly). More accurately, they have made enough money from a successful venture that they can afford to fail and their risk/stress is lowered. I know serial entrepreneurs who failed several times in a row. Without some form of safety net along the way (an exit, taking money off the table in a later round, simply nice cashflows they were able to bank for a few years), they all seem to burn out.

copperroof 2y ago

No. Speak for yourself.

racional 2y ago

Believe it or not you get over this. You can get over it if you dig the day-to-day of running a business. But not everyone digs it. Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig. No they shouldn't because as an endeavor it just doesn't appeal to lots of people. The "everyone should try and become good at the stuff I think is fun" tone of this response is just weird, and grossly out of touch with observations of human nature.

poulsbohemian 2y ago

>Believe it or not you get over this. If your business succeeds. But if your business doesn't, you either enter zombie mode or you find yourself in the bread line.

hluska 2y ago

I don’t see much evidence of actual experience in this comment. Maybe you have a lot of experience and aren’t very good at conveying it but honestly, it sounds like you have thoroughly drank the startup koolaid. > Believe it or not you get over this. This screams either a lack of experience or a lack of meaningful social relationships. Many people never get over this - it is incredibly risky and stressful being a solo founder. > You get better at handling the stress as you get more comfortable with where your business lies and what value you offer, et cetera. Again, not true. Some people can do this and others can’t. Fundamentally, it depends on actually providing value, being aware of the value you provide and being able to quantify that. Those are three difficult skills and many people cannot acquire them. > Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig. Absolutely no. Many people should not attempt this. In fact, I’ve been doing this for around thirty years and I think the majority of people should avoid it. People with young families, credit card debt and spending problems have no business going out on their own. > Failing that, you should strive to make it to VP-suite of your company where in most cases you’ll be tasked with running an arm of the business - the risks are there but it’s more of a simulated environment as well. No, people should strive to make a living, pay their bills and find something approaching happiness.

Noneofya 2y ago

You have a strange notion of „everyone should“.