Kak
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When I was a kid, my friends and I would eat at a Blimpie sub shop. It was the only place to eat close enough for us to ride our bikes, but the sandwich’s were good. An Asian couple ran the place, just the two of them, no employees, no backup. Open seven days a week, slinging subs from dawn (after they released breakfast subs) to dusk. Sometimes one would stay home, and the other would work the counter alone. Then they had a kid. That kid grew up in a frickin sandwich shop, surrounded by bread and deli meat, his crib was right inside the office door. That’s not a childhood. That’s a symptom of a dream gone wrong.
These people weren’t living the entrepreneurial dream; they were chained to it. Seven days a week, tethered to a counter, no breaks, no freedom, no life. If they took a day off, the doors stayed shut, and the cash stopped flowing. Their kid’s first steps weren’t in a backyard; they were on a linoleum floor next to a meat slicer. It’s not a business. It’s a prison. They could have had better lives, irrespective of money, with far less hassle, working regular jobs. More money, more time, less stress. But they bought the lie that small business equals success, and they paid for it with at least their 20s-40s, I don’t know if they’re still there. I hope not.
Now… Jobs aren’t the answer, but when a job is so obviously better than a small business, something’s wrong. I am also not naive as to dismiss them entirely. Imagine an executive role at a company with real momentum, one that’s scaling, compounding, dominating its market. You’re not a cog; you’re leveraging their platform, their resources, their capital. Stock options, equity, big wins that dwarf the pennies you’d scrape together running a one-man show. Why grind away in a sub shop, raising your kid in a deli, when you could position yourself for a piece of something massive? Of course a manager job at Home Depot would have beat owning a Blimpie.
The point isn’t to punch a clock. The point is to stop settling for small. Those Blimpie owners weren’t entrepreneurs; they were prisoners of their own creation. Their kid’s childhood was collateral damage.
The “small business” fantasy you’ve bought into is a lie, a glittering trap masquerading as the entrepreneurial dream. You are promised freedom, control, wealth. Be your own boss, set your own hours, live on your terms. Sounds awesome… Except the reality is a relentless grind that owns you, not the other way around.
Small business isn’t a path to freedom. It’s a prison you build with your own hands. You thought you’d escape the corporate machine? Congratulations, you’ve traded one master for 300 others.
Customers demand your attention, suppliers fail you, the market environment evolves, and when the government is not intentionally manipulating market it’s waiting for you to slip up. One late invoice, one angry client, one cash flow hiccup, and you better start hoping that your definition of freedom is anxiety.
The truth is freeing. You don’t own a business. You are the business. You’re the CEO, the accountant, the marketer, the technician, the social media puppet, and the one scrubbing the floors at midnight. You’re buried in emails, wrestling with a broken website, chasing payments, and crafting social media posts that won’t ignite a mob of blue haired communists. And if you’re not, you’re certainly managing it.
And the payoff? Most small business owners earn less than a mid-level employee. Many do fail. Worse yet, others like Blimpie, survive for a few decades, without ever thriving.
True freedom lies in building something that scales. A business that doesn’t collapse without your constant presence. A system that grows, compounds, and thrives independently of your minute by minute input.
When you scale, the rules change. You stop being the overworked servant. You hire experts to manage the details. You raise capital from investors who force you to elevate your vision beyond next month’s rent. You create systems, processes that operate with independence.
Scaling isn’t riskier. It’s safer. You have a team, a structure, a foundation. Revenue stabilizes. Momentum builds. You solve significant problems, serve larger markets, and earn rewards that match the impact. This is leverage: other people’s capital, expertise, and time working on your behalf as well as their own.
Don’t insult yourself with the excuse that you’re not meant for bigger things. Every awesome entrepreneur was once not an entrepreneur. Every awesome business was once nothing. Sam Walton ran a single store, for a little while. Jeff Bezos packed books in a garage, for a little while. They succeeded because they refused to stay small. They built systems. They leveraged resources. They didn’t raise their kids in a storefront or a warehouse.
You’re climbing a ladder, but is it leaning against the right wall? That Blimpie couple spent a significant portion of their lives scaling a ladder with nothing at the top. They worked harder than anyone, but their goal of evidently owning the living hell out of a single sandwich shop, was a trap.
