Well put.
It is incredibly stressful (and also incredibly rewarding at times) establishing and growing a business.
( Fucking hell Jeff I am not a robot, Thu 6 Oct 2011, 13:07, 1 reply, 14 years ago)

And I never said doing it was a bad thing
Nor does it make you a saint, we all do stressful stuff, very rarely does it gain us respect, or for that matter money.

Steve Jobs did hard things, some of them I probably couldn't have done had I wanted to, some of them I'd not have chosen to do if I could. He did very well out of it, arguably the world did well out of it too.

I would, however argue that the world doing well out of it was not his primary motivation, or even his secondary one. Thus he was not morally a better person for it.

I have more respect for people who do hard thankless jobs for little pay, with the motivation of helping others.
( CQ Knows the truth, all of it., Thu 6 Oct 2011, 13:19, Reply)

I also have respect for people who do hard thankless jobs for little pay, with the motivation of helping others.

I also have respect for those who take risks (remortgage, borrow etc.) to get something going and importantly create employment for other people. Yes I have made money from having my own business - not as much as when I worked for large corporates - but the greatest satisfaction comes from adding value by what you do, having more lifestyle flexibility than you get working for someone else and for me having created employment for people.
( Fucking hell Jeff I am not a robot, Thu 6 Oct 2011, 13:23, Reply)

Good for you, glad it makes you happy.
And maybe it's because I don't know you personally, but I don't see why it should change how much I like you.

That may be part of it actually, the whole not knowing thing, oh well, not like we're going to come to some definitive agreement, is it?
( CQ Knows the truth, all of it., Thu 6 Oct 2011, 13:28, Reply)

I'm not saying you should like me (you probably wouldn't - most people don't), but I think you should perhaps have a little more respect for those who have taken risks and created value.
( Fucking hell Jeff I am not a robot, Thu 6 Oct 2011, 13:30, Reply)

To break it down:
Risk taking: depends on the risk and the motivation. Risk taking per se is not a good or bad thing.

Created value: We probably disagree on the meaning of this term. I'd say creating value would involve taking raw materials and adding your work and skill to make them more valuable. I'm not saying bussnies men/starters/owners do not do this, just that people seem to imbue their doing it with some magical significance that makes it more important than what, say, a carpenter does.
( CQ Knows the truth, all of it., Thu 6 Oct 2011, 13:36, Reply)