“When I grow up, I want to take my laptop to the beach”
There’s a great article by Leigh Buchanan in the May issue of Inc. magazine, detailing the shrinking number of startups in the U.S.
Here’s what caught my eye:
The data from traditional measurers of such things, like the Kauffman Foundation and Brookings Institute, tell a story of declining entrepreneurship in the U.S. According to Census Bureau data reported by both organizations, the number of new companies as a share of all U.S. businesses has dropped 44 percent since 1978.
Want to know who’s not included in that number?
• People who report working for someone else on census data, but are starting businesses on the side (one observer calls these ‘nascents’)
• People who work solo
• What Buchanan calls “reluctant entrepreneurs sloughed off in corporate downsizings who hang out a shingle”
• And, in her words, “retirees who want to stay active, not build something of scale.”
Also known as: most of my clients, my friends, and me.
According to the official numbers, we solo businesses aren’t being counted. Why? Buchanan quotes one Brookings economist who explained that it makes sense to count startups with more than one employee “on the theory that these are at least potentially going to be real businesses.”
Real Businesses have employees.
What’s interesting is that if you actually look at folks flying solo – like me and possibly you – we’re actually growing in number. We’re 30% of the work force now (heard that on NPR’s Marketplace recently) and by 2020, estimates project that number to be at 40 percent.
Read: more customers for you and for me.
Years ago, I got subscriptions to Inc. and Forbes, because I realized my own education in business and money was woefully inadequate. But what I didn’t realize until I read Ms. Buchanan’s article was that, unlike their Real Business subscribers, I don’t want a Real Business with employees, high fixed overhead, and a lot of inventory sitting on the shelf.
Maybe you’re like this, too.
We want a life.
We want adventure.
We want to contribute.
We want to be the folks, paddles in hand, who steer our own canoes.
And yeah, we want to do our good work and be paid well for it.
But not all the time . . . and certainly not to the detriment of our relationships, free time, creativity, side projects, body or soul.
Turns out, this is called a “lifestyle business.”
A lifestyle business sustains a certain level of income in order to enjoy a certain way of being in the world.
I’ve got to say – it can be incredibly liberating to realize that you don’t want to build a million dollar company, hire employees, or build up equity to attract investors or even a buyer.
Not to say we’ll never want those things.
It’s also not to say that it’s an either/or proposition. Your business or your life.
It’s just to say that lifestyle businesses are on the rise. And maybe, just maybe, we’re part of a rising tide in a shifting culture.
Mighty thanks to Ingo Bernhart’s Flickr photostream for every girl’s dream of working through her beach vacation.
Stella Orange is the founder and creative director of StellaOrange.com, an agency that helps coaches and online businesses nail their message and get their writing projects done faster, bolder and more profitably. As a teacher, Stella shows her students how to craft their money-making message and find their voice so they sell more online with a quirky, human touch. She is based in Cincinnati, but returns to Montana several times a year, hosting sold out writing workshops for people who enjoy riding horses and drinking whiskey. Find out about upcoming production labs and events and get your free copy of “They Won’t Pay You Gourmet Prices if Your Copy Screams Fast Food” at www.stellaorange.com.