Has the US become the hardest 1st world country in the world for entrepreneurship?

[Hardkill]

Given how increasingly competitive businesses and start-ups have become along with the fact that the US has been experiencing the worse levels of economic inequality since the late 19th century, has America become the become the hardest country 1st world country in the world to become a successful entrepreneur?

[puporing]

What have you tried? Is it true in your experience?

[Yarco]

If you're a true entrepreneur then it's not about hard or easy, it's in your blood, you have to do it regardless of circumstances. You only get real fulfillment and a sense of purpose from the hustle.

The groups affected by economic inequality are going to have a hard time no matter what country they're in. And it tends to be similar groups regardless of country. That alone isn't enough of a reason for me to think entrepreneurship is more difficult in America, because it's not a uniquely American problem.

The US is still a great place to start a business... in terms of taxes, regulations and licensing requirements, enforcement/penalties, and many other aspects. All else being equal... it's probably still easier to start a business if you're poor in America than in other 1st world countries.

Entrepreneurs make it work and create their own opportunity. Look at this guy:

Would I do an interview with Vice and broadcast to the ATF that I'm making $20k a month selling alcohol without a license? No. But what is a drug dealer if not an entrepreneur? It's all just a risk-benefit analysis to decide if it's worth it to you. If you have no other opportunity, then making $200k/year for a few years and going to prison for a year once you inevitably get caught might seem like a good deal.

Most entrepreneurs start off a little shady, doing stuff in their basement or spare bedroom to save money at first. Entrepreneurs are experts at finding and exploiting openings... whether that's an arbitrage opportunity, a void where some product or service isn't being provided, or whatever. Sometimes totally legally, sometimes grey area loopholes, sometimes illegal.

In the US I would say the biggest downside is the cost of living. Of course, cost of living can vary dramatically... you can pay $3k to live in a closet in New York, or $600 for a decent 1 bedroom apartment in Montana. Each comes with pros and cons though, a lot more potential customers in NY, people willing to pay higher prices, so maybe it balances out. But if you want to rent a storefront in NYC you're looking at like $10k/month so I don't see how someone new could possibly make it work, but that's a very specific situation.

Here's what I will say... it's becoming increasingly difficult to have a competitive mediocre business. If you want to just open another average pizza restaurant, good luck. But if you master your craft and make authentic Neapolitan pizzas with 00 flour, organic buffalo mozzarella, san marzano tomatoes harvested and canned at peak ripeness in Italy, and even water imported from Italy to make your dough... you're going to have no problem standing out and competing against Dominos and Little Caesars.

The same goes for making average jewelry, soap, and most other things... you're competing against a million other housewives on Etsy. You need to really stand out.

You can't find huge success just making a standard commodity any more. Your product has to be one-of-a-kind.

If you want to be a plumber, why is someone going to call you instead of going with a national brand like Mr Rooter where there's an established reputation and level of service?

With so many businesses and jobs that can now be done remotely, the idea of hard or easy is almost irrelevant though. Unless you're providing something like food or a repair service that can only be done locally, you're competing globally by default.

The good news is that once you're competing on a global scale, I've found there is basically infinite abundance. But I won't get into the weird law of attraction stuff.

[Hardkill]

On 8/18/2022 at 0:28 PM, Yarco said:

If you're a true entrepreneur then it's not about hard or easy, it's in your blood, you have to do it regardless of circumstances. You only get real fulfillment and a sense of purpose from the hustle.

The groups affected by economic inequality are going to have a hard time no matter what country they're in. And it tends to be similar groups regardless of country. That alone isn't enough of a reason for me to think entrepreneurship is more difficult in America, because it's not a uniquely American problem.

The US is still a great place to start a business... in terms of taxes, regulations and licensing requirements, enforcement/penalties, and many other aspects. All else being equal... it's probably still easier to start a business if you're poor in America than in other 1st world countries.

