“You wouldn’t want to be a . . .”, small-business owner edition

Last updated on: June 2, 2014 at 9:02 am by Jane the Actuary

“You wouldn’t want to be a . . .”, small-business owner edition 2014-06-02T09:02:00-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

For those of you who don’t recognize the reference, that’s a series of kids’ books, e.g., “You wouldn’t want to be a Roman Soldier,” detailing all the gross and icky things about life in a given time or occupation. There’s another one about medical care — leeches, for instance.

And I was thinking about small businesses the other day, both because our usual ice cream shop has closed down, and the owner of the small marina where we’ve kept our sailboat for many years (he also managed the repairs and ran a shop single-handedly) told my husband he’s retiring — because now he’s 62 and eligible for Social Security. So far as we can tell, he’s not selling the business to a new owner to live off the proceeds; the business was always marginal, as he’s tried different locations and different product lines over the years, and I would suspect he wasn’t able to build up a healthy nest egg over the years, either.

Which means he’s no different than my Uncle Soren, who owned one fast-food restaurant after the next, including one he called “The Subway” before Subway became a national chain. And he’s no different than my mother’s cousin Alex (is he my second cousin, or my second cousin once-removed?) and his dry cleaners business.

I used to think it would be pretty great to go into business for myself, and my husband did, too. I still find myeslf thinking, “we need an X in town” — a gelateria, a boutique-type toy store, a bookstore (new or used) — but I’ve long ago acknowledged that I will not be the owner of that gelateria, toy store, or book store, because to be a small business owner takes a willingness to commit working hours far in excess of the norm, at inconvenient times (nights and weekends, if your target audience is something other than retirees and stay-at-home moms), and with a fair amount of risk that you lose your investment, and, a fair probability of earning, on an hourly basis, less than minimum wage. Sure, there are some successes — entrepreneurs in a neighboring ‘burb seem to be doing pretty well with their homemade ice cream business, Capannari’s. But the new bike shop in town closed after a couple years — with the report that, no, they weren’t going bankrupt, but they just discovered that if they went back to their old day jobs, they would have a lot more time available to enjoy their own bikes.

So anyway, all of which is lead up to a link from instapundit.com, on the economic effects of raising the minimum wage to $15 in a Seattle suburb, and the plan to do so, in phases, in Seattle itself. Too many people seem to think that small businesses are overflowing with riches and can easily pay their employees more. Maybe it’s a matter of reporting? — that people generally only hear about the successful businesses, not the failures. Maybe it’s because tech startups are so prominent, and the rules of the game seem to be different for them? (Find a venture capitalist to back your plan, program an app, etc.)

We in America pride ourselves on our entrepreneurial culture, and if blogging were my day-job (and I weren’t overdue on getting a start on my actual job), I’d dig out some statistics on this. But instead I’ll just say that it seems to me that burdens are increasingly being placed on small businesses due to the notion that they’re better off than they are.

What small businesses have you known?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 1, 2014

Serves me right for reading CNN: their reporting on a Catholic "morals clause" (with additions)

Next Post

June 2, 2014 More on "Secularizing" Catholic Schools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God write the Ten Commandments with?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A chisel A pen His finger A sword