As a self-employed person, I would say the squeeze at the top of the corporate pyramid exists for the entrepreneur too.
The difference is the fraction is felt at the lowest level trapezoid. The entrepreneur competes with other entrepreneurs to capture and hold a certain niche. It might be achieving the reputation as the best pizza joint in a village. Or in my case as a industry analyst, it's carving out a special technical market that nobody covers as well, so no one competes in my narrow specialty.
The entrepreneur falls down again and again because he lacks the knowledge, determination, or his timing is simply wrong. Maybe he would have succeeded six months ago, but the market moved elsewhere.
This is all very fascinating to me looking back at the dumb mistakes I made. The difference the years make is the wisdom gained from having skin-in-the-game.
As you walk through a Walmart or Home Depot, the store looks the same year after year because the aisle signs and sections of the store remain consistent.
But on closer view, you notice the merchandise on the shelves are remarkably different. Great improvements to products were made or entirely new brands emerged that feature benefits that didn't exist before.
This is the miracle of competitive capitalism. And the sooner a student gets hooked into that system, the sooner he or she is learning something that can sustain a family in this commonwealth.
Emerson, who became an entrepreneur on the speaker's circuit, explained this is in one of my favorite Essays passages:
Most men gamble with Fortune, and gain all, and lose all, as her wheel rolls.
But do thou leave as unlawful these winnings, and deal with Cause and Effect, the chancellors of God. In the Will work and acquire, and you shall chain the wheel of Chance, and no longer sit in fear from her rotations.
A political victory, a rise in stocks, the recovery of your sick, or the return of your absent friend, or some other favorable event, raises your spirits, and you think good days are preparing for you. Do not believe it.
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
You said it better then I could.
Not totally pertinent but half pertinent ... reminds me of the Zen story "Is that so?": (Also reminder to apply the detachment to the so-called good AND the so-called bad (good and bad are illusions.))
A beautiful girl in the village was pregnant. Her angry parents demanded to know who was the father. At first resistant to confess, the anxious and embarrassed girl finally pointed to Hakuin, the Zen master whom everyone previously revered for living such a pure life. When the outraged parents confronted Hakuin with their daughter's accusation, he simply replied "Is that so?"
When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of the child since it was his responsibility. "Is that so?" Hakuin said calmly as he accepted the child.
For many months he took very good care of the child until the daughter could no longer withstand the lie she had told. She confessed that the real father was a young man in the village whom she had tried to protect. The parents immediately went to Hakuin to see if he would return the baby. With profuse apologies they explained what had happened. "Is that so?" Hakuin said as he handed them the child.