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Perhaps that statement is more apropos than I thought at the time I wrote it. Since then I have found booting from the drives I previously created was a sometimes thing. Sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn't. And I was still trying to figure out the problem with the Samsung SSD. My configuration since the beginning has been the Samsung drive connected to an OWC Thunderbolt 4 hub which in turn is connected to one of the Thunderbolt 4 ports on the M1 Mac mini.

Purely on a hunch, I disconnected the OWC Thunderbolt 4 hub and connected the Samsung directly to the Thunderbolt 4 port on the Mac mini and 💥SUCCESS! 🎉 I was easily able to create a bootable image on the Samsung drive, and reliably reboot from it multiple times. Even better, it is within a hairs breadth of being as fast as the internal drive. I reiterate, "...it is not difficult easy to create a bootable external drive SSD for M1 macs given the right combination of connecting media, drive media, and installer"

I am planning a long chat with OWC Tech Support tomorrow.

Good news!

Considering the configuration of hardware and software (including, simultaneously, all/most available betas) you're running, I've often wondered how you're able to ever figure out what's what when something goes wrong.

GOOD SHOW!

Here's another issue with M1: Apple plans macOS software fix for M1 Mac Bluetooth connectivity issues

My bluetooth connectivity issues no longer exist. On the other hand, I have yet to successfully connect to my SoftRAID array and reliably bootable external drives can be iffy.

M1 MAC EXTERNAL BOOT DRIVE DISCOVERIES

1. From what I have experience and read elsewhere creating a bootable external drive on an M1 Mac is tricky. Even a different model SSD from the same manufacturer can make a difference. The combination I know that works is a Samsung X5 512GB Thunderbolt 3 SSD, directly connected to either of the Thunderbolt 4 ports on an M1 Mac, and using a bootable flash drive installer. (Instructions for creating a bootable installer here.
2. No other combination of connecting ports, drives, etc. I tried either completed the installation process or subsequently failed to boot with an error 104. 🤬
3. If you have stored your data, Documents, Desktop, etc. on iCloud recovery is a piece of cake 🎂, simply log into your iCloud account in System Preferences and have a network connection.
4. Recovery from TM or another System drive is a total PITA 🥵 because all of the various security settings have to be reset, drivers and some apps must be reinstalled, etc. (did I mention all the 🤬 security settings have to be reset.) NOTE: Migration Assistant will not migrate data from a newer OS version like macOS 11.2 to an older macOS installation like macOS 11.1. (If only Apple would get the ASR utility to work on M1 Macs so they could be cloned. I am becoming a convert to cloning. 🥺)
5. Speaking of cloning, I have yet to get Mike Bombich's suggestion of how to create a bootable clone to work, but I am still trying. I suspect that like creating a bootable external drive on M1 Macs it is a matter of figuring out the right configuration, devices, and holding your mouth right and resetting all the 🤬 security settings.

MACOS 11 TIME MACHINE DISCOVERY

During all of the installs, reinstalls, recoveries, etc. I noticed a new to me feature in Time Machine. Previously if you wanted to encrypt Time Machine backups that was done by backing up to a previously encrypted drive. I don't know when this changed, but in Big Sur the option has been added to the Time Machine pane in System Preferences "Encrypt backup" which does exactly that, it encrypts your Time Machine backup(s). The downside is that it must erase the drive in order to setup encrypted backups. The upside is it works rapidly and seamlessly using a very secure encryption algorithm.

I just came across this: Bug in macOS Fast User Switching logs out M1 Mac users