

Maybe It’s Time for Plan C - jarek
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/fashion/maybe-its-time-for-plan-c.html?pagewanted=all

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MicahWedemeyer
I'm surprised at the comments here stating "Cry me a river, these yuppies got
what they deserved."

Are you the same people saying, "Way to go! Good luck!" whenever someone posts
here on HN that they're quitting their job to do a startup? What's the
difference between a kid who quits college to make the next social network and
a lawyer who quits the firm to open an ice cream shop? The aspirations may be
different, but both are just trying to follow a dream.

I'm actually glad that the NYT is posting a somewhat realistic article for
once. They usually just print dreck about some guy with an idea who makes an
iPhone app over the weekend and wakes up to millions.

~~~
rjbond3rd
One quibble with the article, though: the author does not connect the dots
that focusing on (more or less) luxury consumer items is a risky proposition
(especially during a recession).

I also followed my dream and owned a coffee shop. We focused on absolute
excellence and did pretty well. I thought I knew what I was doing on the
business side.

But then 2008 arrived and suddenly all that discretionary money just
evaporated (in our market, anyway). It was humbling. We were not prepared, we
didn't really understand our business model nor our market. What we thought
was business savvy and prosperity was actually just dumb luck and it ran out.

In the years afterward, I discovered books like "The Four Steps to the
Epiphany" and feel much better positioned. I feel for (and fear for) the
people in the article who are starting "nice to have" consumer / luxury
businesses (but I wish them the best of luck).

~~~
jeffreymcmanus
Income disparity is a characteristic of this economy, that means that the top
1% (i.e., not you and I) are benefiting at the expense of the bottom 99%. In a
world in which that is the case, finding products that appeal to that top 1%
is eminently sensible.

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_delirium
This is an odd article, because the conclusion is much more positive on the
Plan-B options than the headline and lead-in:

 _> And with the exception of Ms. Vibert, everyone interviewed said that
despite the unforeseen bumps, they would not trade their new lives for their
old jobs._

 _> “I no longer walk with a slight depressed hunch,” said Ms. Herrington, the
wedding planner, who is now enjoying steady work and glowing write-ups in
wedding blogs like 100 Layer Cake. Her friends, she added, said they noticed
an instant improvement in her appearance, too. “I no longer see chunks of hair
falling out due to stress.”_

 _> “Before, I never wanted to talk about work, other than to complain,” she
added. “Now I like talking about my work so much that my husband has to
actually ask me not to talk about it all the time.”_

 _> Ms. Economou, the Greek baker, says she feels spiritually transformed.
“I’m coming up on my one-year anniversary, and I love it,” she said. “I love
being a part of the neighborhood. I didn’t realize how you become friends with
your customers.”_

Now these are just some arbitrarily chosen anecdotes rather than real data,
but if we're going to accept the article portraying them as representing a
trend, it seems like a positive trend: contrary to the headline, almost
everyone they interviewed considered their Plan-B move a significant
improvement in quality of life, even if it was sometimes frazzling, and only
one person wanted to take the Plan-C option of going back to a regular job.

------
shadow343
"Matthew Kang, 26, a former commercial bank analyst in Los Angeles, has it
worse. Last year, he quit his prestigious job to open Scoops Westside, an ice
cream shop in Culver City. I feel like a janitor sometimes, he said"

CRY. ME. A. RIVER.

This takes over-privileged whiny rich people to new levels.

~~~
funkah
No kidding. These people are awful.

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ldng
TL;DR : Leaving a cosy and safe job to start your one-man dream job is harder
than though + a dozen of example cases.

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nhebb
_"But the reality is that, even during boom times, most new businesses fail."_

This myth has been debunked many times (right-click => search: "business
failure rate myth"). I wish people would stop repeating it. Of course,
business coaches like this myth because it makes their services seem more
valuable, but the NYT shouldn't be publishing dubious, unconfirmed statistics.

------
pwg
Non-paywall link: [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/fashion/maybe-its-time-
for...](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/fashion/maybe-its-time-for-
plan-c.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all?ref=fb)

~~~
huhtenberg
Not working. Shows the Login page.

~~~
pwg
Do you also have cookies disabled for nytimes? If I disallow cookies, the link
redirects to the login page, if I allow cookies, the link opens the article.

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rjbond3rd
Boutiques -- the businesses are yuppie boutiques.

    
    
       I have an idea for a fancy men's shoe store called Shoe-La-La.
       It's just a place for the fancy occasions in a man's life:
       like the day you get married, or the day your wife has a
       baby, or just lounging around the house.
        - Michael Scott, "The Office"

~~~
jarek
It is, of course, important to distinguish yuppie boutiques from many web
startups.

