You have to earn 2.5x as much to be as happy working for someone else as you would be working for yourself

The quote is from Scott Andrew Shane in "The Illusion of Entrepreneurship: the Costly Myths that Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By" Full quote

"There's another reason that people aren't necessarily foolish when they start businesses, despite the poor financial performance of the average startup. Entrepreneurship provides a very important non-financial benefit: it makes people happier. [...] In fact, studies show that to be as satisfied when he is working for others as he is when he is working for himself, the average person needs to earn two-and-a-half times as much money!"

He goes on to list what makes entrepreneurs more satisfied:

• Flexibility to work and care for small children at the same time


• Working in a small organization where they can interact directly with everyone in the company


• the autonomy, flexibility, and greater control over their lives

By implication, if entrepreneurs can offer flexibility, interaction with everyone on the team, autonomy they can compete more effectively for employees.

That's great, thanks for sourcing that. I love this: "Entrepreneurship provides a very important
non-financial benefit: it makes people happier"