Re: Canada: The Be-Your-Own-Boss Country
The Insider on BC Business Online, or Tony Wanless, recently wrote a blog post about the increase in entrepreneurship in Canada, with BC leading the charge, with almost half of the businesses here being self-employed operations. In my previous post, I wrote that I realized how entrepreneurship was actually pretty feasible, and after reading this blog post, it further solidified my realization.
Mr. Wanless’s opinion on the matter is that the employment supply from big business is limited, and I agree. Finding a decent job in Vancouver is difficult, and the freedom in being one’s own boss can be appealing. Why not just increase the supply by starting a new business?
From another perspective, sole proprietorships usually have unlimited liability for the owner. I think that starting a business, especially for the over-50s that account for 30% of start-ups in BC, is quite risky. Mr. Wanless also mentions that the self-employed like the life and won’t return to a job unless it’s “interesting enough to lure them away”. I disagree, because keeping the business successful is not easy. Without an effective competitive advantage and value proposition, the owner just might have to go back to job-hunting.