Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"Millennials are on track to be the least entrepreneurial generation in recent history,” John Lettieri, the co*-founder of the Economic Innovation Group, testified last week before the U.S. Senate. The share of people under 30 who own a business has fallen by 65 percent since the 1980s and is now at a quarter-century low, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Federal Reserve data.
Britt Hysen, the editor-in-chief of MiLLENNiAL magazine, claims that "60 percent of Millennials consider themselves entrepreneurs, and 90 percent recognize entrepreneurship as a mentality."
Young people very well may lead the country in entrepreneurship, as a mentality. But when it comes to the more falsifiable measure of entrepreneurship as an activity, older generations are doing most of the work. The average age for a successful startup-founder is about 40 years old, according to the Kauffman Foundation, a think tank focused on education and entrepreneurship.
I had a feeling the media hype about all these millennials running companies was B.S, just like many things portrayed by the media.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,243,006 times
Reputation: 57825
Entrepreneur used to mean someone investing in commercial/industrial space, equipment, and staff to start a business (create jobs) now it's become the EBay seller, rideshare, and VRBO/Airbnb.
Entrepreneur used to mean someone investing in commercial/industrial space, equipment, and staff to start a business (create jobs) now it's become the EBay seller, rideshare, and VRBO/Airbnb.
Which is why it would make sense that the average actual entrepreneur is 40 rather than 22 .
A 40 year old or older person is more likely to have the money , experience, knowledge and connections to start and grow a successful business .
i don't even think a top business school can replace experience . I've heard from many that they didn't even learn business in business school .
I think all those avenues ; eBay , ride share , Airbnb can be good sources for income but when I think of entrepreneurship I think of creating something new .
Yeah I think people confuse "entrepreneur" with "free-lance." I know a lot of millennials that do a lot of freelance work. Not as many that have "real" businesses.
Those millennials I know that run actual businesses got help from family. A friend of mine who's in his early 30s runs his own coffee shop & roastery which does pretty well... it's become one of the successful businesses in our re-vamped downtown square area. If it continues to that well he can start expanding & opening new locations. But it was his mom that put up the starting capital; he needed something like $60-70k to get it going.
Yeah I think people confuse "entrepreneur" with "free-lance." I know a lot of millennials that do a lot of freelance work. Not as many that have "real" businesses.
Those millnnials I know that run actual businesses got help from family. A friend of mine who's about 30 owns his own coffee shop & roastery which does pretty well... if it continues to that well he can start expanding & opening new locations. But it was his mom that put up the capital.
Yeah I guess it sells more magazines or gets people to click on the headline more if these magazines and websites talk about Millennial entrepreneurs. Even though the data is now out that the reality is different, I'm sure the myth will continue.
Yeah that's the thing , to start something like that it's going to take some considerable money. It's not just starting the business , but having enough capital and 'what if' money...plus the money to live on for living expenses while you are waiting for the business to become profitable.
Millennials can get a home loan right out of college if they have a job and 3% down payment. But if you tried to get financing for a business the companies would laugh at you.
Even if it's a super stable type of business .
There is a saying that banks only want to loan money to businesses that don't actually need the money.
I'm an older millennial, almost 30. I have owned 3 businesses, a lawn mowing company, a restaurant, and I was a handy man for a short time. I currently own the restaurant. I've been trying to get approved to buy an aparment complex, but so far no bank will lend to me. Thanks to being self-employed, my income is "too unstable" for banks.
I don't think it's comletely millennials faults, the whole idea of brick and mortar businesses is going wayside to the internet, there just isn't that much money to be made like there was before, most businesses have such low profit margins anymore. I know a lot of people in my generation who own their own businesses. Lawn mowing, construction, photography, hair salon, website design, car cleaning, etc. I had an aquantinance who tried to open a clothing store, but it went under after 6 months.
Most people want an easy stable job with guaranteed pay, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that people don't want to be entreprenuers.
I'm an older millennial, almost 30. I have owned 3 businesses, a lawn mowing company, a restaurant, and I was a handy man for a short time. I currently own the restaurant. I've been trying to get approved to buy an aparment complex, but so far no bank will lend to me. Thanks to being self-employed, my income is "too unstable" for banks.
I don't think it's comletely millennials faults, the whole idea of brick and mortar businesses is going wayside to the internet, there just isn't that much money to be made like there was before, most businesses have such low profit margins anymore. I know a lot of people in my generation who own their own businesses. Lawn mowing, construction, photography, hair salon, website design, car cleaning, etc. I had an aquantinance who tried to open a clothing store, but it went under after 6 months.
Most people want an easy stable job with guaranteed pay, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that people don't want to be entreprenuers.
Interesting.
Regarding apartment buildings I had heard that they base it mostly on the income from the property versus your individual income, but perhaps that's not true in reality. Is the building fully or mostly occupied?
Have you tried smaller local banks too?
I guess it's not surprising the clothing store went under versus the other businesses. Clothing stores are a lot more capital intensive and risky it seems. Especially with webdesign, lawn moving, car cleaning , those are all pretty low capital involved to start..but the main thing is being able to market the services properly.
Yeah I agree. Most people are going to want the stable income.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
