I’ve always dreamt of opening up a business. I have a pretty solid business plan, down to the minute details. My business idea would provide not only a product, but a service that actually helps people. Unfortunately, this is a huge risk for a number of reasons.

• I don’t like selling things. A big part of opening up your own business is the marketing and pushing your service/product. While I could come up with some nifty marketing ploys, the idea of actively pressuring someone to buy sounds utterly terrible.
• I would have to leave my “9 to 5”. I’ll say it – I like being able to clock in, do a job, then clock out. It’s sometimes difficult for me to leave work at work, but when you own your own business, I would assume you eat, breathe, and dream of nothing but your business to ensure its success. Hard pass.
• Potential financial instability. With the “9 to 5” comes a set paycheck. For a very long time, I lived between pay days. I am determined to never go back to that way of life again. I do not like the idea of putting myself or my family into any potentially compromising financial situations.
• I don’t like people. It’s the strangest thing. I have an overwhelming urge to help people, but I don’t like them. People are messy and flawed. The majority don’t want a product or service to help them help themselves. They want handouts or instant gratification. That irritates the hell out of me and doesn’t fit very well into my business plan.
• I like flipping people off too much. A friend recently shared a string of texts he received from an abruptly irrate customer. From the outside looking in, the customer fabricated a laundry list of “issues” just to get out of the service. Kudos to my friend for not telling this dude to fuck off. As I rightfully would have done.
• I’m too close to retirement. Lastly, I have a little under 11 years until I hit my minimum retirement age. The last thing I need at this point, is to embark on a new career adventure. No thanks.

Now, if I win the lottery, the majority of these “risks” would be completely out the window and I may have to reconsider my business idea startup. Though, I’d still need to get past the whole “people” thing….