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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Starting Your Own Business
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:56:11 PM)
hat's not to like? Tell off the boss, scrap the suits and ties, exit commuter hell, set your own hours and rake in the riches. Hell, if average joes like Charles Wang, Jerry Yang and Pehong Chen can bootstrap startups into billion-dollar companies, what's to stop a savvy, hardworking wiz kid like you?
Top AA entrepreneur
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That's precisely the thinking of the 913,000 Asian Americans who run their own businesses. As of 1997 (the most recent year for which census compilations are available) Asians made up 4.5% of all U.S. busiinesses. On a per capita basis AA are nearly twice as likely as other minorities to start a business. And they're doing well. Between 1992 and 1997 the revenues of Asian-owned firms jumped 68% to $307 billion, compared with a 40% growth for all U.S. businesses.
But commerce department stats show that most AA startups aren't of the fantasy variety. Only 32% had paid employees and only 2,100 (2.3%) had 100 or more employees. Maybe the most discouraging to prospective entrepreneurs: only 5% (45,300) of firms had gross receipts of $1 million or more. Far larger numbers (259,600 or 28%) had annual receipts of under $10,000.
AA businesses also don't fit the stereotypes of hi-tech garage startups or mom-and-pop grocery stores. The biggest share (44% versus 43% for all U.S. businesses) fall into the services category, with heaviest concentrations in business and personal services. The number two category is retail (21.4% versus 14% for all U.S. businesses), followed by "Not Classified" (10%), finance, insurance and real estate (8%), wholesale trade (6%), transportation, communications and utilities (4%), manufacturing (3%), construction (3%) and agricultural services (1%).
In terms of gross receipts, however, wholesale trade accounted for over a third of all receipts with $105.5 billion, followed by retail ($67.9 billion) and services ($67.8 billion) where a much larger share of the receipts survive to the bottom line. Asians own 5,634 law firms, 74,471 medical firms and 23,242 manufacturing firms. Of those, 1,676 companies with 33,616 employees were listed as manufacturing electronic and electric equipment. The glamour fields make up relatively small numbers. For example, listed under "motion pictures" are 4,338 AA firms with $49.5 million in sales. Of those only 1,622 had paid employees, 8,326 of them.
By nationality, Chinese Americans owned the most businesses (252,577), followed by Indo-Ams (166,737), Cor-Ams (135,571), Viet-Ams (97,764), Japanese-Ams (85,538), Fil-Ams (84,534) and other Asians (70,868). Revenues showed greater disparity: Chi-Ams ($106.2 bil), Indo-Ams ($67.5 bil), Cor-Ams ($45.9 bil), J-Ams ($43.7 bil.), Other Asians ($19.0 bil), Fil-Ams ($11.0 bil) and Viet-Ams ($9.3 bil).
All these stats are meaningless, of course, if not downright hazardous to those who risk life savings, good credit and a steady paycheck to launch themselves into trajectories that are always unique, perilous and non-reversible. In the end all that separates the eight tattered failures from the one gleaming success is a relentless will to pay whatever cost is demanded.
Is starting your own business really the best way to fulfull the American dream? What separates the sun-bleached carcasses lining the road to riches from those who arrive in air-conditioned style?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
I think many of the smaller asian businesses need to start hooking up. Networking, and pooling resources... Ideally, the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.
And where should a person start looking if they wanted to work for an asian owned firm? Is there a place where these businesses are listed?
If I'm gonna work twice as hard for half the wage I might as well work for an asian owned company. LoL ; )
Hopefully not that bad though.
Thursday, July 25, 2002 at 02:02:09 (PDT)
Pray tell, how does one go about starting something up that could potentially turn a normal productive citizen into a possible homeless bag lady, living off the charity of society and feeding the pidgeons in city parks for fun?
I so much don't want to be a homeless charity case!
MLK
Wednesday, July 24, 2002 at 21:30:04 (PDT)
Hmmmm ... I took the plunge, running an 3D computer animation business servicing the biotech and medical-science industries. I work on average 12 hours a day (when working on projects)and earn about $45-$60K a year.
Not making me rich, but, I pay the bills and can save money on the side for perhaps bigger things.
What have I gained from running my own business? Freedom. I can take a project and tell the client it will take 3 months to complete, when in reality it will take a month. So in a way I can really be flexible with my time. And the work I do is a passion, so I never consider it "work".
"Kill turkeys. Build empires."
Asian CGI Guy
Wednesday, July 24, 2002 at 21:22:20 (PDT)
Most people don't realize how brutal self-employment can be; the constant anxiety and decision-making, unpleasant suprises, burden of debt, endless hours, etc.
It's fair for an employer to pay $20,000 to an employee while billing $100,000 for the work. It's not easy being a risk-taker and never being able to count on steady income. An employee must add at least that much value to justify the employer's risk and cost of training, compensating, etc. for someone who could leave anytime or not work out.
Many immature 20-somethings are all balls and no brains, and think they can just go out, be their own boss, and start raking in millions. Detailed and flexbile business plan, using very conservative assumptions, might allow the fledgling enterprise to survive a few years. Most start-ups don't even last that long.
Commentary
Wednesday, July 24, 2002 at 20:34:49 (PDT)
Where to start!
Let me just say this: Don't do it unless you absolutely have to.
By that I mean, you either have it or you don't. If you don't have it, you'll have a much better life as a corporate soldier. You won't have to go through the extended torture and suffering that all entrepreeneurs go through without no guarantee of when and where or if it will end.
But I'm convinced that some people aren't cut out to be employees. They just don't have whatever it is that lets sane people go into the office day in and day out for forty years knowing they're going to be bored out of their minds by lunchtime and filled with anger by five.
If you've got it, flaunt it and keep your job. Enjoy the happy hours and paid vacations and retirement pensions!
Serial Masochist
Wednesday, July 24, 2002 at 14:51:26 (PDT)
Ed,
Where did you get the stats for all this information of asain american business owners. I'm extremely interested in information like this, just to know I'm not the only asian idiot who gave up a paycheck to manage employees, get beat up by competitors, and yelled at by clients.
Was it from a website or a government agency or a private industry watcher?
AC Dropout
Wednesday, July 24, 2002 at 12:11:32 (PDT)
[We compiled the data from a Census Bureau survey that can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/csd/mwb/Asianp.htm. Follow the related links for downloading PDF files. Be warned that the bureau's compiled totals for revenues contain an arithmatic error.
Now how about sharing some more of your entrepreneurial experiences? --Ed]
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