Entrepreneurs make it work and create their own opportunity. Look at this guy:

Would I do an interview with Vice and broadcast to the ATF that I'm making $20k a month selling alcohol without a license? No. But what is a drug dealer if not an entrepreneur? It's all just a risk-benefit analysis to decide if it's worth it to you. If you have no other opportunity, then making $200k/year for a few years and going to prison for a year once you inevitably get caught might seem like a good deal.

Most entrepreneurs start off a little shady, doing stuff in their basement or spare bedroom to save money at first. Entrepreneurs are experts at finding and exploiting openings... whether that's an arbitrage opportunity, a void where some product or service isn't being provided, or whatever. Sometimes totally legally, sometimes grey area loopholes, sometimes illegal.

In the US I would say the biggest downside is the cost of living. Of course, cost of living can vary dramatically... you can pay $3k to live in a closet in New York, or $600 for a decent 1 bedroom apartment in Montana. Each comes with pros and cons though, a lot more potential customers in NY, people willing to pay higher prices, so maybe it balances out. But if you want to rent a storefront in NYC you're looking at like $10k/month so I don't see how someone new could possibly make it work, but that's a very specific situation.

Here's what I will say... it's becoming increasingly difficult to have a competitive mediocre business. If you want to just open another average pizza restaurant, good luck. But if you master your craft and make authentic Neapolitan pizzas with 00 flour, organic buffalo mozzarella, san marzano tomatoes harvested and canned at peak ripeness in Italy, and even water imported from Italy to make your dough... you're going to have no problem standing out and competing against Dominos and Little Caesars.

The same goes for making average jewelry, soap, and most other things... you're competing against a million other housewives on Etsy. You need to really stand out.

You can't find huge success just making a standard commodity any more. Your product has to be one-of-a-kind.

If you want to be a plumber, why is someone going to call you instead of going with a national brand like Mr Rooter where there's an established reputation and level of service?

With so many businesses and jobs that can now be done remotely, the idea of hard or easy is almost irrelevant though. Unless you're providing something like food or a repair service that can only be done locally, you're competing globally by default.

The good news is that once you're competing on a global scale, I've found there is basically infinite abundance. But I won't get into the weird law of attraction stuff.

How do I know that that guy in the vice video mostly got lucky?

 

[thepixelmonk]

11 minutes ago, Hardkill said:

How do I know that that guy in the vice video mostly got lucky?

This is precisely the attitude that separates real entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Successful entrepreneurs are not "lucky", there is always an incredible amount of hard work behind the scenes. Also the US is still one of the best countries to be in. Another common separator is the idea that competition is "bad". Competition is great to have and completely validates the market you are in. Almost every successful company out there started out by entering highly competitive markets, not unknown markets that have no demand.

Edited August 19, 2022 by thepixelmonk

[Razard86]

6 minutes ago, thepixelmonk said:

This is precisely the attitude that separates real entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Successful entrepreneurs are not "lucky", there is always an incredible amount of hard work behind the scenes.

Yep Luck doesn't even exist. There is no LUCK.

[universe]

No, proceed as usual.

[Panteranegra]

You have no idea how easy you have it. In Spain you need to pay 300 hundred euros a month to be a legal one, plus taxes, feel, gestors and all that. Western European countries are pretty much the same.

The system pretty much forces you to be an employee.

[Ulax]

I think you would need a economics or sociological study to hand in order to analyse this.

Also, it could be that in some areas of the states its much harder, and in some places much easier. Also, it might depend on what kind of business you are starting.

On a more intuitive level, my opinion is that this isn't likely to be true (re US being worst for entrepreneurship). The republicans have just been in power, and had control of the house of representatives. Which, to my mind, would make it likely that small businesses would have gained numerous benefits over the last few years, making entrepreneurship generally easier, at least from the governmental side of things.

[something_else]

I'd say the US is one of the worst first world countries to be born into now for the average person. You have a lot of shit going against you in terms of debt and risk to life compared to almost any other first world country.

It's also probably quite a high risk high reward country in the sense that if you are rich it's probably one of the best first world countries to be in.

Having said that I don't live there so that's just based off general impression and stories