James Wise’s Post

The wave of self-employment is actually a symptom of the lack of quality jobs in a low wage service economy. Many young and old have voted with their feet to be self-employed. It's a mixed bag and of course Labour is still stuck in the "employee" mindset. All political parties (and investors) are blind to the reality of what's happening. Operating in a world that is fast becoming history. A world of employers and the employed and PAYE. The reality is that AI is going to hollow out the employment market and the emerging self-employed who tame and use AI will be the rich and secure minority as the majority of the population is stuck in unemployment or underemployment and become Del Boys. A post "company" world with individual intellectual assets AI enhanced being the new gold.

Del Boy is a chancer not an entrepreneur, although sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference when bull markets, social memes and survivor bias skew the narrative. Risk taking by choice and risk taking by necessity are very different activities - and risk taking without realising you are doing it is something else again. The latter is quite common and fuelled often by OPM. The growth mindset of independence, adaptability and problem solving is however something worth nurturing and something that should be weaved into the educational fabric of the country. These are qualities that will drive the realisation of ambition - something that is far less common than ambition itself.

One gets the sentiment but it's just slightly off target. Del Boy is of course an entertaining myth and frankly a spive trying to make a dodgy buck. The modern day equivalents are any number of influencers or snakeoil salesman on social media. All very entertaining but it doesn't move the needle. James Dyson? He should be our national hero. We need INNOVATIVE entrepreneurs! We need policies that will stimulate and support innovation with entrepreneurship in the economy to create high value products, services and jobs. The election campaigns have been punctuated by tax and spend as the parties fight over the ever shrinking pie. Growth is mentioned rarely as some mystical magic wand. We hear very little about what they will do on innovation and the entrepreneurial economy because they are all empty of ideas in this area. Which raises another point. We could do with some real innovation and change in our moribund political class. In truth Govt can't help that much. It's time for Brits to put away their begging bowls man up and crack on. PS The investment community needs a kick up the backside as they are not totally divorced from the problem backing too many no hopers like Del Boy.

Been trying 10 years to raise funding for a sportswear brand in the UK but nobody is interested. This is the type business that can create jobs, build wealth at home and globally but investors are blind because it's not a tech business. Yet at the same time I constantly read 96%-97% of investments fail. Who is the failure? the investor who is narrow minded enough to keep investing in tech ventures rather than spread funding into a mix of businesses sectors. Even Balderton Capital blanked me when I approached them.

Great piece. The constant fanboying of silicon valley and negativity about Europe/UK is as boring as it is inaccurate.

This is so important. Government can support ambitious Brits to be ambitious here by remembering people took on great personal and financial risk to start their businesses. The reward for successfully navigating the perils is part of the motivation. Tax policy can eaither add to this motivation or neuter it.

Wonderful article ; an attitude of mind that brings humility and a perspective about what is important. Bravo 👌

Very cool, mate.

What a headline 🔥. Congrats James Wise great read!