/biz/ - Business & Finance

Over the past year I've been building a forensics company while holding down the same menial blue-collar 9-5 job I've worked full-time for more than six years now. My 9-5 is a tiny company (four employees) but insanely profitable, despite the utterly absurd claims of poverty by my boss, James. As an example, James always owns multiple personal vehicles- since I've worked there the least valuable of the most expensive car he owned at any given time was probably in 2017 when his most expensive ride was his 2015 Aston Martin DB9. I wouldn't begrudge him for it AT ALL if he didn't seem to care about his employees financial situations at all, and seems to enjoy it when they struggle. I could never be like that- I'm starting to wonder if avarice is necessary for the success of a small business and if I'm doomed to fail.

I don't mean to turn this into a rant about my boss, but here is a good example. When James's son (my coworker) turned 26 and was going to lose health coverage, James told us he was going to offer us all health insurance. As such, I quit paying my Obamacare premium as I awaited the imminent switch. After 'getting around to it' for what turned to months, I and the secretary finally lost coverage and told him we needed details ASAP. He angrily tells us he's getting around to it. A few weeks later when I ask again he asks if I had any idea how much it was going to cost him (I did, $700 or $800 per month per employee, I was so grateful for his generosity that I had been redeveloping his website for free in my spare time at home). He was sorry but he couldn't afford it. After all, he has to pay for his own health insurance too.

His personal (pre-tax) income that year was over $840,000. If I were making a tenth of that and had made a promise to my employees and they were left without insurance, I think I would do everything I could to uphold my promise. The secretary was left with two uninsured kids FFS!

Is greed something I have to learn to succeed?