The Glorification of Self Employment

Is entrepreneurship all that?

Everyone wants to own a business.

It really doesn’t matter who you talk to. People want to be their own boss. I have nothing against that, because I also had that desire.

But looking back, there was no widespread desire to be self employed until about ten years ago. But since Covid, this trend has only accelerated.

During my college and university years, I didn’t come across a single person who said they wanted to start their own business after graduation.

Most people were after traineeships at large companies. A few considered getting a PhD. Others wanted to work at smaller firms so they could know everyone. It was all about finding employment and getting good at what you do.

Now, people hate jobs.

Why is that?

Unpacking the disdain of being employed

If you think about it, exchanging your time for money is not in your best interest. For a company to survive, it needs to make money. And it can only do that by generating a profit.

That profit comes from the gap between what you produce and what you’re paid.

Historically, that gap was brutal.

During the industrial revolution, business owners openly exploited people. Long hours. Dangerous factories. Child labor. No safety rules. No job security. You worked until your body gave out, and then you were replaced.

Over time, things improved.

The early 20th century brought basic labor laws. Fewer hours. Some safety standards. The idea that workers were not disposable machines.

After World War II, jobs became even better. Wages increased. Unions gained power. Benefits appeared. Paid holidays. Pensions. Health insurance. A single income could support a family.

Each decade added something. Better safety. Shorter workweeks. More stability. Better pay. More protection.

Today, there are genuinely good jobs. You can earn a solid living as a manual laborer. You can work your way up at companies like Walmart and earn more than most people expect.

Work is not the nightmare it once was.

And yet, something remains.

No matter how good your job is, you are never fully free. There’s always something in the back of your mind whispering: I could be better off. I could earn more. I could have more control.

That feeling is real.

And that feeling is exactly what people who glorify self employment exploit.

Selling the sizzle

There’s a huge industry built around solo work and entrepreneurship. Millions of people are incentivized to glorify self employment.

You might think I’m talking about people who sell digital products to other people who want to sell digital products. That’s part of it. But the bigger machine is B2B sales that targets business owners.

Software. Consultants. Agencies. Coaches. Tools. Platforms.

What they sell is not just a product.

They sell a dream.

This is called selling the sizzle. You don’t sell the steak. You sell how it smells, looks, and feels.

Entrepreneurship itself is hard. That’s not a secret. Elon Musk once described it as staring into the abyss while chewing on glass.

But that part rarely makes it into the marketing.

Instead, people emphasize three things.

• Status.

• Money.

• The dream.

You see photos of laptops by the pool. Flexible schedules. Total freedom. Unlimited upside.

What you don’t see are the years of uncertainty. The constant responsibility. The stress of payroll. The fact that you never really clock out.

Self employment replaces one boss with dozens. Clients. Partners. Tax authorities. Cash flow.

The dream is real. But it’s incomplete.

And most people are not buying the reality. They’re buying the sizzle.

Skills beat being employed or owning a business

I know a business owner we’ve worked with at our family business for more than ten years. We sell professional laundry equipment, and this person is one of our suppliers. They took over the business from their family.

From the start, it was obvious this person had very limited business skills. Every interaction was difficult. Orders went wrong. Communication was poor. Finances were messy. But because they sell critical spare parts, we had to keep working with them.

Recently, we heard that this person accumulated so much debt and caused so many problems with other companies that they now want to sell the business. From what I understand, that’s unlikely to happen. No one wants to buy a company like that.

This person has strong social skills, but no real business or financial skills. They shouldn’t be running a business.

If they had focused on sales or relationship management inside a larger company, they would have been far more successful.

That’s the part most people miss when they think about self employment.

• Do you like being a jack of all trades?

• Can you actually become good at all the skills required to run a business?

Saying “I’ll just hire smart people” doesn’t work. You also need to be smart. Otherwise, the smart people you hire will run all over you.

Why do we glorify entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk? Because they are highly intelligent and have many world-class skills.

You don’t need to be world-class at everything. But you do need to be better than average across the board. Otherwise, there’s no point in being self employed.

In most cases, it’s smarter to pick one skill and aim to be great at it.

If you get truly good at what you do, you’ll likely earn more. And you’ll likely gain more freedom too.

A good employer who values your contribution will reward it.

There are plenty of people with a 9 to 5 job who enjoy many of the same benefits people associate with self employment.

Is entrepreneurship all that?

I’m not going to lie. It’s pretty good to be your own boss. But it has to suit you.

There’s no point in trying to be something you’re not. If the idea of staying employed feels unbearable to you, then starting a business might make sense.

But how many people really feel that way?

Most people don’t want self employment. They want the idea of self employment.

To me, this comes down to personality. Not ambition. Not intelligence. Not money.

You can build a great life in many ways.

And that’s the part that rarely gets glorified.