> Well, yes, owning things is definitely the best job, regardless of what industry you're in.

Unpopular opinion: being an owner is hard. You think it's easy until $80k doesn't come in on time and you have to make payroll by mortgaging your house, or you have to wake up at 2 am because a developer got arrested by INS (even though they were a US citizen), or you have to deal with a $150K medical bill that your insurance wouldn't cover... etc... Or an employee tries to make a copy of your code and launch a competing business...

Life is hard.

I wish I remembered where I read this: "The definition of business is problems. The people who are the most successful are the ones who have the most fun solving them."

Ownership != Control. Most outright owners are in control, but it doesn't necessarily follow. I mean, if you're not in control, you still have to rely on those that are not to mess it up, and there may come a time when you have to do the dirty work to make sure they don't.

Even when you are in control, you really are counting on others to get things done. Putting your name on the paycheck only gets you so far :-)

I know, but I think for most people in this thread, there is an upward path for that.

I often wonder why the other painters working for him don't go off and start their own painting companies. Perhaps a few will. But I suspect many of them would not enjoy or be comfortable with spread sheets, business taxes, work insurance and some of the other things that go along with owning the company.

I suspect my neighbor, like many of us, fond those things to be fairly un-intimidating and so he owns.

But then you’re a business owner and a manager. It’s mostly not golf. As I’m sure anyone who has had a business here already knows very well.

> I often wonder why the other painters working for him don't go off and start their own painting companies

I've got a very good friend who worked as a painter, did the 8-3 5 days a week gig for probably 8 years or so. He had no interest in running a business, managing clients, dealing with costing, estimates, etc. He just wanted to show up, paint and leave at 3.

> and some of the other things that go along with owning the company.

One of the big differences is what happens if there's no work, or if someone stiffs you or if the work required is substantially more than the estimate? In all three of those cases a business owner is in trouble, but the painter doesn't care.

Same thing for software engineers and companies.