Maybe It’s Time for Plan C | Hacker News Reader

Maybe It’s Time for Plan C

nytimes.com

65 pointsjarek14 comments

I'm surprised at the comments here stating "Cry me a river, these yuppies got what they deserved."

Are you the same people saying, "Way to go! Good luck!" whenever someone posts here on HN that they're quitting their job to do a startup? What's the difference between a kid who quits college to make the next social network and a lawyer who quits the firm to open an ice cream shop? The aspirations may be different, but both are just trying to follow a dream.

I'm actually glad that the NYT is posting a somewhat realistic article for once. They usually just print dreck about some guy with an idea who makes an iPhone app over the weekend and wakes up to millions.

One quibble with the article, though: the author does not connect the dots that focusing on (more or less) luxury consumer items is a risky proposition (especially during a recession).

I also followed my dream and owned a coffee shop. We focused on absolute excellence and did pretty well. I thought I knew what I was doing on the business side.

But then 2008 arrived and suddenly all that discretionary money just evaporated (in our market, anyway). It was humbling. We were not prepared, we didn't really understand our business model nor our market. What we thought was business savvy and prosperity was actually just dumb luck and it ran out.

In the years afterward, I discovered books like "The Four Steps to the Epiphany" and feel much better positioned. I feel for (and fear for) the people in the article who are starting "nice to have" consumer / luxury businesses (but I wish them the best of luck).

Income disparity is a characteristic of this economy, that means that the top 1% (i.e., not you and I) are benefiting at the expense of the bottom 99%. In a world in which that is the case, finding products that appeal to that top 1% is eminently sensible.

This is an odd article, because the conclusion is much more positive on the Plan-B options than the headline and lead-in:

> And with the exception of Ms. Vibert, everyone interviewed said that despite the unforeseen bumps, they would not trade their new lives for their old jobs.

> “I no longer walk with a slight depressed hunch,” said Ms. Herrington, the wedding planner, who is now enjoying steady work and glowing write-ups in wedding blogs like 100 Layer Cake. Her friends, she added, said they noticed an instant improvement in her appearance, too. “I no longer see chunks of hair falling out due to stress.”

> “Before, I never wanted to talk about work, other than to complain,” she added. “Now I like talking about my work so much that my husband has to actually ask me not to talk about it all the time.”

> Ms. Economou, the Greek baker, says she feels spiritually transformed. “I’m coming up on my one-year anniversary, and I love it,” she said. “I love being a part of the neighborhood. I didn’t realize how you become friends with your customers.”

Now these are just some arbitrarily chosen anecdotes rather than real data, but if we're going to accept the article portraying them as representing a trend, it seems like a positive trend: contrary to the headline, almost everyone they interviewed considered their Plan-B move a significant improvement in quality of life, even if it was sometimes frazzling, and only one person wanted to take the Plan-C option of going back to a regular job.

"Matthew Kang, 26, a former commercial bank analyst in Los Angeles, has it worse. Last year, he quit his prestigious job to open Scoops Westside, an ice cream shop in Culver City. I feel like a janitor sometimes, he said"

CRY. ME. A. RIVER.

This takes over-privileged whiny rich people to new levels.

No kidding. These people are awful.

TL;DR : Leaving a cosy and safe job to start your one-man dream job is harder than though + a dozen of example cases.

"But the reality is that, even during boom times, most new businesses fail."

This myth has been debunked many times (right-click => search: "business failure rate myth"). I wish people would stop repeating it. Of course, business coaches like this myth because it makes their services seem more valuable, but the NYT shouldn't be publishing dubious, unconfirmed statistics.

Non-paywall link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/fashion/maybe-its-time-for...

Not working. Shows the Login page.

Do you also have cookies disabled for nytimes? If I disallow cookies, the link redirects to the login page, if I allow cookies, the link opens the article.

to get past the paywall do this:

1. launch Chrome in incognito mode 2. navigate to the nytimes.com 3. ??? 4. PROFIT!!!

Boutiques -- the businesses are yuppie boutiques.

   I have an idea for a fancy men's shoe store called Shoe-La-La.
   It's just a place for the fancy occasions in a man's life:
   like the day you get married, or the day your wife has a
   baby, or just lounging around the house.
    - Michael Scott, "The Office"

It is, of course, important to distinguish yuppie boutiques from many web startups.

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