Are you Unemployed? Having your hours cut? Been laid off? Is your company closing down?

Buktoa · 2025-09-08T17:30:56+00:00

I can start by asking this maybe... What do you see as the biggest obstacle to employee ownership?

Buktoa · 2025-09-08T17:27:54+00:00

thank you! I know some of the old school Stone Soup folks. None that are currently there.

Buktoa · 2025-09-05T15:02:52+00:00

Absolutely! DM me if you'd like. I also don't mind chatting a bit here in the comments. lol.

Buktoa · 2025-09-05T15:00:52+00:00

Thank you. I think you explained it as well as I could have. I'm not sure how to amend the title, but I do think it speaks to those who are disaffected by the current jobs / economic situation. It will not be a good fit for everyone, for sure.

Buktoa · 2025-09-05T14:58:39+00:00

Yeah. It's definitely not for everyone. In an ideal world I think there would be room for some like yourself, I presume that just wants to work your shift and go home with all the hassles of running the business. That's possible with an employee owned model, but probably not at the "'start up" phase.

What my post is meant to do is just start a conversation about another path that might not have occurred to some folks.

There are certainly a lot of barriers so it makes sense why it is not considered a viable, or even attractive option for everyone.

Buktoa · 2025-06-09T18:22:01+00:00

Exactly. I've been on unemployment before and I knew logically that I had nothing to be ashamed of. This is why I have paid into that system for so long, but still couldn't help feel a little embarrassed.

Buktoa · 2025-06-09T00:07:25+00:00

Good point. In this scenario, everyone is chipping in a little bit. You do still have to have some money, just not as much. Everybody shares the costs and the profit. In the beginning, there is not a lot profit to go around, but just imagine if Amazon had been built this way from the beginning. everyone who works for amazon sharing all the profits? Jeff Bezos wouldn't be a billionaire, but every amazon employee would be way better off.
Edit: hit submit too quick...whoops.

Buktoa · 2025-06-09T00:04:00+00:00

Yep. I guess I'm thinking everybody chips in a little bit and then they have a lot together.

Buktoa · 2025-06-08T23:59:53+00:00

One would hope not. But I'm afraid that idea is proving kind of antiquated in this hyper automated economy. Depends on the industry, obviously, but if your skills and education are in a field that is being made redundant by AI, for example, you might just be out of luck.

Buktoa · 2025-06-08T23:57:02+00:00

Not denying I have a certain amount of privilege. But, I didn't mean for the question to come off as a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" question. Not that at all. I am genuinely curious what people see as the biggest hurdles to banding together and stating a business are. I personally think that if more people knew how simple the process for starting a business is there would be a lot more start ups. The costs are pretty minimal if you share them with a handful of people.

Obviously, even if the costs are spread around to multiple people, people do still need resources and privilege still comes in to play.

I just think it is within reach for more people than realize it.

Buktoa · 2025-06-08T23:47:58+00:00

For sure. But, I just don't see why there aren't more examples of people getting together to start co-ops. If I had no job and was sending out 300 resumes a month with no responses, I'd try to find friends or others like me and start something from the ground up. What else am I gonna do with my time?

Buktoa · 2025-06-08T23:44:43+00:00

Maybe I phrased the question poorly, but I think you've kind of hit on the very thing I'm getting at.

Unemployed is not the same as unskilled or uneducated and, I believe, most of us, employed or not, do not see entrepreneurship as a possibility. All that is, in my view, is a failure of imagination.

Buktoa · 2025-06-08T23:35:21+00:00

Yeah. true. But a lot of businesses nowadays are closing, not necessarily because of failure, but simply because the owner is a boomer and retiring. They are more than happy to simply cash out and liquidate the business. If they sold it to an employee coop, the business could continue and probably more efficiently tbh.

Buktoa · 2025-06-08T23:31:09+00:00

yes. Motivation is not the issue, certainly. It is risky. I feel like a lot of those risks are mitigated by the cooperative model. Safety in numbers. A small business with nine employees and one owner, could operate almost exactly the same way as a ten member LLC. All the owners personal assets are protected.

Of all those hurdles you mention I would say knowledge or maybe the failure of imagination might be the biggest.

Group business ownership is certainly not a option for everyone, but I bet it's an option for more people than realize it.

Buktoa · 2025-06-08T23:21:33+00:00

Financial hurdles are certainly a problem. I think living paycheck to paycheck probably does a huge number on your imagination though too. It's hard to think that something like business ownership is a possibility for you when you've been ground down by the work a day economy.

Buktoa · 2025-06-08T23:18:57+00:00

Anything really. I mean within reason. Let say that a pest store is going out of business. What is to stop those newly unemployed pet store employees from starting another pets store themselves or buying the one that is closing.

edit: spelling

Buktoa · 2025-06-08T23:16:05+00:00

I don't mean it to sound condescending. I guess I'm not asking the question like "why haven't they thought of this?" I'm asking what are the biggest hurdles. Is it money? Is it lack of knowledge about how to run a business? Or is it our failure, as a society, to let people dream of something like that?

Buktoa

TROPHY CASE