‘Great resignation’ this, ‘anti-ambition’ that. These phrases are becoming as loathsome as ‘unprecedented times.’ The fact remains though that 4 million US workers are quitting their jobs every month.
Where are they going?
The pandemic caused a widespread shift in focus. The drive to climb the corporate ladder is being overshadowed by a quest for contentment, improved mental health, and overall wellbeing. The desire to rid ourselves of the pressures and stresses of toxic workplaces and take matters into our own hands is stronger than ever.
When focused less on career progression and more on satisfaction, what do we look for?
While some switch companies or even careers, what’s notably on the rise is starting a business.
The White House announced in January “a surge in entrepreneurship” and that “Americans are applying to start new businesses at a record rate, up about 30 percent compared to before the pandemic.”
More fascinating is what these businesses are selling.
80% of roughly 1-year-old startups are B2C businesses, with the largest portion (33.8%) being retail businesses selling physical products, according to a report by Salesforce.
Further, many of these retail products are made by the founders themselves. Whether that’s a piece of health equipment they invented or luxury earrings they handmake to order, these new small business owners are creative and hands-on.
“A human that doesn’t have to worry about money will often choose art. Everybody is an artist until rent is due,” as put by one TikToker. While this is not a fact, it reflects the truth that the masses make career decisions rooted in practicality, and shelve their ‘dream jobs’ as high-risk and unattainable. However, now disillusioned by furloughs, redundancies, and layoffs in said ‘stable’ careers, this surge in small creative businesses suggests it’s finally time for ‘risky’ career decisions to take centre stage.
“As you binge watch your thirteenth entire series or read a book or sleep to music, remember. Remember that in the darkest days when everything stopped, you turned to artists.”
That tweet, retweeted nearly 2,000 times, well explains why the demand for creative products and services will only increase as the economy continues to recover. Whether it takes the form of theatre tickets or a skincare product, we love to invest in our happiness, especially when it supports local creatives who have taken the risks to step out on their own, instead of mammoth conglomerates.
And due to the accessibility of social media marketing, starting a business or becoming a solopreneur is now more viable than ever. Small businesses no longer have to scrimp and save to invest in newspaper or radio advertising.
Now, they create content. How many times have you seen ‘Follow my friend’s small business!’ posted on an Instagram story? While it still costs plenty of time to interact with online communities and grow an audience, the ROI seems worthwhile.
Even more unpredictable and powerful is marketing your business through TikTok. While Instagram has been called a dying platform, TikTok’s unique algorithm not only hooks users but can skyrocket small businesses and artists. One video’s text reads “y’all ever think about how quickly tik tok took over the entire music industry & how little to no artists go viral anymore without it? […] i’m literally eating ramen on video to market my music. wtf is 2022 lmao.” [sic] The song playing in the background of the video now has over 200,000 plays on Spotify, so the creator seems to be on to something.
Growing accessibility to marketing tools has not only opened up the way for more small businesses to start, but for a wider variety of people to have the opportunity to take the plunge.
For the first time ever in the UK, more women than men are starting businesses, according to NatWest Group’s Rose Review, a landmark milestone in equal opportunity. Across the pond, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority reported that “Relative to the 2019 level, Black business ownership is up approximately 25%. This compares to around 4% for the rest of the population,” an encouraging pattern reflected across the country.
The advantages of starting your own business are clear: independence, flexibility, and (hopefully) enjoying your work. With digital marketing continually becoming more accessible, now seems the best time to do it.
All that being said, the drawbacks are easily overlooked. The financial risks of going out on your own or choosing a creative career have always been clear, and we’re all too familiar with the cons of working from home and how it can warp our work-life balance.
However, this ‘hustle’ culture could actually be damaging to our mental health if not kept in check. One could get so absorbed in the excitement of finally running their own business that they unwittingly sacrifice the work-life balance they left their workplace to achieve. Conversely, how frustrating it would be to leave a stable career to monetize a skill, only to find that doing so sucks the joy out of it.
Not every interest needs to become a side-hustle. Some hobbies need to stay hobbies, serving as an escape from the constant feeling of needing to be productive, not a new source of stress.
Ultimately, whether the pros outweigh the cons will always be completely individual. But demand for small local businesses isn’t going away.
The worldwide movements toward shopping local, boycotting the billionaires, and investing in your community are only going to grow. Advertising has never been so affordable, and the opportunity has never been so within reach regardless of race or gender.
While the record-breaking numbers may plateau, they will stay high as people continue to prioritise independence and wellbeing.
