Why I wrote Create Your Own Job
I’ve been wanting to finish a book for a long time. I started writing a book about ten years ago. It had a couple of different titles. I can’t remember them now, but when I started to get serious about the book, I felt I needed to have a solid title to give me guidance when writing. The subject evolved over time. Always paralleling the work I was doing. I first started writing about being a consultant, then about working from home and after coaching other business owners, it focused on entrepreneurship. Over the last eight years, growing a business, working through the pandemic and ultimately selling the business, gave me some tremendous insight into how small businesses are evolving, particularly when working with others. I truly believe we are in the midst of an evolution with small business.
Work is changing
Small businesses are having a moment. In the last three years we have seen 16 million new business applications created according to the US Census Bureau. That’s a 50% increase than the previous three years. It continues to say that 99.9% of all businesses in the US are small businesses and of those 33.3 million businesses, 27.1 million are solely operated with no employees. That data also tells us that 5.4 million businesses have one to 19 employees, while 648 thousand have 20 to 499 employees and 8 thousand businesses had one thousand or more employees, which equaled 20 million of the 130 million strong workforce. Of those 20 million, the average salary was $74k per year, while the average salary of a small business owner is $70k per year, but can earn as much as $147k per year on the high end.
Essentially the data suggests that of the 130 million workforce, 15.3% are making an average salary of $74k per year working for a business, while 26% are making an average of $70k and up to $147k being self-employed, as a small business owner. Now, there are many benefits to being self-employed, but according to the data and regarding just the salary alone, you have a higher chance of making more money being self-employed than working for someone else. That’s significant!
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) states the US lost 9.6 million jobs between 2020 to 2022. Though 2023 brought back 2.72 million jobs and 2024 should bring in an estimated 87,000, we are still well off from the jobs lost during the pandemic. These numbers are intriguing, but according to the BLS nothing compares to the “Great Resignation” that happened in 2021, where we saw 47 million quit their jobs and then another 38 million quit in 2022. This disruption saw many employees leave due to being overworked, underpaid, no work/life balance and the lack of a specified career path. Many employees found other jobs, but several sought out self-employment with 5.4 million new business applications in 2021 and 5.1 million new business applications in 2022, which adds to the increase in new business applications over the last three years. There’s no question that the current state of employment is volatile, with employees searching for the next best thing and self-employment is seen as part of that solution.
We need more great small businesses
The IRS defines a small business as 500 employees or less, while others define it as less than 100 employees and $10 million in revenue, yet as we just mentioned, the majority of small businesses are sole operators. It’s incredible that 99.9% of all jobs in the US are small businesses and since 1995 62.7% of all jobs created were small businesses. We are a small business nation and as such, rely on the consistent creation of new businesses to keep the job market and the economy strong. Not that the last three years were reason enough to Create Your Own Job, the US is being hit with what is being called the “silver tsunami” with a report from the Alliance of Lifetime Income, that states, starting in 2024 and going through 2027, 4.1 million people will be reaching the retirement age of 65 each year. This is the largest surge of Americans that will be entering retirement in history. With over 12 million exiting the workforce, there is cause for concern, as we still have not recovered from the 9.6 million jobs lost during the pandemic.
With the price of minimum wage going up, inflation on the rise, the increase in immigration and home prices staying high, we may be looking at all of these issues the wrong way. Could it be that it’s a people problem or the lack thereof? I believe this is all a reaction to what the reports have been telling us for the last decade, we’re on the cusp of a human capital crisis. AI is not coming for your jobs, there’s not enough people to do those jobs so businesses are scrambling to hyper-automate. $20 per hour for a fast food worker is because supplies, shipping and fuel are at their highest ever and there’s also not enough people to do those jobs. What we should be calling this time in our history is the “great transition,” because we will see the largest exchange of talent entering and exiting the workforce, than we have ever seen.
As in all cases, with big events like this there’s great opportunity. Expect to see large growth for small businesses in tech, healthcare, travel and all peripheral industries. More support will be needed to take care of the aging population entering retirement, while at the same time, retirees will be traveling and enjoying their golden years. As this older population starts to age out of their homes, we will start to see more homes become available, which may see home prices start to decline with the increase in inventory, but it depends on how quickly this will happen. This should usher in new rounds of home ownership, home remodeling, landscaping, and so on. Within the next five to ten years we will see the large influx of new business applications continue. There has never been a time with a greater need for small businesses and the last three years have unintentionally pushed many people to seriously consider that option.
Small businesses need my help
With the large transition of old businesses moving out and new businesses moving in, these new entrepreneurs are going to need help creating, organizing and building these new entities. Every entrepreneur wants to grow their business as quickly as possible to increase revenue and bring stability and prosperity to their lives. Unfortunately, a lot of small businesses don’t know how to do that. Many businesses start with a great idea, but to bring that idea to life takes skill and a type of business acumen that only comes with experience. This book is really a call to arms. We are entering a time that no one has ever seen or experienced. We will not be able to tech our way out of this. Entrepreneurs need a short cut. A way to get up to speed faster. My book, Create Your Own Job, is part of that solution.
In the book, I show you how to come up with an idea for your business. I invite you to look at what you are good at, explain how the statistics of being successful are on your side and how to set up your business for success. I go further and get into the details of how to organize your business. Creating processes for how to run your business day to day, prevent burnout and how to make money. Then I really get into it and show you how to do sales and marketing for the type of person you are and the type of business you have. Of course, I wrap it all up by helping you launch your business and give you the tools to keep it going. I took 26 years of lessons learned about small business and poured it into this book. You are going to love this book, because it’s the book that I wanted to read when starting my own business. I just don’t talk about Creating Your Own Job, I show you how.
Established businesses are going to need my help too. As these small businesses grow and have the need for more employees, they will want to be set up for success. Employees at every level need direction, a sense of meaning and an outlined career path. Small businesses will have to be careful when scaling their businesses to make the correct decisions. It’s typically one or a series of small decisions that can have a large impact on cash flow. Whether that’s positive or negative depends on how and for what reason the decision was made. Knowing what happens next is part of the services I provide. My mission is to help all businesses grow and thrive.
After 26 years working with small businesses my perspective provides additional insight into not only how we got here, but how it ends. I’ve been through all of the peaks and valleys, the Rush to the Web, the Dot Com Bubble, Web 2.0, the Recession of 2008 and the Pandemic. Work is changing, the workforce is changing and new and existing businesses are at the dawn of a new era. Get ready, soak in this moment and get excited for change. I’m here to help you every step of the way.