I've run or helped manage several small businesses and watched folks move into middle age with them. Small businesses are hard and require an emotional detachment from pressure, long hours and risk.

The failures I saw left people in worse positions than being let go - they had to fully retool themselves and find a new career with little in savings. Those new careers ended up being stable, high paying, traditional jobs. The poor insurance situation (at the time) left otherwise functional families begging to help get kids through medical issues.