Risk takers plentiful in Maine

We downed the season’s first grilled shish kebabs, then settled in to listen as our hosts contemplated a gamble. He was a pro in his service-oriented industry, a seasoned observer of the local markets. He worked with a small group of businesses bought by and being tucked into a larger, national chain. He described a niche of substantial opportunity opening as distant managers allowed local customers to drop through the cracks.

He pitched his idea, after a bottle of wine, to his wife: “Let’s start our own business.” Then a remarkable moment of eye contact as each imagined the potential future.

The voice of reason: They were within a decade of retirement, she said, they couldn’t hurl their portfolios at such a risk. On one hand the payoff could be great, the success rewarding. If it failed, it could leave them destitute.

He pressed. She held firm. A future light on the Maine landscape went dim.

She was, of course, right. Starting a business of almost any size or type anywhere represents incalculable risk. As tough as you picture things might get before you commit to the process, those already through the ringer will tell you, it could be much, much worse.

Some say leave it to the young, to those who are already wealthy or to those who have nothing to lose.

Fact is, it’s a risk very few of us can technically afford. If you’re young, starting a business is a long shot that, after a half decade or more, could leave you struggling with debt while peers who played it safe accrue homes and toys and vacation time.

Maybe you’re someone who has already achieved a level of financial security. Why face the hassle of starting a business, why risk what you fought for? You earned it: Invest it, kick back, catch up on your sailing.

Or maybe you’re among those who have little to lose. Maybe you were laid off, with your retirement account sacked by a bankrupt corporation. The certainty of even a minimum-wage job seems wiser than gambling your few years before retirement. Think about the cost of health care, about housing-risking a stab at your own business could become literally a matter of life or death.

And yet thousands do it. Maine saw more than 4,400 small businesses launched last year, raising the state total to 39,180. That amounts to one risk taker for every 34 residents – a higher share of entrepreneurial salt than a long list of states, including Massachusetts, North Carolina and New York.

Small businesses represent an above average 97.5 percent of all businesses in Maine. Almost one in every five workers in the state is employed by an enterprise with four or fewer employees.

That’s a lot of paychecks, each of them grown from a moment of courage – at a dinner table, in a handshake between friends or in someone choosing to trust his own intuition and ability. It’s something I try to think about every time I pull a dollar out of my wallet.

I’m not saying I don’t shop at Wal-Mart and Target and Home Depot. Folks there work hard, and even those gargantuan outfits were born in a spark of faith somewhere back up the line.

But when I do shop there, I know most of what I spend leaves Maine and goes to bolster some other state’s economy. It reminds me I’d just rather spend here, to support Maine-made jobs and maybe egg on a few more risk takers in our gutsy little corner of the world.