How much does running your own company cost?

During the Clinton years, in the IT bubble, you would have to work hard not to find a job in the US. It was the only time I, and most other people, have experienced that a country actually had full employment. Nowadays, it is the other way around: you have to work hard to find a job. As a matter of fact, nobody is likely to offer you one. There are not even jobs to be had at McDonalds or 7-11.
So what if you were to start your own company? It used to be that you had to get capital to buy equipment, rent a factory, buy raw materials, hire staff, and market yourself. Or you could invest in a storefront, goods to sell, and market yourself.
Nowadays, you can skip all but the marketing part. You can build a virtual store selling things from Amazon as an affiliate. You will not get rich, but you will get some money. If you get customers.
"Build it and they will come" does not work on the Internet either. But if you have built something unique, you can make others come to it, and buy from you. You have to tell them about it, and that is the hard part. Marketing is hard. And you have to do a lot of it.
Of course, you have to have a decent product to start with. A store with only one product makes nobody happy. But Amazon has become so huge that people need guides. Put cookbooks together with knives, give some instructions. Tell people how to use knives to make some imteresting salads. Then, tell them about it.
The last part is the hardest. It is the part that takes the most work and the most skill. It is the part that makes money.
The Internet is full of sites and apps and other things which will tell you that they can make you rich quickly. That they can tell you the secret to instant success. That they can tell you how to make money from the Internet. Open the tap on your computer, let the money flow, that is what they say.
They all lie. Yes, it can be done, but it is a lot of hard work. About three years until you get good enough and known enough to make a living from it. It is no quick fix. So much work that you are going to regret it. So much work that your family will be angry since you never stop. So much work that the nightshift at McDonalds will feel like a vacation. The long hours and the low pay means you will be worse off than when you were employed.
But it is better than not having a job at all. However hard it is.