“There’s no such thing as job security in companies today, so better be secure in your own business than insecure in someone else’s.”
Advice I keep hearing, usually to lure people into some business coaching programme or another.
Advice that’s pure horse-manure.
Here are the facts.
The FT reports around 54% of UK startups fail within 3 years. While the most recent stats I’ve found show that you have a 1 in 77 chance of losing your job in the private sector in any particular year. So in 3 years, your odds of being let go by your employer are just shy of 4%.
You’re 14 times less secure starting up than being employed.
That makes intuitive sense too. Joining something that’s already in motion and has survived is less risky than starting to get something brand new moving.
Starting a business is hard. Starting a successful business is a lot harder. It’s not for everyone. Most people make far better employees than business founders, and that’s neither bad nor something to feel inferior about. Likewise, most successful founders that I know fail horribly at being employees.
And successful companies need founders and team members – there is no success without it.