Government Destroys Young Entrepreneur's Enterprise

Joe (not his real name) is a 12 year old boy living in the town of Bass, Australia, whose skateboard had seen better days. In an effort to raise enough money to buy himself a new skateboard, Joe decided to set up a stall.

He got a small table and put it in his front yard. He approached a neighbour who had loads and loads of flowers growing and ASKED if he could 'harvest' some. He then put them into bunches and offered them for sale for 50 cents a bunch. (your typical kid selling stuff, right?)

Then along came a council inspector who shut his little operation down.

WHY?

Because Joe, the 12 year old, did not have $5,000,000.00 public liability insurance, nor a business permit.

Joe's response... where I am going to come up with the money for five million dollars in public liability insurance and the $100 for a business permit? All I made was $8.

The council's response... we're protecting the public.

Joe's mother... at least he wasn't out spraying graffiti.

My thoughts... either this will destroy his entrepreneurial drive - or - increase it as he becomes determined to BEAT THE GUMMIT.

Unbelievable.

Michael Ross.

> Joe (not his real name) is a 12 year old boy
> living in the town of Bass, Australia, whose
> skateboard had seen better days. In an
> effort to raise enough money to buy himself
> a new skateboard, Joe decided to set up a
> stall.

The other lesson he may take from this is that free publicity can provide anything you want. I heard an ad agency gave him a skateboard.
Its a strange world...

Hi Michael,

Personally, I think Australia is probably over-regulated....

When I visited Gordon in Cayahuga Falls, Ohio, way back in 2000, Gordon drove me around and showed me some of the "entrepreneurial" sights.... Kind of like an entrepreneur's tour of the area! I saw things like the SCI premises (mostly from the outside), Ben Suarez's mansion (from afar), Rick Suarez's "castle" (that's the most accurate word I can think of for it!), Gary Halbert's old house (he was from the area too) - things like that....

One other thing we saw was something simple. It was summer, and as we drove through one suburb, we saw some kids at the side of the road with an old-fashioned lemonade stand. As we drove by, one kid rushed up to the car with two plastic cups full of lemonade, wanting to sell them. We bought 'em (helping out some young aspiring entrepreneurs), and continued on our way....

Now, in Australia, I have never seen kids with a lemonade stand.... The laws don't allow it. They'd be shut down for not having the appropriate business, food, etc. licenses....

I agree with you, over-regulation stifles entrepreneurship and because of that it's probably bad for the economy when that happens....

I think you need a balance between protecting the interests of consumers, yet NOT stifling entrepreneurial activity.... I think many places OVER-regulate!

Sometimes, also, it's not really to protect consumers, but to protect certain vested interests.... In the kid in your story, Michael, who's to say that some of these laws aren't pushed by florist chains who just don't want too much competition? I think a lot of these kinds of laws are encouraged by various vested interests, trying to keep out as much competition as possible!

Anyhow, that's often the reality, I think.... New industries are often good, since you may be able to get in before all the regulation barriers go up!

Despite these difficulties, entrepreneurship is still the way to go.... I hope that kid in your story isn't discouraged! There are literally thousands of business opportunities around us, so with some creative thinking, you can find something which works.... :)

- Dien Rice

Here's a story from last week in Perth (Australia).

Guy's been in the building game for 40 years and wants to build an extension on his house. Can't get council plan approval because he doesn't have the necessary indemnity insurance (which costs a fortune) to guard against the builder (him) should he fail to do the work for the houseowner (him). If he the builder did default on the work for him the owner he'd have to sell his own house so that he could sue himself for non-completion.

Something like that anyway!

It's like a bloody nanny-state gone berserk over here!

Philip

Yes, "overregulation" and bureaucracy is indeed an entrepreneurial nightmare. I'm from Denmark. Establishing a business here is nothing short of a paper nightmare. I'm sure it kills a lot of initiative.

I want to follow up on the previous post. Recently, there was a story on the news about a housebuilder. He had spent his free time building a summerhouse for his family on a peace of land that he owned. It was real nice, and they were very happy with it. His joy ended one day, when he received a letter from the county authorities. The county ordered him to pay taxes on the work he had performed for himself. The county's line of reasoning was probably that they had lost a tax income, that they would have otherwise received had another builder built the house. In my opinion this is BS! The guy had bought all the materials (which include 25% VAT on each material), and simply spent his OWN FREE time building the house. Why should he be punished for that? I mean, he's creating value for society. (In Denmark, one has to pay a yearly tax if you own your own house...sort of like 0.15% value of the house.) But I guess that wasn't enough for the authorities. There may be twisted theoretical arguments for demanding tax of work performed for yourself, but it just doesn't seem fair. I'm sure it kills more value than it creates.

Anyways, nuff said about that. Let's all just keep on rollin' :) Can't let bureaucracy get you down!

Even though we have our own fair share of political woes, bureaucratic idiocies, laws and regulations... It's nice to know there are millions of people wanting to come here.

Starting a business in America is as easy as you want it to be - depending upon the business of course!

I empathize with those of you who have their entrprenuerial spirits dampened by the shortsighted individuals and organizations in your home countries.

There are many advantages of being an American. There are a number of disadvantages too. But the freedoms we enjoy, as compared to other countries, far outweigh most concerns of mine.

A tip of the hat to those of you who take the desired steps to their dreams, goals and desires in countries which inadvertently attempt to limit you.

Success and Regards... Mike


If you're not in... You're missing out...

And I'll bet that's not the *full* extent of his naughtiness either.

I'll bet he wasn't planning to pay income tax on his 8 bucks either.

Nor hire the correct staff (union shop staff, of course) and pay them the proper award rate of around $32 an hour for working Sundays.

Nor make provision for 12 months fully paid maternity leave in case one of his staff got pregnant. (Gotta protect innocent working folks against these rapacious little capitalists, you know)

Nor hire a proper accountant to do his books.

Nor hire a lawyer to make sure his Terms and Conditions of sale of his flowers were legal.

Nor having a special trust account to withhold part of the funds in case anyone demanded a refund.

I tell ya, these budding entrepreneurs will get away with *anything* if you let them! Especially the 12 year olds, who try and look innocent to cover up that killer-business instinct.

Gotta watch out for 'em and smoke 'em out!

Yay - go the Gummint!!!

P