Is Entrepreneurship Really Less Risky Than a Traditional Job?
A new study from The Harris Poll and Shopify provides new context on the kinds of jobs our workforce values – and the findings blew my mind. Here are two key statistics:
Respondents in the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia and Spain say entrepreneurship feels more secure than a traditional job. In the U.S., 39% said they feel more secure as their own boss versus 18% when working for others.
In the U.S., 46% say finding a job today takes more effort than entrepreneurship (24%).
Mindboggling, right? This runs completely contrary to how I’ve always viewed employment and entrepreneurship. Maybe it’s just the way I was raised.
I draw a few conclusions from what I see in this study:
Workers (and by extension consumers) have less confidence in their employers and the broader economy than I realized. Only 18% of Americans feel most secure in positions where they work for others? To me, that signifies a jarring lack of trust and confidence in one’s employer – and it’s a key indicator that American unemployment and attrition is likely to get worse before it gets better.
There’s never been a bigger opportunity for internal communications and organizational morale building. You think a company wants four out of every five of its employees to not feel secure working for them? That’s the exact opposite of sustainable. A lot of hard work needs to happen to reverse this trend, and it all starts with professional strategic communications.
These respondents were either supremely talented, really confident in their abilities or completely clueless. As someone who’s owned and ran their own business for almost 14 years, I can attest – it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, I work really hard at it and I’ve made more mistakes than I can count. The statistics bear it out – 20-40% of businesses fail in their first year and at least half go under within five years. It’s human nature to think that the grass is greener on the other side, and it’s perfectly okay to not know what you don’t know. But nothing takes more work – or can be more self-consuming – than owning and running a business. You either put in the work, commit to being uncomfortable and making hard decisions, surround yourself with good people/advice and catch a break from time to time…or you don’t make it. It’s really that simple.
Louder for those in the back: entrepreneurship is really, REALLY hard. It’s a constant grind. Just stating facts.
Don’t get me wrong – I really do applaud the initiative people are taking to pursue their dreams. The last thing I want to do is discourage people from going after what they think will be best for them. I just hope they know the actual reality of what they’re getting into. Based on my experience, and these statistics, I doubt most of them do.
If anyone has questions or wants to talk about this, I’m always up for it. I’ll support you however I can.
