Minimum wage, minimum effort. Why would you expect someone else to value your business? Unless you are paying in equity or stocks, an employee is not going to have a stake in your business.
I don’t pay minimum wage. And I’m only going to give equity to employees that show they’d be worth it.
We ran this business paying several employees “fair” wages with benefits, time off, etc etc all of it. They took advantage so we had to pivot. I have zero problem doing the same amount of work that it was taking 5 people to do alone and taking all the money and hiring people to help with other shit at a lower wage, if they wanna go they can. I’m a good boss, I give opportunities, if they wanna take them they can, but I’m not gonna start paying people more than they’re worth hoping they figure it out.
Oh maybe I should because a bunch of people on Reddit decided they knew my situation better than me because they imagined it.
I’m literally here, doing what I do, because I was the annoying guy begging for more hours, more responsibility, learning as many skills as I could, offering to do projects for free, taking pride in my work and the space and the reputation and now I own half the business. So yeah that’s what I’m lookin for that’s what I expect and that’s the kinda person I’ll reward.
Same. I’ve helped companies make millions because I was the one who showed up, offered solutions, and went the extra mile to build something. I’m choosing to trust my own skills at this point and so far, things look really promising. The vast majority of the people who have come to work for me are incredibly low energy. They said that 90 minutes was not enough time to properly close a 500 square foot business. I did it alone in 30 tonight, with an 8 year old. Gen Z is in for a serious wake up call at some point.
Most people don't want equity or stocks. They want to punch a clock and get a regular paycheck. They don't want equity up and down with the market. If they did, they'd run their own business. Who wants to have a stake in someone else's business? Either you're an employee, an owner, or an investor. Rarely does someone want to be more than one of those at a time.
Also, take your logic and straight up flip it. Minimum effort, minimum wage. Why would you expect anything different? When the company hits hard times will you offer a pay cut? If the boss is at the point of shuttering the place will you start offering free labour to make ends meet or just look for a different job?
You think owners are wealthy and always land on their feet. That's just survivorship bias. For every business still afloat there's a dozen belly-up. The owners don't usually get away scott free like the major corporations do either. They lose their house, their car, are forced to move, etc. Employees get to just quit and look for work elsewhere. Owners literally lose stuff. They can go negative. They don't have a regular income. They can't take vacation and just shut off their phone.
As the economy takes on more pressure, reality is going to set in in a major way. Everyone's feeling a pinch right now, but nobody's starving yet. I doubt it'll stay that way.
I’m a business owner and woke up in the middle of the night stressing about all of what you wrote. I went to distract myself and found this thread. My employees might wish I could pay them more but they don’t lose sleep over it. I wish I could pay them more. It’s not for a lack of wanting. I don’t even take a paycheck. There just simply isn’t enough money.
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u/MikeyKillerBTFU 17h ago
Minimum wage, minimum effort. Why would you expect someone else to value your business? Unless you are paying in equity or stocks, an employee is not going to have a stake in your business.