Move your ladder to a wall worth scaling: a business that scales, leverages resources, and frees you to live. Build systems. Use other people’s capital and expertise. Lead with vision. You’re here to create something extraordinary. Check your ladder, and start climbing toward freedom.
Reject small businesses! Go big.
These people weren’t living the entrepreneurial dream; they were chained to it. Seven days a week, tethered to a counter, no breaks, no freedom, no life. If they took a day off, the doors stayed shut, and the cash stopped flowing. Their kid’s first steps weren’t in a backyard; they were on a linoleum floor next to a meat slicer. It’s not a business. It’s a prison. They could have had better lives, irrespective of money, with far less hassle, working regular jobs. More money, more time, less stress. But they bought the lie that small business equals success, and they paid for it with at least their 20s-40s, I don’t know if they’re still there. I hope not.
Now… Jobs aren’t the answer, but when a job is so obviously better than a small business, something’s wrong. I am also not naive as to dismiss them entirely. Imagine an executive role at a company with real momentum, one that’s scaling, compounding, dominating its market. You’re not a cog; you’re leveraging their platform, their resources, their capital. Stock options, equity, big wins that dwarf the pennies you’d scrape together running a one-man show. Why grind away in a sub shop, raising your kid in a deli, when you could position yourself for a piece of something massive? Of course a manager job at Home Depot would have beat owning a Blimpie.
The point isn’t to punch a clock. The point is to stop settling for small. Those Blimpie owners weren’t entrepreneurs; they were prisoners of their own creation. Their kid’s childhood was collateral damage.
The “small business” fantasy you’ve bought into is a lie, a glittering trap masquerading as the entrepreneurial dream. You are promised freedom, control, wealth. Be your own boss, set your own hours, live on your terms. Sounds awesome… Except the reality is a relentless grind that owns you, not the other way around.
Small business isn’t a path to freedom. It’s a prison you build with your own hands. You thought you’d escape the corporate machine? Congratulations, you’ve traded one master for 300 others.
Customers demand your attention, suppliers fail you, the market environment evolves, and when the government is not intentionally manipulating market it’s waiting for you to slip up. One late invoice, one angry client, one cash flow hiccup, and you better start hoping that your definition of freedom is anxiety.
The truth is freeing. You don’t own a business. You are the business. You’re the CEO, the accountant, the marketer, the technician, the social media puppet, and the one scrubbing the floors at midnight. You’re buried in emails, wrestling with a broken website, chasing payments, and crafting social media posts that won’t ignite a mob of blue haired communists. And if you’re not, you’re certainly managing it.
And the payoff? Most small business owners earn less than a mid-level employee. Many do fail. Worse yet, others like Blimpie, survive for a few decades, without ever thriving.
True freedom lies in building something that scales. A business that doesn’t collapse without your constant presence. A system that grows, compounds, and thrives independently of your minute by minute input.
When you scale, the rules change. You stop being the overworked servant. You hire experts to manage the details. You raise capital from investors who force you to elevate your vision beyond next month’s rent. You create systems, processes that operate with independence.
Scaling isn’t riskier. It’s safer. You have a team, a structure, a foundation. Revenue stabilizes. Momentum builds. You solve significant problems, serve larger markets, and earn rewards that match the impact. This is leverage: other people’s capital, expertise, and time working on your behalf as well as their own.
Don’t insult yourself with the excuse that you’re not meant for bigger things. Every awesome entrepreneur was once not an entrepreneur. Every awesome business was once nothing. Sam Walton ran a single store, for a little while. Jeff Bezos packed books in a garage, for a little while. They succeeded because they refused to stay small. They built systems. They leveraged resources. They didn’t raise their kids in a storefront or a warehouse.
You’re climbing a ladder, but is it leaning against the right wall? That Blimpie couple spent a significant portion of their lives scaling a ladder with nothing at the top. They worked harder than anyone, but their goal of evidently owning the living hell out of a single sandwich shop, was a trap.
Move your ladder to a wall worth scaling: a business that scales, leverages resources, and frees you to live. Build systems. Use other people’s capital and expertise. Lead with vision. You’re here to create something extraordinary. Check your ladder, and start climbing toward freedom.
Reject small businesses! Go big.
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