At 35, I almost took a job at a call center.
[CHRIS — 1–2 paragraph version of the cold open story here. What was happening, what tempted you, what you chose instead, and what happened to that company.]
I tell that story because it captures something I see in almost every Canadian entrepreneur I’ve ever worked with: the persistent, quiet belief that employment would have been the responsible choice. That ownership is a risk we took, not a bet we won.
That belief is wrong. And I can show you the data to prove it.
The Security Illusion
Job security is mostly a feeling. Not a fact.
When someone takes a job, they experience security as something real and concrete: a paycheque on a fixed date, a benefits package, a title, a desk. That feeling is real. The security itself, though, is rented.
Your employer can eliminate your role any time the business case changes. They can restructure, automate, outsource, or simply pivot the model. You have very little say. The paycheque stops, and you start over. Often in your 40s or 50s, competing for positions against candidates ten years younger, in an economy being reshaped by technology.
The story we’ve inherited — that employment is responsible and entrepreneurship is risky — was built for a different era. In 2025 Canada, that story no longer fits the facts.
What the Canadian Data Actually Shows
Let’s look at who is actually creating economic stability in this country.
As of 2023, small businesses — defined as companies with fewer than 100 employees — employed 5.8 million Canadians. That’s 46.5% of the entire private sector workforce. Nearly half of working Canada is employed by a small business owner.
Those same small businesses were responsible for 38% of all new private sector jobs created in 2023. Not the big corporations. Not government programs. Small business owners, making decisions every day in their communities.
There are currently 2.7 million self-employed Canadians — 13.2% of the entire employed population. And here’s the number that stops me every time I see it: according to research from the Dais Institute, self-employed Canadians report better outcomes than employees on every key measure of job quality — wellbeing, engagement, meaningful work, and satisfaction.
Every single measure.
This isn’t a coincidence. When you own the work, the work means something.
Three Things Ownership Creates That Employment Never Will
The argument for ownership isn’t just defensive — it’s not simply that jobs are less secure than they look. It’s that ownership creates things employment structurally cannot. Three of them matter most.
Equity
When you build a business, you’re building an asset. Every client relationship, every system, every process and piece of intellectual property you create has value beyond the revenue it generates today. Employees build equity for their employer. Owners build their own.
At some point — whether you sell the business, bring in a partner, or pass it on — that asset has a dollar value. No paycheque ever will.
Tax Tools
This is a specifically Canadian advantage that doesn’t get nearly enough attention.
As a Canadian Controlled Private Corporation (CCPC), you have access to tools employees simply don’t. The small business deduction gives you a lower corporate tax rate on your first $500,000 of active business income. You can retain earnings inside the corporation and invest them at the corporate rate. And when you eventually sell, you may be eligible for the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption — which in 2025 sits at $1.25 million per eligible individual on qualifying small business shares.
An employee pays full personal income tax on every dollar before it reaches them. A business owner has options.
This isn’t tax advice — talk to your accountant about your specific situation. But please, have that conversation. Most small business owners I’ve met are leaving significant money on the table simply because nobody told them these tools exist.
The Multiplier Effect
This one matters most to me.
When your business is profitable, you hire people. Those people earn income, pay taxes, spend money locally, and support their own families. Your profitable business doesn’t just benefit you — it creates a ripple through your community.
Small businesses created 38% of all new jobs in Canada’s private sector in 2023. When a business owner succeeds, they pull people up with them — not through charity, but through commerce. That’s the mechanism. That’s exactly how it’s supposed to work.
The “Why” Problem
Here’s what I’ve noticed after mentoring thousands of business owners: the data doesn’t fix the problem on its own.
Most Canadian entrepreneurs already know, on some level, that their business is important. What they don’t have is a clear reason they chose it. Not the version they’d put in a business plan — the version they’d say to a stranger in a coffee line.
The owners who are most resilient — who make decisions from confidence rather than fear, who keep showing up when it’s hard — are the ones who know their “why.” Not as an abstract values exercise. As a living, operational thing they think about regularly.
If you’re not sure yours is solid, start here.
Three Actions This Week
1. Write your actual why.
If someone asked you why you started this business, what would you say? Write it down — the real version. Then ask yourself: do I believe this? Am I proud of it?
2. Read your numbers as a ledger of impact.
Pull up the last three months of revenue. How many people did you pay? How many clients did you serve? How many problems did you solve? Most business owners scan their numbers looking for problems. Try scanning them as a record of what you’ve created.
3. Download the Mindset Myth Buster exercise.
This is a free worksheet I built for this podcast. It covers the six beliefs that most commonly hold Canadian entrepreneurs back — including the one this episode circles: the idea that wanting to build real wealth means something is wrong with you.
It takes about 15 minutes. It’s free. Get it at businessisgood.com.
The Bottom Line
The call center I almost joined doesn’t exist anymore. The paycheque I would have been counting on never would have been guaranteed. Nothing ever was.
Ownership isn’t the reckless choice. Employment isn’t the safe one. The distinction we’ve inherited doesn’t reflect reality — especially in 2025 Canada, where the economy is being reshaped faster than any single employer can promise stability.
Owning a business is rational. Owning it intentionally — knowing why you do it, understanding what it creates, and refusing to apologize for wanting it to succeed — is how you make it matter.
Next week on Business Is Good: the six beliefs that quietly limit Canadian entrepreneurs, including the one you probably recognized in yourself today.
Chris Cooper is the host of Business Is Good, a podcast for Canadian small business owners. New episodes at businessisgood.com.
Chris Cooper is the host of BusinessIsGood, a podcast for Canadian small business owners. New episodes at businessisgood.com.
Website – https://businessisgood.com/
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