Guest Posted February 2, 2018 Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 One reason why socialism is taking such a foothold is due to the fall of entrepreneurship. Somewhere along the line, Americans lost the idea of building one's own business. That is the true American dream. The idea that you're not under anyone's thumb. You can always go somewhere else. Instead, people are being taught to get a job with a good boss. Work for someone else who will eventually decide that you're good enough for them to bestow a boon upon you. Get rid of entrepreneurship. Welcome socialism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 2, 2018 Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 52 minutes ago, Carborendum said: One reason why socialism is taking such a foothold is due to the fall of entrepreneurship. Somewhere along the line, Americans lost the idea of building one's own business. That is the true American dream. The idea that you're not under anyone's thumb. You can always go somewhere else. Instead, people are being taught to get a job with a good boss. Work for someone else who will eventually decide that you're good enough for them to bestow a boon upon you. Get rid of entrepreneurship. Welcome socialism. I am struggling with this myself because, as an attorney, I am probably going to wind up being a solo practitioner one of these days. The fear I have of entrepreneuership is just how often small businesses fail - I think I heard the statistic is over 70%! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 2, 2018 Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 (edited) My alternative to socialism: instead of helping people with direct handouts, we should make it easier for people to help themselves. For example, we should legalize vandwelling and zone at least certain sections of our cities, so if people want to live in vans so they can make it working low wage jobs, they can. A very easy step that would cost taxpayers nothing, yet enable the poor to take care of themselves more easily. Vandwelling would also make entrepreneurship easier, as it would enable someone to devote all of their resources and time to their venture rather than having to go into debt for it . . . Edited February 2, 2018 by DoctorLemon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday21 Posted February 2, 2018 Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 (edited) The Book Nomadland is about van dwellers. https://www.amazon.ca/Nomadland-Surviving-America-Twenty-First-Century-ebook/dp/B06XH3D8VG/ref=dp_kinw_strp_2 Edited February 2, 2018 by Sunday21 NeedleinA and NeuroTypical 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeedleinA Posted February 2, 2018 Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, DoctorLemon said: The fear I have of entrepreneuership is just how often small businesses fail - I think I heard the statistic is over 70%! I own a small business myself. Left my job 20 years ago and never looked back. This one succeeded. Tried a couple of moonlighting ones at home before to get my feet wet. Worked at 3 places that went belly up, learned a lot about what not to do. 1. Being stupid, impulsive, short sighted while lacking: a business plan, skills to manage money, poor work ethic and poor product/service all equal = 70% failure. OR 2. If you are smart, cautious, goal oriented with a: business plan, good money management, strong work ethic with a great product/service all equal = really good shot. I always tell my kids, "You are not going to college to get a good job, you are going to learn skills so you can be a business owner instead". Edited February 2, 2018 by NeedleinA Sunday21 and NeuroTypical 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeuroTypical Posted February 2, 2018 Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 I have enough unadulterated terror in my life without adding to it, with all this work-for-yourself stuff. Dependable routine and a predictable future, with the occasional blindsiding by a low-cost fountain pen hobby, is a good pace for me. Sunday21, anatess2, zil and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anatess2 Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 5 hours ago, NeuroTypical said: I have enough unadulterated terror in my life without adding to it, with all this work-for-yourself stuff. Dependable routine and a predictable future, with the occasional blindsiding by a low-cost fountain pen hobby, is a good pace for me. My dad is like you. He worked for steady money until all the kids except the one in med school finished college. He quit his job because he couldn't handle the stress of learning to use the computer after being in the job for 25 years. He got a good pension but he couldn't stand being idle so he started a hobby that turned into a business and did some things to help his friends out of a fix that also became businesses... come to find out, my dad has this amazing talent of making two bucks out of one... NeuroTypical and Sunday21 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anatess2 Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 7 hours ago, DoctorLemon said: I am struggling with this myself because, as an attorney, I am probably going to wind up being a solo practitioner one of these days. The fear I have of entrepreneuership is just how often small businesses fail - I think I heard the statistic is over 70%! I thought that was just for the restaurant business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightSG Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 8 hours ago, DoctorLemon said: The fear I have of entrepreneuership is just how often small businesses fail - I think I heard the statistic is over 70%! What's the percentage of "small businesses" that are really just a way to recoup some costs of a hobby, or to be able to write off some expenses? (For example, a retired pro golfer near here would give a few private lessons each year just so