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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Rise of the Entrepreneur

I do believe that Entrepreneurship is on the rise. There are far too many intelligent people working full time for companies. Soon these entrepreneurial types realize that they feel suffocated in the corporate world. They are full of ideas but poor in power and responsibilities to influence large companies in a meaningful way. They begin to seek an outlet for their creative energies, they desire to be more and have more. They focus on results rather than politics and seniority.

We are those people. And if you are reading this, you are probably one of us.

So it goes without saying that we have pseudonyms or "pen names" when we write. No need to explain - you get it.

So here's the problem, entrepreneurship is on the rise, but we are still viewed as "odd balls." Viewed as people who just can't be happy with "the way things are" - the status quo. But it wasn't always like this. Let's review.

Most people today work in the corporate world. We go to work everyday - working for someone else ("the man"). But this is a carry over from the industrial age. A time when people were mere cogs in the industrial revolution. A time when workers clocked in and clocked out, happy to receive a steady pay for steady work. But the problem with this era was that people became lazy. They no longer wanted to think for themselves. Just show up at work, do what you are told, and collect your check. After years and years of this you will have seniority over the newer generation and you can tell them how "things have always been done here."

But before the industrial age, almost everyone was an entrepreneur! And by that I mean they owned their own business, had to manage their own marketing, supply, everything. People back then were blacksmiths, coopers, farmers, bakers. Then mass production came along and no longer where people blacksmithing their own tools, they now worked on the assembly line for craftsman. I am exaggerating but you get the point. Soon the mom and pop shops were taken over by corporations who mass produced everything. Voila! The industrial age.

Another terrible hangover from the industrial age is management. Suddenly mass labor required organization which gave rise to a highly esteemed position of manager (typically someone with seniority!). The problem with managers is that very often they have no wealth creation skills of their own, or they have forgotten them. These are people who rely on the corporate world for their strength and power and get work done through others.

Then came along the rise of the information age. Suddenly anyone with a computer can own a business. The barriers to enter the business world on your own decreased exponentially. No longer did you need large sums of money to buy equipment or employee assembly line workers. Suddenly the processing power of computers on the internet gave the individual power again.

So here we are. In the era of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Michael Dell. All of whom literally started businesses out of their own garages. What's the point of this whole blog? Well times - they are a changing, and the more you hold on to working the status quo - the further behind you are! Don't believe me? (and why should you we don't know each other and I am using a fake name to disguise my identity from my "day job"). Below is a chart I took from the Tax Foundation's 2006 report: "Putting a Face on Tax Returns".



As you can see today, the wealthiest people in America tend to be those who own their own business. Isn't it time you start yours?


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1 Comment:

Dale said...

Time for a rebirth!

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