If you can't find a job, start your own business

[FitChick]

If this kid can do it, so can you! If you aren't a natural entrepreneur, maybe he'll hire you as an employee.

[pink_sugar]

Not everyone is fit for self-employment, unfortunately. If we were, we'd all be making $$$.

[PhillyDude]

I agree, telling someone to start their own business is the dumbest advice someone can give to a unemployed person.

 

Especially when they have no money

[FitChick]

He did it and rolled his profits over into bigger businesses each time. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty (and stinky)!

[carhill]

Heh, I started my business officially when I got laid off and ended up with a number of my former employer's customers. I remember selling off a bunch of 'stuff' just to pay the mortgage and start-up costs during the months after that point in time, and managed to buy a new place with a commercial shop within a year. It's amazing, looking back, how much energy a 20-something can have.

[liquid_amber]

i have to agree with the others on this one. it's not possible for most people to just "start their own business," otherwise we'd all do it. wouldn't everyone love to be their own boss? sadly, it just isn't an option for most people. for one thing, starting your own business means you have to put down a lot of money upfront. not everyone has that kind of money sitting around.

[PhillyDude]

The most insane advice I have heard people give to unemployed people is

 

start your own business

 

relocate

 

 

Neither one of those things make any sense

[pink_sugar]

The most insane advice I have heard people give to unemployed people is

 

start your own business

 

relocate

 

 

Neither one of those things make any sense

 

Yeah, I've tried the self-employment thing. (Mary Kay, Party Lite, Avon). Most of those things, except for Avon, you have to invest money in to make any money.

[PhillyDude]

Yeah, I've tried the self-employment thing. (Mary Kay, Party Lite, Avon). Most of those things, except for Avon, you have to invest money in to make any money.

 

 

Nothing wrong with starting a side business when you are already working but to expect someone with no job to just start a business off the ground is crazy

[MuscleCarFan]

Nothing wrong with starting a side business when you are already working but to expect someone with no job to just start a business off the ground is crazy

 

Especially when you have no money to invest in starting your own business, lol.

[PhillyDude]

Especially when you have no money to invest in starting your own business, lol.

 

 

Yup, which is what's needed to even get it off the ground. And how can you go to the bank for a loan when you are unemployed? lol

[IcedEarth]

If this kid can do it, so can you! If you aren't a natural entrepreneur, maybe he'll hire you as an employee.

 

Uh, no. The very premise that "anyone can do it" is ****ing nonsense.

 

1. Not everyone can get the start up capital.

 

2. Tons of businesses fail.

 

3. It's far from easy.

 

So what the hell are you talking about?

[liquid_amber]

i have always wanted to own my own business and be my own boss, but i just don't have the money. it takes A LOT of money upfront to start a business, and i don't make enough to qualify for a loan. i would have done it years ago if it was an option.

[PhillyDude]

Uh, no. The very premise that "anyone can do it" is ****ing nonsense.

 

1. Not everyone can get the start up capital.

 

2. Tons of businesses fail.

 

3. It's far from easy.

 

So what the hell are you talking about?

 

 

If someone gave me that stupid advice to my face when I was unemployed, they would have been picking their teeth up off the ground lol

[amaysngrace]

"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."

 

- George Bernard Shaw

[pink_sugar]

"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."

 

- George Bernard Shaw

 

 

Don't mind those who do, only mind those who try and force me to do it. I have a family friend who tried to recruit me and wouldn't take no for an answer.

[Krytie TV]

 

relocate

 

Actually, having done this three times I can vouch for it. It's a great way to get your life out of a rut.

[pink_sugar]

"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."

 

- George Bernard Shaw

 

"I shall not interrupt if you shall not shove it down my throat."

 

Actually, having done this three times I can vouch for it. It's a great way to get your life out of a rut.

 

It's not that easy to just up and move without a job lined up though. You have to either find an employer willing to hire you from a distance...(a lot of them want you local first) or you have to have a savings that will get you by until you find something.

Edited March 15, 2013 by pink_sugar

[TaraMaiden]

"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."

 

- George Bernard Shaw

 

This is excellent advice.

 

And the truism from Henry Ford -

 

"Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't - you're right."

 

- is also pithy and appropriate.

 

But there are just some things in this day and age which are impractical, difficult to achieve and at one point, require an outside force majeure to help it along.

For a start, this child has his age going for him, ("Wow! amazing!" cute factor) and entrepreneurial parents.

 

In other words, a business start-up is pretty much within everyone's ability.

but there are also other factors to consider.

And most times, you need to speculate to accumulate.

And you have to have the original 'speculative' amount, before being able to profit.

 

So yeah. Sure.

Starting up a business is an easy matter.

Maintaining it and turning a profit, is quite another.

 

See? This kid moved on from horse manure, to selling second-hand stuff on e-bay and now selling sweets to kids.

 

Is he still selling manure?

Is he still selling second-hand stuff on e-bay?

 

Doesn't seem so.

Maybe those ideas fizzled out.

 

Which is fine when you're a nine-year-old kid under the complete protection of your parents, but in the adult world - is a bum rap, frankly.

[pink_sugar]

I've been selling second hand stuff on ebay.

[FitChick]

This woman became a millionaire the first year, with no job experience, only a dream. Literally -- she had a dream!

[PhillyDude]

Starting your business is a LONG TERM SOLUTION

 

The End

[Forever Learning]

Some people don't have alot of business sense or ability to manage money and estimate jobs correctly, and those folks don't do well working for themselves. But others who have these skills can be very successful. Maturity and delay of gratification plays a part as well.

[lavenderlove]

I find that there is a lot of talk about the ability to run your own business.

 

My concern is how to be employable? It's not about the qualifications, or getting the job it is about staying there and playing the game.

 

Most my troubles come from that I question the system, cannot help but think of new ways and solutions, and this is not what employers want. Ideally they like to see themselves as people who do want creative problem solving workers, but in my experience, and this may be because I just happen to have landed in the wrong places they like to keep the hierarchy stable above anything. I did learn the boundaries of the square I need to move within, but I feel like I have a switch somewhere inside me, and when it is off, it's off I am robot, no matter how complex the skill applied needs to be, and when it's on, well that is when trouble starts, I start getting involved, getting enthusiastic, have ideas, thus I eventually become unemployable.

So my solution is to have the switch turned off, while pretending it's on.

 

It also doesn't help that by the first impression I make people generally underestimate me, (fair skin, blond hair, look younger than I am, very polite and softly spoken) so I guess when they hire me, they have a different idea of who I am personality wise.

 

Politics. How much is keeping jour job about reading your boss, your coworkers and being able to stay cool when needed and time your blows when it is right?

Frankly, I am really bad at this. I am supportive, I really do function as part of a team and can very easily put aside personal goals, so I get taken advantage of very often.

 

Running my own business which I do part time is a lot harder financially, a lot more challenging, I learn constantly, and it is not a fairytale. I am not saying I am very good at it either, it is a constant struggle, but I am still better at it than the above. And I enjoy it too.

 

I like part time life, there is financial security because of my job and living my dream with my business venture, which is not under financial pressure to do well and support me, so I can be experimental, and I don't have to make compromises, and this arrangement also gives me time to grow my business slowly.

 

I don't know, I think there are many middle ways to make things work, it's not like you either sink or float.

[HokeyReligions]

I don't know the exact stats but the majority of start ups fail. But if its what you want then you won't know what until you try. I'm glad a lot do try because my and my husbands home based business depends on it and we love to see our clients succeed.