Just wondering

Okay, no long platitudes or sermons today about how what the rich know that I don't, or the ins and outs of running a business. Just a few observations from me about what I've learned in the past few months. This is just me commenting on my experiences in the past 8 weeks or so, what I have seen and what really confuses me. I'm sure somebody out there knows the answers I'm looking for, but I sure don't.

People are out there looking for jobs, and there aren't many to be had. I get that. It's a tough situation, and the times right now aren't very good. I get that, too. But I wonder sometimes why people keep looking for relief from somebody other than themselves. See, I understand that not everybody is cut out to run their own business, not everybody has that inner drive to carve out their own slice of the economy...it's hard to do, and on some days it's very hard to do. It's a lot of work, and frankly, not everybody wants to do work that hard. Some people would rather sell their time for $8 or $10 or $20 an hour, if they can find someone to hire them, and let somebody else worry about all the headaches associated with having and running a business. And that's okay; I certainly did it for many years.

But I also meet people who would really like to escape the whole idea of depending on someone else for their livelihood, people who have the savvy and the know-how to run a business for themselves, to take a (small) risk and see what happens. And yet they don't. That's the part I don't get. They spend hours and days and weeks trying to convince somebody else they are worth whatever the employer is willing to spend to buy their time, sometimes finding low-paying jobs, occasionally something pretty good, but most often they find nothing. Yet they still refuse to bet on the only person on whom they can really count: them.

I met somebody recently who said they didn't have time to grow a business, they needed income right now. So I asked them when they were last employed. Answer: more than a year ago. That took me aback a little. They needed income now but they hadn't had a job for a year? What if they had started a business a year ago? I pointed out that had they done that, and if they worked really hard in the meantime, it might be paying off by now. And if it was and they kept working hard, nobody could take that away from them, until one day maybe they wouldn't have to work so hard, but would still have something nobody could take from them. What you do right now, today, will affect what you have a year from now. They looked at me like I was nuts; start a business, they said, if they did that they wouldn't have time to look for a job!

I have no answers here, I'm just wondering out loud. See, I've run my own used and rare book business since 1998, but before that I worked so many hours per week I couldn't count them all, and all for the benefit of somebody else. I was paid for my time and my employer believed every waking moment of my life was their to use as they saw fit. So what that I was paid what some people would call a lot of money? I benefited them far more than I benefited me. It crushed me not only physically, but emotionally, too.

On a weekly basis I meet dozens and hundreds of people running their own small businesses selling whatever they can, wherever they can. Ebay, Bonanza, Etsy, the flea market...these people I admire. They aren't sitting around waiting for somebody to give them a job, they are out trying to scratch out a living on their own. They aren't whining about how badly their employer treats them, or how many hours they have to work to make their paycheck. Most of those who have the guts to open their own business have to keep their jobs, at least in the beginning. Bills are bills, after all. But since they aren't afraid of hard work, they aren't afraid to work now so they can play later. And while Ebay has pretty much run it's course for new entrepreneurs, there are plenty of other newer chances out there.

I guess I'm asking the unanswerable question here. Why won't people help themselves? But occasionally you meet someone who will, someone who doesn't mind betting that they can do it, that they can take the American Spirit and go out and create something for them and their family. And if they fail? So what? Everybody fails sometimes. At least, everybody who tries, sometimes fails. If they never try, they never fail. And maybe that's my answer.