...NOT!
Is that what we're learning in this recession? It's been at least 20 years since I read about the nature of the "Modern" business world. Our country is still suffering from the non-education of our workers. A person learns a job and the incentive to pick up new skills can be nil. It's been said that the responsibility of the Employer in today's business world is to give their employee the opportunity to have a job for "some period" of time. The responsibility of the individual is to learn as many new skills as possible to jettison them into the next job.
Even though this was stated as the new world of business some decades ago, it clearly has not been adopted in many failing industries. So, when I ask people what they have to lose by striking out on their own, they talk about that paycheck security, or that Health Insurance security.
At this time when we have been debating the heck out of the current state of healthcare, I was recently interviewed by BusinessWeek about just this topic. If you're not starting your dream business because of needing health insurance, we really do have a crisis. This is something that I've heard very little debate about. Considering the fact that our government touts our ability to innovate and the power of the Entrepreneur, this surprises me.
Inasmuch as I don't really like posting rants, this one is a long time coming, people! To say that you see the future is all about the Entrepreneur is just great, if you give us the incentives to do our thing. The New York Times sees yet another trend, the Accidental Entrepreneur. Given the right support from mentors like myself and our society, there may still be an upside to the downturn in our economy.
Here's hoping!
I have been self-employed for 10 years. I finally gave my expensive navy blue wool gabardine suit to charity, this summer. It had a dry-cleaning tag on it with the date of 1998. I gave up the "exit ramp" from self-employment when I let go of that.
ReplyDeleteI say that my only job security is me. I work hard and I love to work. I've switched jobs many times, but have only been out of work 3 weeks as an adult.
I think I always worked as though I were self employed, so now I do it for me rather than others. And working until midnight is lovely when I'm in an office or my studio inside my home. It's nicer than when I worked that late in downtown Lansing.
In 1981, I worked for an appliance-parts wholesale distributor. I saw a lot of accidental entrepreneurs then. Joe's Fix It, Don's Carpentry, Steve's Plumbing Repair... a lot of those guys had skills from being employed for others, but they needed to work and that's how they made it happen.
Health insurance, though... yes, that is a huge issue. I get mine (for a fee) through hubby's work. It would be harder to do this without him, because of that. Group rates help a lot.
Healthcare is the ONE thing stopping me from going freelance. My husband is an artist with a debilitating disease. Health insurance is a must. Because of that, I'm stuck in a job I'm not crazy about right now. I could make more money freelance or contract but not without healthcare.
ReplyDeleteHeh. Our government helps big business, NOT small business. The only entrepreneurs they are interested in are ones like Donald Trump.
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