My mother recently said to me: “I don’t know, maybe you’re meant to be a princess.”
She was referring to what she and my father call my “Quixotic relationship to employment.” The truth is, regardless of what job I get and how interesting it initially is, I eventually grow annoyed with working for someone else. The little things they do “wrong” with their company drive me batty and henceforth, my dedication to said magazine/agency/corporate monster withers.
Something about working for someone else can, in fact, be considered liberating. One doesn’t have to worry about the big picture. The big picture is scary, and, in many people’s minds, rests easier in the hands of someone else. All one has to do is do what one is told. Simple, (mindless, boring…).
On the same token, working for someone else is limiting as well. Creativity, outspokenness, and individuality can be an asset to an entrepreneur, but are seen as disadvantageous in employees. I myself have been called a “brat,” “ungrateful,” and been given a verbal list of suggested New Year’s resolutions.
This treatment has led me to many a time fantasizing about working for myself.
Nevermind the fact that, if left to my own devices at home, I would eat all the food I bought at Trader Joe’s that week, learn new dance moves on YouTube, and color-code my closet– those are subsidiary to the real benefits.
Working for oneself has what I would consider the most important element to employment: self-satisfaction. Most working Americans spend over half their waking hours at work- why go if it sucks? Even if as a self-employed individual, in all likelihood, you end up working longer hours for less pay initially, you actually have chosen your own course of business and are invested and therefore care more about what you are doing. Rather than depending on the salary train, the amount of work you do is directly linked to how much money you take in. Of course, you need to be intrinsically responsible and comfortable with uncertainty (which we will get into later), but the potential to tackle your work load with enthusiasm, rather than distain, is my biggest reason for recommending self-employment to anyone tired of the bullshit.
I guess one has to choose by what boundaries and limitations one wants to be held or not held. If you want to get those ten days off a year so you can have a reliable income and go to Cabo or work on your house for two weeks, then great- do your thing and get down in that cubicle. However, if you’re smart and can’t be satisfied by a life devoid of innovation and personal expression, the prospect of entrepreneurialism might be worth exploring.
Tags: Entrepreneurialism
June 5, 2008 at 7:47 am |
Take that, 94% of the country!!
Though I agree with basically all the merits and drawbacks of self-employment you’ve noted, I would say that there are some very smart and creative people who work for other people. Just imagine making puppets for Jim Henson Studios or busting up the human genome at Stanford. There’s some pretty sweet jobs out there, even if you’re just collecting notes on how to do it yourself someday.
That having been said, I’d still rather boss myself around.