-- endangered species: the young entrepreneur...

[randonneur]

Tristan - apparently NZ is pretty good in the low red tape department also...
The 10 Best Countries for Entrepreneurs - 24/7 Wall St.

all my friends from the EU/UK who have taken advantage of the safety net have done so to make art--theatre, music, visual art, etc. They busk, tour, hit the festivals, sometimes make money and sometimes don't. They wouldn't call themselves entrepreneurs, but they are their own boss, they are selling their own product, and maybe most importantly, they are having adventures.

I like this point of view. Maybe it's less so that there are less entrepreneurs, only that the definition is changing. My wife is an artist as well, and hustled corporate jobs and contracts to be able to fund her art for a while (film making, in this case. not cheap). She isn't an entrepreneur in the traditional sense, but she is definitely entrepreneurial.

[zetroc]

I've thought about starting my own business (in various fields) since my mid-20s, when working for The Man and seeing The Man literally crash his car into the building while drunk made me pause and reflect. I have not done so for several reasons:

1. health insurance. It's much less stressful to work for an established company that provides a good health plan. Out of pocket would be insanely expensive, and when any small business won't break even for years, and being uninsured is so risky, it makes more sense to work for someone else.

2. rent. I don't have much of a garage (and it's full of bike stuff, anyway) and everyone with an open storefront or warehouse space wants the moon, and my right arm, every month. I considered buying a bar that had closed and was told the landlord wanted $12000 a month. It's still empty ten years later.

3. competition from online stores, and price wars. my last career, picture framing, saw a dramatic loss of business as in-person shopping declined and our regular customers (the artists) started to buy their frames and mats from large discounters, some of whom operated online. I don't need to go into the cost savings of operating an online store vs a brick and mortar one, and this hit us hard. (not to mention that many of our artist customers fled the city when their cost of living skyrocketed, but that doesn't apply to every industry.) Also, nobody outside of the art world gives a shit about quality anymore, and if Walmart sells a frame for $30, how can I convince someone to spend $300? It looks the same once it's on the wall, right?

4. startup costs/funding. Banks aren't lending to small businesses anymore, or at least not in the amounts required to start a small business with no track record. And with the cost of living around here, who can save up enough money themselves?

5. liability. If somebody decides that I and my product are to blame for their losses (real or perceived) even minimal legal costs are a huge deterrent.

I know these obstacles aren't insurmountable, but they exist nevertheless.

[Mike Mcdermid]

Of course there is no one factor in issues like this and it's very complicated. New Zealand has a very good safety net, combined with limited liability for company directors, and the government says that ~14% of adults are classified as entrepreneurs.

I read an article recently about a country (whose name I forgot but I recall it being a Middle-East country) who actively reduced red-tape and saw a massive spike in small business registrations.

I used to get offer for jobs twice a week in new zealand it seems they like boats and dont have many composites wizards, to be honest i would feel pretty comfortable setting up a buisness doing what i do anywhere in the industrialized world, including taiwan and china, but i like new zealand....i like the little islands further south even more