Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2011, during Spain’s economic crisis. “The protests being organized across half the world” refers to that year’s movements, such as Spain’s 15-M, and the remark about “spitting” at a member of parliament alludes to incidents of that period.
In a crisis like the one we’re going through, the same worry feels different depending on which side of the table you’re on. The table is divided between the one who hires and the one hoping to be hired. Both have worries, but very different ones.
The job seeker or employee: for this person, worry mostly translates into fear. Those who have a job are afraid of being fired if the company does badly. Those who are unemployed have the worry, and the obligation, of finding work.
Lack of work or job insecurity keeps them from living well because of the uncertainty of their situation. Let’s say this person depends on what someone else offers: the person on the other side of the table (the entrepreneur or business owner).
The employer (business owner): if this person hasn’t done their homework as a business owner and the business becomes less profitable, they will be afraid too, but their fear is basically about the numbers. They are worried as well, but their worry is how to tell the person on the other side (the applicant or employee) that right now they can’t hire them or can’t renew their contract.
The business owner holds other people’s standard of living in their hands. That millions of people can pay for a home, among other things, is thanks to business owners.
Which side do you want to be on: the one who fires or the one who gets fired?
Clearly, back in the day, when the business owner was an entrepreneur eager to get ahead, they took a risk: starting a business of their own. Today they’re not free of risk either, and their company could even go bankrupt, but the business owner’s worry is out of proportion to the one the worker lives with, because if things go badly for the former, the latter will be even worse off.
If you look closely, the born entrepreneur can fail 100 times, yet we always see them starting another kind of business. They may be up to their eyeballs in debt, but they rarely lack cash for day-to-day needs. An employee, by contrast, receives a monthly income that they must cherish and look after so it lasts until the end of the month. If that income stops or shrinks, things get worse in less than 30 days.
For a worker, taking on more debt to solve temporary problems can sink them into a lifelong credit hole unless their situation changes and extra income comes in.
Look at the protests being organized across half the world right now. Their underlying message is political and financial corruption, but let’s not kid ourselves: what most people there really want and need is a job, and they can see that with the current crisis that job won’t come and their working future is uncertain. That breeds outrage. If we’re talking about political and banking corruption, I’m the first to be outraged.
Business owners get criticized
Let’s not kid ourselves: business owners create wealth and jobs, from the small business to the large corporation. Those who criticize business owners and capitalists would sell their souls to the devil to be one of them. Who wouldn’t want to be a Warren Buffett, a Larry Page (Google) or a Bill Gates? The thing is, to become one of them we need to know how to get there, find the courage and lose our fear.
See also: The 10 richest people in the world: the 2012 Forbes list
I hate the typical capitalist and even the speculator, but the economic system needs capitalists and wealth creators, not to mention speculation, which we’ve all done or tried, however much we criticize it now. Anyone who didn’t try simply wasn’t in the right place at the right time with the mindset needed to make money. That said, getting into debt, as most Spaniards have done, is another kind of speculation: an investment that bets against you.
In these hard days, in this enormous crisis we’re suffering, you can complain, you can protest or you can “spit” at a member of parliament, even though you won’t make any money doing that. But in your spare time, I’d recommend that you gradually try to move to the other side of the table, so that even if you don’t want to create wealth for the country, at least you won’t depend on other people’s decisions.
“Workers generate wealth for the state by paying taxes; entrepreneurs generate jobs and wealth for the country; business owners and capitalists don’t generate wealth, they own it. Investors speculate with other people’s wealth. When you’re born, you have a past from your parents that you can’t change, and as life goes on you live a present in which your own actions will shape your future. In the end, which side of the table you’re on is up to you. Freedom to choose the side of the table you want to belong to.”
Further reading
- How to lose the fear of starting a business
- How to start a business with no money
- Motivation: if you’ve never failed, you’ve never lived
- 15 entrepreneur’s commandments that lead to business success
Featured image: COD Newsroom, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
