Showerthought: reading that most new businesses fail in 5 years actually made me stop stalling on my own thing

Evan Green · 2026-10-02T08:20:03.682213+00:00

I kept telling myself I would leave my job and start my own thing once the timing was perfect, which basically meant never. Last week I was poking around on the SBA site for something work related and saw the stat that about 20 percent of new businesses don't even make it past year one. For some reason that number did the opposite of what you'd expect and made me feel calmer, because the worst case is just going back to a regular paycheck. I gave my notice 3 days later and I'm starting a small tree care gig out of my garage in Knoxville this spring. Has anyone here made the jump without a safety net, and what did you wish you knew in month one?

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Showerthought: reading that most new businesses fail in 5 years actually made me stop stalling on my own thing | Big Life Changes - Thought Shares