A Nation Of Entrepreneurs
America is a nation of entrepreneurs, as a new Harris Interactive survey of over 2,000 adults reveals:
- 66% of American adults have considered starting a business.
- 55% see owning a business as the work they’d prefer to do late in life (vs. 42% for public service).
- 72% of those 55 and up say you’re never too old to start a business
- The main reason cited for started a business is doing what you love (31%), followed by being your own boss (22%), both of which significantly exceed making money (17%)
For hundreds of years, America has attracted entrepreneurs, and we need to keep doing so to succeed in today’s global economy. While there are a lot of strong economic reasons for coming to America to pursue your dreams, I think that one of the most important is the fact that entrepreneurship *is* the American dream, and is part of the collective psyche.
Far from the money-grubbing robber barons written of by their critics, Americans are following their passion and their desire for freedom and independence, and that’s something we should be proud of.
P.S. How would the poll results differ if you conducted them in France? Or China? Or India? Discuss.
I don’t know about the general population, but I remember reading somewhere that the majority of the French youth protestors said their goal was to have a government job.
BTW, this is a huge reason we should all support Government (non-employer-based) health care. If people were not tied to their jobs for health coverage, it would release a huge amount of entrepreneurial energy!
What does this tell me?
That the 50 year old plus baby boomers are looking at starting businesses as the silver bullet solution for their lack of retirement savings.
Someone should point out that if they can’t manage their household (i.e. their personal finances), odds are that they won’t be able to manage a more complicated business.
Oh, and that starting a business is A LOT of work and that they aren’t going to stay healthy forever.
Sad really.
Notice that the poll said that 2/3 had thought about starting a business. As we all know, the number who actually do so is much much lower, and the number who succeed is lower still.
But while I’m as skeptical as the next guy about the boomers’ ability to age gracefully (are we about to drown in a sea of “independent consultants?”), I applaud the optimism.
Employer healthcare is a mess, and the current system definitely screws over the entrepreneur.
As much as it may horrify my libertarian friends, I think it is a good idea for the government to provide all residents with a basic health insurance plan. Of course, I expect most people to supplement it.
The ecosystem should promote “race to the top” which is true in the case of USA.
I’m sceptical about the Government policies in India, China etc. I think they are implicitly promoting “Race to the bottom”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_bottom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_top