he could write off the cost of building and maintaining 4-5 holes worth of top grade golf course on his acreage.) I'd be surprised if those didn't skew the numbers somewhat, despite no real intent of profit from the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 I don't think it's possible for EVERYONE to own their own business. But what is possible is that everyone approach their job from the perspective of an entrepreneur. An entrereneur doesn't just look for a paycheck. An entrepreneur looks at every job as a mutually beneficial exchange. I provide a good or service they want, they pay me at a rate we both consider to be worth it. Both sides benefit from the exchange. This should not be any different for an employee than a business owner. But today, people look at work and a business with very different attitudes. They think if you own a business, you're somehow stealing something. If you're an employee, you're somehow disadvantaged. Neither of these make sense. Everything is a negotiated exchanged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 I'm afraid I didn't have time to make a complete post in the OP. I was going to share an exchange I had with a client. I just gave up my day job a couple week ago. I'm now independent. My contact at one client's office is a friend and someone who knows a thing or two about finding and working with clients. He mentioned that I should try to hang out at the office periodically to get some face time with the boss and other project managers. When I was there on Monday, they had some questions that they were discussing. Normally they would try to figure things out on their own. But when they saw me pass by in the hallway, they called me in and asked me the question. I said I could figure it out with a few variables. So, they just gave me the job. I completed the calculation and came up with a more economical design than what they had planned. When the boss realized how much money was saved he declared,"Great! Carb just paid for himself." And it was true. For the calculation in question, I saved about 10 times as much as I cost them in engineering time. They found the exchange beneficial because I saved them money. I received wages that were agreeable to me for the labor I performed. If instead, I wanted to gouge them I could have done it. But it would not keep me in work for long. It would become an unbalanced exchange. That is what kills business. But how would this be any different if I worked as an employee of an engineering company than if I worked for myself? Ideally, I don't think it would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zil Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 24 minutes ago, Carborendum said: Everything is a negotiated exchanged. I tried to point this out to a new (to me and the company) supervisor once. She had a conniption fit. It was as if she didn't recognize that the employer-employee relationship was contentious (not "fighting" contentious, but in terms of "I'm contending to get more $ for the service I provide, and they're trying to get more service - read "hours" - for the $ they pay"). She seriously viewed herself and all employees as something closer to soldiers who had no choice in the matter and were to do as told, when told, for as long as told. As luck would have it, in a company townhall meeting which took place before this was resolved, the CEO set her (not just her, and not personally) straight regarding company culture - she was shocked, it was totally foreign to her that employees are humans who have a life outside of work and that the company would support this notion. If an employee is not strong enough to resist this, or fortunate enough to work in a company with a different culture, the employee will be treated like a paid slave. Sunday21 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeuroTypical Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 (edited) 14 hours ago, NightSG said: What's the percentage of "small businesses" that are really just a way to recoup some costs of a hobby, or to be able to write off some expenses? (For example, a retired pro golfer near here would give a few private lessons each year just so he could write off the cost of building and maintaining 4-5 holes worth of top grade golf course on his acreage.) I'd be surprised if those didn't skew the numbers somewhat, despite no real intent of profit from the start. Small businesses and hobbies operate off different tax rules, and the IRS is big on looking hard at such things. If you say you have a small business but you're not turning a profit, you can get the microscope. If you don't turn a profit after a couple of years, it can become a body cavity probing. Edited February 3, 2018 by NeuroTypical Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 3, 2018 Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 40 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said: Small businesses and hobbies operate off different tax rules, and the IRS is big on looking hard at such things. If you say you have a small business but you're not turning a profit, you can get the microscope. If you don't turn a profit after a couple of years, it can become a body cavity probing. Not really disagreeing, but sharing an exception to the rule. If I chose to keep my day job and have my moonlighting gig for tax purposes, I could get by without making a profit pretty much indefinitely. The reason was that it would be very hard to prove in a court of law that "Engineering" is in any way a "hobby". The main reason is that it doesn't pass the "duck" test. Whenever anyone thinks of "engineering" no one EVER thinks this is a hobby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday21 Posted February 4, 2018 Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 @Carborendum. Way to go! Wishing you the very best!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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