Only 20% of American's believe starting their own business is the most likely way to become rich. What do you think?

First, I'm ignoring what the most likely way of becoming "rich" (a few million dollars) actually is, since the question is what people think the most likely way is. Perhaps the best way of interpreting that statistic is that only 20% of Americans believe that they, themselves, are mostly likely to get rich by starting a business.  Most Americans don't feel that they have the drive or knowledge to start a business that's more than a lifestyle-sustaining company, so they project the perceived improbability onto the population as a whole.  It's the same mental mechanism that allows 80% of the population to believe they're above average: they don't know the actual average/statistics. In addition, media doesn't spend nearly as much time talking about business owners as they do about celebrities, so people aren't exposed to many rich business owners, and business owners tend to keep a somehow low profile (a la The Millionaire Next Door).

I think that its a great way to make it from nothing to rich. The problem is that business is very competitive by nature and for new people starting out that do meet success there's heavy taxation. Not everyone has the mind set to start a business, I can tell that obviously you do. But for people who can't see outside of that rat wheel that they are running on I'd say that the lotto probably has better odds.