Time and time again I get comments on this blog and in person that can be summarized as:

“There’s nothing wrong with just wanting to be an employee. Not everyone wants to start their own business like you and they shouldn’t have to in order to be considered successful or to have their choices in life be valid.”

This is of course 100% true, and I agree with it! Unfortunately since I am both a very strong advocate of entrepreneurship and very vocal about employment disadvantages, some people automatically attribute to me that I think it’s somehow fundamentally wrong for someone to be an employee.

Business isn’t right for everyone. I can tell you this as a fact because I know people who are very happy with being employees, find their work fulfilling, and would be miserable in a business ownership situation. However it’s also true that there many people who are either stuck in jobs they hate or who aren’t suited to be employees at all. This group isn’t some dysfunctional minority, it’s an entire culture of cubicle misery. Dilbert and Office Space are so insanely popular because it’s based on very real frustrations of the traditional corporate workplace, a theme that an amazing amount of people can identify with.

Employment is a Choice

Much of the unhappy workforce doesn’t consciously realize this fact. People get trapped in job situations they are unhappy in because they see no other alternative. In a previous article I named four of the major perceived “Barriers to Starting Your Own Business, but in hindsight I could have named it “The Barriers to Doing What You Really Want to Do”.

You can choose to be an employee in a field that you enjoy, working for a company whose values and employee treatment are in line with your expectations. This can be an extremely rewarding experience, allowing you to achieve that seemingly mythical “getting paid to do what you love” life. That life that people in magazine interviews have, but that doesn’t happen to normal everyday common people. All without the stress of being a tycoon or a celebrity.

You can also choose to start your own business, a relatively common employment alternative, perhaps due to the appeal of “being your own boss”. With hard work, willingness to learn, a competent team, and a great product you can become a millionaire “doing what you love”. That life that people in magazine interviews have, but that doesn’t happen to normal everyday common people. All without the fear of being laid off or having to rely on your boss for a pay cheque.

But these aren’t the only choices. You can be a rock star, author, scuba diving instructor, world-reknowed scientist, art collector, consultant, baseball player, farmer, and thousands of other “careers”. Most of these are actually some combination of employee and business owner. An athlete for example works for a sports team, but is also his/her own brand and company. This has led me to recently conclude that “employee” and “business owner” are really just legal terms and not two absolutely opposite concepts. It’s not employment that I’m bitterly against, it’s the mental enslavement of a person perpetrated by educators and employers. The prison of working to put bread on the table rather than to further one’s own talents and growth.

Unhappy people in all walks of life need to wake-up and break free of the notion that work must be difficult, doing what you love is a dream for “someday”, and that making money is why we work. Buying into this philosphy is a matter of confidence, which must be rebuilt after years or decades of being consciously and accidentally trained by those around you to be a drone.

This author is dedicated to the path of business ownership and entrepreneurship. My blog exists for those currently running a business or having aspirations to do so. If entrepreneurship isn’t your cup of tea then this particular blog may not be for you, but resources for your chosen field exist. Just be aware that whatever your true calling, there is absolutely no need for you to:

• Perform meaningless and unfulfilling work.
• Put up with a terrible boss.
• Constantly have others take credit for your work and ideas.
• Live in constant fear of being laid off due to downsizing or speaking your mind.
• Sit in a sea of grey cubicles.

Unless of course you enjoy the above. Then by all means…

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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 23rd, 2006 at 10:06 am and is filed under Business, Entrepreneurship, Achievement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.