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This is an interesting thought experiment. I am in Canada and was indirectly thinking along these lines today as I was walking through the downtown area of our town. The area was bustling today as we have many folks from the city already arriving for Christmas. It was nice to see all the local shops, restaurants and cafes filled with patrons.
Ever since I sold my business almost 2 years ago now. I have been keeping an open mind and open eye to what business I might start next, which I plan to at some point when the itch to do so it greater than the itch to not do so. I saw a small vacant commercial space next to a boutique hotel and I started thinking about what I could do with that space but was resigned to thinking about business licenses, permits to redevelop the space, the cost to build out something, financing, all types of insurance, hiring, payroll, taxes, and so on. You get the picture. I started to think more about the barriers to entry than what was possible.
Maybe just a sign that I am not that motivated to start something again or that something with a physical location shouldn't be considered. But also maybe a sign that even for seasoned entrepreneurs starting certain businesses just doesn't make financial sense and aren't worth the hassle anymore.
I know this isn't really what you were getting at but thought it was adjacent to your point.
It’s absolutely what I was getting at. Love hearing insights like this. The regulatory burden for all businesses is increasingly prohibitive.
Go to Colombia, Paraguay or many other traditionally ‘backwards’ countries and all you need to do is pay the money upfront and if you’re motivated you could open a store next week. This I suspect was how it used to be in the West, very agile and entrepreneurial. That feels alien now. Opening a physical store/restaurant/hotel in Canada, Europe or U.S these days requires probably that you want to do it for the passion, not for a decent living or for the profit motive. Especially given the paperwork involved & setup costs involved.
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If you can even imagine it, there were periods where you didn't even have to pay the money upfront. If you felt like starting a business, you just started a business.
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There are definitely some sole proprietors who provide off the books services, but the idea of having a brick-and-mortar store without state permission is very foreign to us. I'm glad you've experienced that degree of freedom first hand.
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Well said.
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This is a rabbit hole I only started uncovering. I'm also in the camp: "I want to have a business but not at the condition of becoming a circus monkey." A handbook about trusts, a way to do commerce without handing over sovereignty: https://drydenwire.com/site/assets/files/30245/weisss-trustee-handbook.pdf
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yes, otherwise you need to obey their rules once you register the business there, must have other options, especially now that with freedom money - if not using their money, why still voluntarily to play their games?
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and money is a big part of the jurisdiction game, since fiat is copyrighted. eg if anywhere in the world there's a contract denominated in USD the US Inc and FED can claim jurisdiction
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Haha. This is awesome. Stealing it.
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