HIGHTLIGHT MEANS REVISED LINE/WORD
Bob: Guys! I’ve figured it out! I know what I want my new job to be! I’m going to be an Enter-Prenner!
Sarah: A what?
Bob: You know! An enter-prenner! You get to be your own boss, make a lot of money, tell other people what to do!
Sarah: Ohh you mean an Entrepreneur?
Seamus: Actually, there’s a lot more to being an Entrepreneur than being your own boss and making a lot of money, Bob! An entrepreneur is someone who effectively identifies a need within society and develops a way to serve that need as efficiently as possible!
Bob: As per usual you have made this significantly less fun for me.
Seamus: Fun might be the wrong word, but entrepreneurship certainly isn’t boring! Immense risk-taking combined with a dependence on creative thinking and near total freedom makes being an Entrepreneur exhilarating!
Bob: Uh huh, and what about the part where you make a lot of money?
Seamus: Actually, there’s no guarantee that any entrepreneur will make ANY money! But if they HAVE found a way to properly serve society's needs, their venture will be successful, and they'll be able to earn a living with their business! After all, without the motivation of reward, a lot fewer people would make the effort or take the risk.
Bob: So… if I were an Enter-Prenner, I could have a bunch of people working for me and just keep all of the money they make for me?
Seamus: Not at all! Employees help create value for a business and, thus, for the entrepreneur! And they’re paid for the work they do based on an arrangement both parties agreed to before any work was done. Entrepreneurs are usually going to get a bigger paycheck than their workers, true, but that’s only because they took the bigger risk. The reality is, entrepreneurs risk a lot to develop products and services that will improve the lives of others, and they often have to spend years working 60-80 hour weeks without ever making a penny! In fact, the average small business takes 2 to 3 years to turn a profit, assuming they aren’t like more than half of all start-ups that tank in the first 4 years leaving the entrepreneur with nothing but a failed dream and a bunch of debt!
And remember… The employees know they’re getting a paycheck. The entrepreneur doesn’t.
Bob: So you’re telling me these enter-prenner suckers spend years of their lives investing their time and energy into developing crazy ideas on the off chance that they might just make something that I wanna buy?
Sarah: Like your butt implants?
Bob: IT’S GETTING OLD!
Seamus: Yep! A lot of entrepreneurs take risks and work hard because they love what they do, but earning a living doing what you love is a good motivator, too. No system is perfect, but a society which is friendly to entrepreneurship is a society that rewards those who serve the needs of others!
Sources: https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/11/startup-statistics-small-business.html
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/average-time-reach-profitability-start-up-company-2318.html
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About this show
Short videos with a punchy, comedic tone and entertaining Socratic characters taking on trending issues and important concepts from a classical liberal perspective, written & animated by Seamus Coughlin.
What Do Entrepreneurs Actually Do?
March 12, 2019
Bob's back in the job market and looking for a fulfilling career. He thinks entrepreneurship might be right for him. Seamus helps him understand what entrepreneurs actually do and they discuss the risks and benefits of entrepreneurship on this episode of Common Sense Soapbox.
Written by Seamus Coughlin & Jennifer Maffessanti Animated by Seamus Coughlin Produced by Sean W. Malone
Popular YouTube host Kevin Lieber (VSauce2) hosts this informative and entertaining video series designed to introduce key concepts of economics to younger audiences through credible arguments, comedy... And puppets!
