3.) Having To Call Another Man Or Woman Your Boss.
I haven’t had a boss in over 2 years and its going to stay that way. Having to go back would feel like a regression. I have to say…its an amazing feeling. Knowing that I am the one in charge.
As a fully developed and realized man, this should be your aim. This should be what you’re striving for and working towards: Not having to report to another man or woman. Be fully in control of every facet of your life.
4.) Needing Permission To Take Vacation Time Or Days Off.
When you’re a man of your own making, you don’t have to ask permission to go to the dentist, or the doctor, or to get your oil changed, you just go and do it. You don’t have to ask permission from anyone. You are the one that’s in charge.
Sure, you may have a job that offers greater flexibility and freedom, but what if you have to leave town for a family emergency? Why should you have to even tell someone about this (other than your clients) before you skip town? Think about that question for a minute: WHY?
Its the WHY that matters in this question. The answer is simple: its because someone else owns a part of you. Someone else has control over you.
As a fully developed and realized man, this should be your aim. This should be what you’re striving for and working towards: Not having to get permission from anyone to take care of your affairs.
5.) No OWNERSHIP.
This one is huge. I didn’t realize what I was missing with business ownership until I finally had it. The first 6-12 months were tough sure (especially the 1st 6), but I wouldn’t trade it back for anything. It taught me so much about myself, and gave me a new level confidence that otherwise would have taken years to accumulate, if ever. Ownership is important because you have the ability to eventually sell the business and cash out. Ownership gives you options.
Ownership can sometimes have a dark side too however. If you allow the business to run you, instead of you running the business, then that’s exactly what will happen, it will run you to death. Don’t allow this to happen. Always remember who the one in charge is: YOU.
6.) There’s A Cap On Your Earnings.
As MJ Demarco talks about in his fantastic book ”The Millionaire Fastlane”, the biggest problem with working on a salary is that you are paid for your time, and not on what you produce. Time is finite, we only get so much of it. So once you’ve maxed out the available time you have, then your income hits a ceiling.
When you own your own business, its up to you how much you earn, your paycheck can be as big or as little as you choose it to be. This cannot be said for a W2 employee who is paid a salary or is paid by the hour. Their paychecks will be the same every 2 weeks.
Now sure its better if you have a job that pays a base pay and also offers commissions, but even in those jobs your income has a ceiling it will hit.
7.) Stress That Leads To Weekend Alcoholism.
Ever notice how guys who work corporate jobs are always out on the weekend drinking like college kids? Its because they’re trying to escape the stress that comes with those corporate jobs.
You’re always one bad day, or week away from getting fired. Another reason they drink to excess like this is because they live for the weekends. They look forward to it all week long, so when it finally arrives, they feel the need to celebrate like its a holiday or their birthday.
When you’re an entrepreneur, you love what you do so you don’t feel the need to escape from it. Drinking and being drunk is form of escape.
8.) You Have To Work With And Around People You May Not Like.
I talked about the disadvantages of this earlier in the article with a personal example taken right from my own life. Not much more to say on this but its a major disadvantage so its worth repeating.
I’m a natural introvert. That doesn’t mean I’m still shy (I used to be), it simply means it doesn’t come naturally to me to dance at parties or be in ridiculously good moods simply because I exist. Most guys that read sites like this are also natural introverts. If you are, chances are high that you work much better alone than you do on a team, or with other people. Again, if this is you, you’re probably going to hate having to work in an office with the same people day in and day out.
Don’t believe me? Go give it try and find out for yourself.
You wouldn’t be spending time with these people if you weren’t being forced to by the job.
9.) Bad For Your Physical Health.
Sitting in front a desk all day long is horrible for your health. Sitting is what’s not good for you. You’ll want to get yourself to a point where you can work standing up for most of the day. This is not going to be possible in an office job for a while because this is a newer concept. People are only now first being introduced to the reality that sitting down hunched over all day is physically bad for them. Its shortening their lives.
This fact has a cutting edge feel to it still, but its true and 20 years from now this wont sound as radical as it does right now.
You’ll likely start to experience lower back pain in you early-mid 30’s if you ignore this advice.
10.) You’re Settling For Less Than Your Potential.
In what universe is working as a wage slave, as a cog in the corporate wheel, not settling? So you couldn’t have gotten the job without a $100,000 college degree? Well damn that must be some job then….
After everything I’ve given light to in this article, deep down you know that your true potential calls for more than a corporate job allows for.
I’ll leave you with just a couple more points here on this subject that I haven’t discussed yet:
1.) Guys back out of the idea of entrepreneurship, because they think working for a corporation, or as a W2 is safer. This is the biggest illusion of them all. A corporate job is no more safe or secure than having your own business is. In fact, I actually think there’s more risk involved with jobs. In a job, you are a number, you’re expendable, you’re replaceable. The older you get, the harder it gets for that company to justify paying you what they are. That’s because you have fewer years left in your tank. They’re investing money in you knowing that you only have X number of years left with them.
Sooner or later, they’re going to want more of a return on their investment than you’re physically able to give them.
If you would just believe in yourself, and trust yourself, you would realize that its actually safer to have your own business. It takes self-reliance, self-resilience, and a core undying belief, that you will always be able to rely on yourself if things get tough. The problem with most people, is they don’t have these internal beliefs about themselves. They doubt themselves.
2.) Long term, the key to remember as an entrepreneur is this: the more people you help, the more of a mark you’re going to leave on this world. Concern yourself with SCALE. Always be thinking, how big can I scale this thing? How many people am I going to be able to reach and impact? If you run a location-dependent business, that’s going to limit your scale.
If you’re young, I think a location dependent business is great way to get started as an entrepreneur. It will teach you about self-reliance and what it really takes to succeed in business. At the time of this writing I still run a location dependent business, and its taught me all of these things, so I’m speaking from first hand experience here. I don’t want to be handcuffed to this city for the rest of my life however. I want the freedom to pick up and go whenever I please.
The other thing I want, is SCALE. I want to affect more people than I can by just staying in my current city.
Hint: working on the internet is great way to leverage scale, and that’s what I’m currently working towards.
11.) The world is headed towards Entrepreneurship.
I speak about this is more detail right here. One important thing I also mentioned in that article was the #1 Regret Of The Dying: ”I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
There you have it guys. The points I’ve already made here speak for themselves.
Grow a pair of balls and start taking some risks. Don’t be afraid of failure, you’re going to fail at one point or another, it happens to all of us. You need to learn what mistakes not to make. Life is about taking chances, and life begins at the edge of your comfort zone.
-Matt Mitchell
