I think that's the problem. I highly risk averse when it comes to my financial security. The idea of trying to fund the start of a business at my age scares the heck out of me especially since I'm going to need help right off the bat with marketing and sales. I positively hate doing those things and have absolutely no apptitude for them. If I have to do them myself, I know the business won't get anywhere.
So I think you are right. If you don't have the "passion" for starting your own business, forget it. You can't just do it because you got laid off.
Trying to start an undertaking that is demanding when you are thrown off balance and at a disadvantage puts a great pressure on the business to be able to pay you a salary when it really cannot afford to, and grow at the same time.
Some people claim this is one reason that so many small new businesses fail.
Then there is the motivation thing. Being starving is motivating, of course, but many proverbial "Starving" artists die poor. You have to have something YOU want AND something a lot of other people want for it to work.
But with enough motivation, anything can be made to work. Even those pyramid sales things, if one is willing to use and alienate every friend and relative they have in the process. That these organizations succeed is probably because everyone at one time or another thinks, "I'll start my own business and tell them to shove it!"
That said, I am not speaking as a "Success". I am getting by, and that will have to be good enough. Squinting at the crystal ball, I do NOT see a fifty foot Bristol Cruiser or an Aerostar in the future, ever. I am just a struggling jerk in a home workshop.