Is it practical to keep squeezing out a living from a barely profitable small business? Should You Just Get A Job In 2012?
The last few years have been tough for small business owners trying to squeeze out a living. Some are now realizing that they really don’t have a business, but instead just a very risky job.
Business strategist, Carol Roth calls this a “job-business.” Of the 21 million small businesses in America, she says 60 percent never earn a profit in the life of the business.
In these companies, the owner is the business, which means no vacation and no selling the company for retirement. While this may be acceptable to some, it really should not be.
“It doesn’t justify the risk of giving up a salary plus investing your own money,” says Roth. “Would you risk a $50,000 salary plus $40,000 of your savings for the chance to earn $55,000 a year?” Unfortunately, this is exactly what some business owners are doing.
If both finances and passion are running low, it may be time to make a change. It may be time to simply close your company and find a job in 2012 that better fits your lifestyle and financial profile.
However, the landscape where you can hunt for job these days has radically changed. Job seekers used to develop an impressive resume with an equally assertive cover letter to get the position they wanted. After the recession, as fewer jobs have become available, the process has changed. In fact, the time it takes to find a job is actually twice as long as it has been at any time in the last 50 years.
Liz Ryan, a former Fortune 500 human resource executive and now a leading career and workplace authority, says that the strategy needs to shift. People have to be in charge of their careers.
“The whole seat of control for the management and direction of the rest of the career has shifted from employers to employees. Thank goodness, because the employers…cannot be trusted with it,” Ryan says in interview. “ It would not be safe to put your investment in their hands.”
This is critical because many work opportunities are no longer full-time jobs, but instead are projects and assignments as employers try to keep costs variable. Ryan says this has changed the mindset of every employee.
“It isn’t, ‘Oh, I’m going to get a job, thank goodness! Phew! I got the job! I’m good for a while!’ No. We can’t rely on that. We have no idea how long that opportunity or that need on the part of our employer is going to persist.”
Ryan maintains that personal branding in 2012 is the key, because individuals are no longer tied to the reputation of our employers.
“[It’s not] a cheesy sort of trumpeting my fabulousness type of endeavor…or a matter of putting some adjectives around our name or our resume,” says Ryan. “It’s really figuring out how we’re going to be able to make a difference for somebody who’s in a position to pay us. “
