We seldom hear about the everyday Americans who are getting ahead of scary labor market trends when the jobs report comes out each month.
That's why I found it tremendously encouraging to read Denali Tietjen's article looking at how millennials who have found jobs scarce have increasingly gone into business for themselves in the Christian Science Monitor. Tietjen cites statistics showing that 27% of folks in this generation are self employed, and 35% have started their own business on the side.
"There's no promise of jobs anymore," Dan Schawbel, founder of Milleannial Branding, a research firm that studies "Gen Y," told Tietjen. "Entrepreneurship offers them a solution.... Even if it doesn't work out, they have something on their résumé."
At the same time, more Boomers are coming to the identical realization that no one is going to "create" a job for them except themselves-and figuring out that embracing this reality could help them in the long run. Instead of trying to shoehorn themselves back in to an unwelcoming labor market, some are joining the startup scene at an age many people think of retiring, as The New York Times discussed today. The feature looks at the inspiring story of Marilyn Arnold, 66, who turned her passion for sewing into a successful business that sells her quilts, christening dresses and other creations three years ago, after a long career in insurance. The story also offers an excellent overview of some new programs that are helping to teach late-blooming entrepreneurs the ropes of running a business.
Certainly, many Americans have never really been exposed to career options like freelancing, small business ownership or Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurship in a meaningful way--and therefore, they haven't really considered it. But these two entrepreneurial generations may start to change that, through their sheer numbers.
That could empower a lot of other people who feel overwhelmed, helpless and pushed to the margins of our economy.
Right now, many people consider traditional job creation as the only real solution to the problems facing many underemployed, unemployed and miserably employed Americans who are hanging onto their jobs by a thread. They don't consider entrepreneurship as a realistic alternative. When The Washington Post ran a recent article about a book called The Economy of You, which encourages people to create a small side business for greater economic security, I was really surprised by some of the comments (edited here for brevity):
"There is a mythology that eBay, Etsy or a website can yield significant income. I have yet to meet anyone who could do more than go out to dinner every now and then on this income."
"Really? Can anyone with a child or aging parent get into this mode? I feel it's a deeply unrealistic article. The real question is: why are there no longer any decent paying secure jobs?"
" This advice is good if you are single and young and have no life."
"Most successful entrepreneurs are nearly 24-hour buzz saws. Most people aren't built with this kind of constitution or have the personality to sustain themselves week after week."
I wished I could phone some of these naysayers personally and tell them about some of the amazing people I have met who could disprove each of these arguments with their own incredible success stories. I've come across folks who have started businesses in just about any difficult and daunting circumstance you can imagine--while almost broke, raising a big family, undergoing a difficult divorce, caring for a frail elderly family member, even battling serious illness. Often, the business has, unexpectedly, become a source of personal strength.
Sure, some entrepreneurs running high-growth companies are manic "24-hour buzz saws." But plenty of self-employed folks are average people. They need money to live on and have figured out how to tap their talents to offer something other people need or want. They have created what amounts to a stable job alternative. That's a good thing to have these days.
I'm not trying to say we have no need for job creation or to diminish the difficulties of running a business. Many people aren't cut out for self-employment. But I do think it's very possible for much larger numbers of average Americans who weren't born rich, don't think like Mark Zuckerberg and have never seen a balance sheet to start successful small businesses that can support them and free them from the cruel realities of the current labor market. The Millennials and Boomers who are creating their own jobs are proving that every day.
