The job market is still rough. The next step in your career might be becoming your own boss.
· Business Insider
Jordan Vonderhaar, Morgan Lieberman for BI
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Bonnie Chiurazzi did what people usually do after a layoff: process it, apply for jobs, and ask connections about opportunities.
When applications weren't leading to a new gig, she decided to try something new. With savings and severance to fall back on, she started her own market research firm, Vibe Insights Lab.
"I figured I might as well start my own business because I already know how to do everything required to get the work done," said Chiurazzi, who was laid off as director of market insights at Glassdoor in September 2024. "No point in waiting for someone to hire me to do it."
In addition to — or instead of — playing the job-search game of personalizing résumés for each opening, attending interview rounds, and hoping not to get ghosted by employers, job seekers can develop their own businesses. It's an opportunity for people new to the workforce and those with long work histories, ready to see whether they can use their expertise to become their own boss, especially at a time when it's easier to start a venture.
Have you made a career pivot? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected] or fill out this form to let us know about what major career trade-offs you've made.
Chiurazzi initially thought this would be a temporary "corporate detox," but now hopes her consultancy will be her career moving forward. She surpassed her revenue goals last year and is ahead of her 2026 targets. Chiurazzi, who has a few students and others helping her out on a contract basis, thinks one reason business is going so well is that she's able to support teams who recently experienced budget cuts and layoffs by filling the gap.
"AI isn't actually picking up the slack, so they need a cost-effective research expert to support them," she said.
At first, Chiurazzi thought being her own boss would be a temporary "corporate detox."Morgan Lieberman for BI
While US job growth is healthy again, with the highest three-month average since 2024, over 7 million people are unemployed and actively looking for work. The job market also has stubborn weak spots: It's an especially challenging time to be searching in the tech-heavy information sector or the white-collar-heavy financial activities sector. That could mean striking out on your own might be an especially appealing option.
Kory Kantenga, LinkedIn's head of economics for the Americas, said LinkedIn data showed that many US business founders think entrepreneurship in a slower job market is more accessible and achievable than it was for previous generations.
"We're seeing that play out in longer job searches and declining job mobility," he said. "The share of LinkedIn members becoming founders has surged 75% since 2022, with some of the fastest growth in sectors like Education and Tech."
Torsten Slok, the chief economist at Apollo Global Management, believes the increase in business formation is likely being powered by AI because it's cheaper and easier to get started. "As these firms scale, they will create jobs, underscoring that AI is likely to strengthen, not disrupt, the US labor market," Slok wrote.
College grads can kick off their careers without an employer
It's tougher to be young and actively looking for a role. A chart from Nicolas Petrosky-Nadeau, vice president in the economic research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, showed that the flow from unemployment to employment has dwindled more so for 16- to 24-year-olds than 25- to 54-year-olds. He said there's no sign the gap between the two groups will close soon.
Jessica Cao, who is in her 20s, thinks there could be rising college-student interest in entrepreneurship because people can leverage tech tools, and because students may consider available jobs as less stable than having control of their own business.
Cao isn't worrying about job applications. The Stanford University graduate had been using her passions for computer science, writing, and creativity to create an interactive story game called World37.
Cao has been developing and beta-testing it while attending school, and though she's always wanted to lean into entrepreneurship, she finds that it can be more horrifying than looking for a job. She said she became fascinated with using AI agents to represent human behavior, personality, and memory, and realized she could build her dream game.
A study — conducted from January to February 2025 by Jobs for the Future, The Families & Workers Fund, the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, and Gallup — found 46% of self-employed people were in quality jobs, which the report defined as jobs with good pay, autonomy, strong culture, and opportunities, compared to 39% of employees.
Maria Flynn, CEO of Jobs for the Future, said "the gap really comes from self-employed individuals really feeling that they have more agency in their role, more voice in their role, and more control over their job structure" rather than from higher earnings, Flynn said. The study found that more full-time employees reported earning a living wage than self-employed respondents.
About two-thirds of self-employed workers felt they had agency and voice, versus half of employees. Almost half of self-employed workers felt good about their financial well-being, meaning their pay, benefits, and job security. Just 39% of employees said the same. Flynn said the results show there are trade-offs in working for yourself or someone else, so people should consider what's best for them.
Workers with years of experience are striking out on their own, too
On the other end of Gen Zers developing businesses are older generations who have spent years progressing in traditional careers, but now want to go all in on entrepreneurship.
Chiurazzi, the former Glassdoor worker who is in her 40s, thought about developing her own research consultancy back in her 20s. However, she thought she would need to build up experience first. She worked in market research roles for over a dozen years, and thought she would need 20 or 25 years before pivoting.
When she had a hard time finding work post-layoff and reflected on what corporate tech life was like, she figured this could be the perfect chance to try solopreneurship.
"So much of corporate life is defending your job: Here's why I should be involved in this project. Here's why my passion for this matters, or here's why my experience with this other client matters here," Chiurazzi said, adding, "you want to help the company, and just the fighting to do your job part was really wearying on me."
People looking to be their own boss don't have to go into it completely alone. Chiurazzi said she has a mentor who was in the same line of work. She's interviewed other business owners for advice, works with contractors she knows, and leveraged her network to get her first clients.
"Even though I am technically a company of one, I'm just a one-woman show, I feel like I have a whole network of support behind me, so it doesn't feel as lonely as I thought it would feel starting a business," she said.
Darnah Thompson, who is in her 30s, also leveraged connections to get her business going. She started Books & Brand, a publishing and personal branding business, by accident.
Thompson said that when she was laid off from a publishing agency job, she wanted to still help clients. "I didn't have anything else to do, so I just offered to help those authors, get on a free call with them, talk them through what their next possible steps could be, because a lot of their projects were in my brain, and then they were like, 'Well, could you help us publish our books?'" she said. "So I started helping them while stepping into another full-time job."
Thompson went all in on her business in the summer of 2024.Jordan Vonderhaar for BI
Before pivoting her work from a side hustle to full-time, she wanted to make sure she was generating more money than her total budget for personal and business expenses for three straight months. Once she felt confident in her financial situation, she went all in on her business in August 2024.
Thompson initially felt imposter syndrome, since she never saw herself running a publishing business and was comparing herself to large agencies. "They've got all of the employees and all of the staffing. And so I just had to really look at the industry, do an analysis, what can I offer that's different?" she said.
She's feeling more confident after understanding what sets her apart and loving the work she's doing. Thompson used to manage teams in previous positions, but prefers a solopreneur life, saying, "the weight of the responsibility isn't what I want in my life." She's been enjoying creativity and freedom over her work, such as choosing her clients, and loves that she's building her legacy.
Burnout, loneliness, and scaling a business on her own can be challenges, but Thompson has found solutions, including calendar management, scheduling time off in advance, and delegating work to contractors when applicable.
She's also hoping to become a mom in the near future, so she's figuring out how to evolve her business and adjust her workload. One way she's doing so is by introducing digital education courses that teach people how to publish their own books.
"The best thing about having a business is you can make shifts," she said. "You don't have to ask anyone else. You can make shifts in your business strategy, in your scalability, in your workload."
Flynn, the CEO of Jobs for the Future, suggested new entrants or job switchers rank the qualities they want in a job and what it means for their life situation.
"If it is things like pay and benefits and that type of stability, then a traditional employment model might be right for you, but if you are looking for something that is more flexible where you have a little more say over the type of work you do and the conditions in which you do that work, then you may want to be open to more of a self-employment route," she said.
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