| Sakky:
“As an employee, what's the absolute worst thing that can happen? You get fired. But as an entrepreneur, you can be sued out of all your possessions.”
As I had pointed out in my prior post, that’s simply not true. It only applies to certain businesses (e.g. doctor, lawyer), sole proprietorships, or designated S corporations. If you were one of my customers, you wouldn’t have the right to sue anything other than the corporate entity for assets owned by the corporation. You can’t attach my personal possessions. That’s a matter of law, not my opinion.
Your other example is rather extreme. Building destroyed? Terrorism? Perhaps you know some people who’ve suffered grave misfortune? Regardless, your examples seem to be about possibilities, not realities. And, BTW, I live in the NYC area and both family & friends were personally affected by destroyed buildings & terrorism a few years ago…
As far as debt is concerned, that depends. Often, startups do require loans and personal guarantees. Mine didn’t. My wife’s didn’t (she’s owns & operates a multi-disciplinary facility that provides health care). Both are over two decades old & were started with little no or no debt. Again, I can cite many specific examples. You’re talking about generalities.
Regardless, research by economists such as Thomas Stanley, author of books such as “The Millionaire Next Door” repeatedly indicates that entrepreneurs make up a large percentage of those who are well compensated… which I believe was the original subject of this thread… I simply don’t think you should discourage (disparage?) entrepreneurship.
And sure. You’re right. Businesses fail (your 90% figure). And when they do, employees can lose as much as or more than employers. If I go out of business, what happens to the employees who have outstanding mortgages and rely on that income to pay all their bills? You assume I (as the business owner) have higher debt than they do… you’d be mistaken. I suppose you also assume they'll immediately find new jobs...
Again, though I’m sure it’s not your intent, I simply think you’re being somewhat extreme… |