Specifically the US but I guess this could be asked anywhere.
I am not of the assumption it is actually possible for any normal person that doesn’t already have millions. The days of an honest mom and pop seem long dead (since at least the 90s, maybe 80s). Or if there are any, they are struggling to even stay afloat.
Like many, I thought I’d always want to start some sort of good business that actually serves a need. I now see that as impossible. I know people who made small niche software in the 80s, ended up making it a decent size company and retired with millions. I do not think anyone could do that today, especially with how tech is now.
I see plenty of scammy tech startups. This isnt what I’m talking about. Imagine a CNC shop starting today. They largely dont exist because no one does engine work anymore and most things are throwaway. Similar thing for any type of repair, none exist because its all throwaway. The only businesses I ever see are reselling things made by slaves in China. No one makes anything (other than 3d printed junk).
I’d be quite surprised if anyone is living decently off a real, honest business that they didnt get millions from their parents to start and that doesn’t exploit the hell out of others.
What an incredibly pesimistic and sad take. It has never been as easy to launch a life changing product as it is today.
Yeah, I just dont see it as possible. From my perspective:
Fix cars: this won’t last for more than maybe 5 or 10 years as most cars under 20 years old are unrepairable or getting impossible to find parts for. Need a $20,000 dealership computer to even change a brake pad. And electric cars won’t need maintenance.
Some sort of programming. I never could really grasp programming much as I wanted to, and anyone today would go to ai or India to have something made cheaply. Not viable at all.
Retro console or CRT TV repair: the types involved in that hobby already know how to fix it themselves. Repair is insanely costly and usually out weighs the cost of just buying another thing. This goes for repair of almost anything today.
Art: I mean, we have seen that etsy has sloppified. Not viable. Why pay for a t shirt when I can have a much cheaper one with ai slop art. (Normal people do not care if its human made)
Music recording /mixing : again, if people want this they are doing it themselves or having ai do it. Theres 0 market for how costly and time consuming it is.
Thats basically my skillset. I have absolutely nothing that is a viable business. Now if I knew how to fix houses or do wood work, that’d be a huge money maker, but I am awful at housework/woodwork. And that usually takes employees as well for a lot of jobs you can’t do alone.
Inventing a product…I mean its all been invented. Theres only so much plastic junk we can have made.
Agreed. I think there are tons of businesses people have never heard of because they serve a specific niche and aren’t public facing or household names. I don’t think its easy to launch a successful business but it wasn’t easy in the past either amd we don’t remember all the companies that didn’t make it.
Regarding ‘honesty,’ that probably depends on the market and what your competitors are willing to do. Its probably a lot easier to run an honest local restaurant than some international finance firm. You’ll probably need to sacrifice your integrity to reach those higher echelons because everyone else there was already willing to do the same.