Status, Success and Small Business

Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton

This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that rarely gets mentioned directly: an anxiety about what others think about us, about whether we’re judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser.

Alain de Botton explores the different ways we can gain status and the ways people have created their own status. For instance, he explores the Bohemian movement and how they deemed non-status as status.

He spoke at TEDGlobal in July about a more humane way to look at success and I highly recommend you watch his talk.

Business Exposure

One of the things about being a business owner is that we can feel pretty exposed because what we fear is the judgment of others. Richard Branson is fearless about being out there. He built the Virgin brand on providing what people really wanted, taking calculated risks and being very exposed as he did it (sometimes literally).

Building a successful business means we have to be able to stand up and shout it out. “Look at me! I’m the best at what I do! You’d be crazy not to deal with me!” Whether we do this by yelling, being the only one in town or by quietly making it known to the right people, we are still taking a stand and telling others. That feels scary to most people.

Business and Failure

There is a feeling that if a business owner fails in their business it is their fault. Not the economy, not competition, not straight-up bad luck. There is a belief that our society is a pure meritocracy, which means that if you are at the top you deserve it, but if you are at the bottom, well, you deserve that too.

We are exhorted to try often and fail fast. We should be bold enough to push boundaries and ready to accept failure because that is how we learn, right? Edison said he learned 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb.

But society says failure means you are a loser. We are taught not to fail. When someone fails, there is shame.

Too Successful?

It seems like it’s important to look the part of success without being too successful. There is suspicion when the business looks like it is not successful enough or it is too successful as though they must be cheating somehow. Status symbols to a point are acceptable, but not too much. It is expected that a business makes the owner a good living – if not it’s not successful; but not too much because that would be greedy and money-grubbing.

Business and Status

We are afforded a certain status just by virtue of being a business owner. Businesses are deemed to be successful unless they are demonstrably not.

The image of business owners is one of a risk-taker, a commanding presence and making plenty of money on the backs of others (again, the right amount is smart, but too much is taking advantage).

There doesn’t seem to be a vision of a self-employed person toiling away to satisfy their customers. Of a person working long and hard and sometimes not getting paid.

The image of a business owner who works his/her health into the ground as they build a business is alright because they are reaping the rewards. It is acceptable to trade your health for your business, as long as it is a success.

What is success?

We can’t be successful at everything which means there is an element of loss. We have some choice over what we will be successful with, but we will have to choose which things we will pursue. Here is an interesting essay on life business balance by Jay Goltz an entrepreneur. He is, in essence, apologizing and explaining to his wife about the choices he has made as an entrepreneur.

Success from without

Am I successful? My BMW is almost 30 yo and cost what people pay for gas for a year. I don’t have a car payment. I get to go to business events I like. My kids say I’m always working. I get to go to their events at any time of the day or evening. I worry about cash flow. I don’t worry about losing my job. I can’t buy designer clothes. I can wear what I want at my office. I own 4 computers. I have staff. I love what I do. Am I successful? Do I have status?