“Good Job” vs. Entrepreneurship
Everyone Wants a “Good Job,” Right?
I guess it depends on who you’re speaking with. And what do you mean by a “good job?” I’ve heard this term a lot over the last few years, especially around election time. You hear statements like “There just aren’t enough ‘good jobs.'” What better excuse for mediocrity can you have? Does that mean that you graduate college and then get hired within a few weeks as CEO of a multinational conglomerate earning millions with six months vacation? Maybe a good job is with the government or a union job. Maybe you’ve been able to make this work for you. “I’m not making as much money as I would like because there aren’t enough ‘good jobs’ out there to supply me with the income I desire.” That’s because you’re looking for what you want in the wrong place.
Is The Definition of Success a “Good Job?”
The definition of success that resonates with me is the progressive realization of worthwhile, personal goals. Realizing goals has nothing to do with having a job at all. It is defining what I want and going after it with everything I’ve got. My definition of success means busting my ass on a daily basis to get better results in the area of life that I am working towards improving. “Realizing goals” does not mean that when I am working on a goal, that I work on it for a few hours a day and take an hour lunch break. “Realizing goals” means that at 2 am I may still be up working and that I am probably up and working again at 7 am. It means that I am working until I reach the goal. And after I achieve that goal, I probably have another goal lined up right behind it to work feverishly towards achieving. Success to me has nothing to do with a “good job.”
The Shortage Myth
There is the constant complaint that there is a shortage of “good jobs.” This “good job” is as elusive and wrong of a target as aspiring to be in the “middle class.” Maybe that’s the connection. A “good job” will guarantee that you can be secure in some 1950’s fantasy world called the “middle class.” The problem is that this isn’t the “Ozzie and Harriet” show. Your reality is your life and you get one of them. You do want to make the most of your life, right? Or is the fact really that there is a belief that there is a shortage of success?
The truth is that there is no shortage of success. I have to give credit to Grant Cardone since he has a full chapter called “There Is No Shortage Of Success” in his book The 10x Rule. Grant can have as much success as he wants. I can have as much success as I want. As long as we are both working towards success with massive action. You can have as much success as you want, as long as you are willing to work towards it.
Myth #2: Raising the Minimum Wage Creates “Good Jobs”
There are a lot of people clamoring about a raise in the minimum wage to $15.00. This statement reminds me of something Jim Rohn said in his essential course in entrepreneurship called “The Art of Exceptional Living.” Here is a video excerpt from the same seminar:
I’ll paraphrase for you. If you’re going to stay at the bottom for the rest of your life, the minimum wage should probably be $15. However, the minimum wage is a ladder, not a bed. The minimum wage was designed to give workers someplace to start, not some place to spend the rest of their lives.
The second problem lies in raising the labor costs on a business without raising revenues. That is how companies will go bankrupt, and no one will have a job, the owner included. Raising the minimum wage will bankrupt companies or cause companies to cut the number of workers, and most likely, that company’s production.
There are No “Good Jobs”
Here is a dose of reality for you. Depending on which poll you read, 70%-80% of the people out there don’t have “good jobs.” They have jobs in which you have to get up every morning, go somewhere you don’t want to go, and work with people you don’t like and do repetitive, unrewarding tasks. If you are lucky, you can have a couple of days off per week to rest and spend time with friends and/or family. Then, on Monday morning around 6 am, the cycle starts all over again. Payday comes and then you will receive just enough money to pay your bills. Does this sound like success to you? This scenario is what most people call the “rat race.” Rat races are great if you’re a rat. If you are reading this, you are probably a human. Rat races are not for humans. There is another phrase I will use, though- economic slavery. Economic slavery is not success. The only way to free yourself in this country is to start your own business and succeed in that business. Entrepreneurship.
Clarify Your Vision of What You Want
Everyone wants this elusive “good job.” Is this a job with the government working minimal hours and spending as much time as possible with family or on vacation? Here’s the bad news. Working for someone else on salary or an hourly wage won’t get you everything you want. You will never have the time or the money to do what you want to do. Why? Because someone else is controlling your time and your money.
Focus on what you want. If you want a “good job,” then chances are good that you want the most payout for as little work as possible. People who earn very little money call this “working smart.” I call it “laziness.” If you want the good things in life, write down what those good things are and then start working towards them. And work towards them every breathing minute you have until you attain them. That isn’t having a “good job.” That is called success that only entrepreneurship can deliver.
If you want success, focus on achieving success, not a getting a “good job.”
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