Every day on the job digs your financial grave
This post might shock you a little, especially if you're an employee. But don't worry, it's not hopeless at all. Just thought I'd give you a friendly advance warning. :-)
Human beings are learning all the time, and the more subtle the teaching, the more effective the learning.
Here's a concrete example. Every day that you spend at the office, working for somebody else, you are "learning" to be an employee. An employee is a person who usually does only what he is hired to do. Indeed, it is a rare employee who will do more than what is required to get his paycheck.
It's not that employees cannot do more. It's just that under the current employment system where doing more will not result in a salary increase, it simply makes NO SENSE to do more. It also doesn't make sense to finish your work faster, because you know that your boss will give you more work.
The result is that most employees will do as little as possible and will work as slowly as possible.
You might be laughing, but this is really what is happening in corporate offices!
In Corporate America, people merely push paper. It's very bureaucratic. Few people know what value they are creating, and even fewer people are able to put a precise cash value on the work they are performing.
Entrepreneurial America is different. Entrepreneurs don't push paper. They print money. Not only that, but they also create machines that print money. It's called franchising. More on that later.
So every day, millions and millions of people take the subway or drive to work and ... dig their own financial grave.
This is so because the entire environment they work in, will "teach" them -- every day! -- to be good employees (defined, as mentioned above, as people who do the minimum and do it as slowly as possible).
Of course, it eventually gets to a point where the entire organization is no longer able to survive due to aggressive competition or foreign competitors, at which point the CEO begins to downsize.
Then, suddenly, everybody begins to produce more and work faster. Eventually, people "calm down" and begin to work slowly and produce the very minimum. This infernal cycle goes on and on. This is really crazy, if you ask me. I'm so glad I quit Corporate America when I was 31.
However, if you are an employee, it is NOT hopeless at all. You can study how your employer is creating value, how they organize their processes, how they recruit people, how they train people, etc. All this valuable knowledge, which you are learning from a (hopefully) successful organization, WILL serve you once you become an entrepreneur.
In other words, consider your job as a training ground for your future life as an entrepreneur!
The amazing thing is that while you're being trained to become an entrepreneur, they're paying you!
The trick, of course, is to choose an employer organization where you can learn useful business knowledge. "Business knowledge" refers to knowledge about how to create value and convert that value into money.
The good news is that ANY business organization can teach you something. The very fact that they are able to hire you, already shows that they are somewhat successful. You can learn about business at any business organization.
Contrast that with my own 3 years spent at university studying business. I read a lot of "required" readings and passed many exams, but did not really learn how to create value or how to convert that value into money! Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of my management degree. It's a framed piece of vellum with my name inscribed in calligraphy and with an official seal from a well-known university (McGill). It's amazing how such an artfully crafted institutional artifact can positively impact my self-esteem. :-)
But back to business.
During the 90s, I consciously sought out the best employers and began to work for them. I rejected permanent job offers and deliberately chose to work on contract for Fortune 500 companies. I learned everything I could from them. In fact, I know secrets about IBM and American Express and Abbott Laboratories that I can't -- ever -- reveal to anyone since they are insanely valuable and proprietary business secrets.
Of course, not revealing those business secrets is one thing. Learning from them and creating my own business processes is a different thing, and is perfectly legal.
My point is that you may currently be working as an employee, and that's alright. But be careful not to let them teach you how to be a good employee.
A good employee is a poor person -- cash-wise, asset-wise and time-wise.
Take the initiative and learn to become an entrepreneur who is absorbing all the knowledge available at the corporate workplace.
In the end, all employees are "digging." The only question is, are you digging your own financial grave (by doing minimal work and doing it as slowly as possible) or are you digging a tunnel through which you can escape Corporate America and become financially free (by learning about business as much as you can in order to become an entrepreneur soon)?
Brian Tracy, one of my great teachers, wrote that "In America, you work 8 hours a day to survive. Every extra hour that you work every day, is a direct investment into your future." I read that line in the early 90s and instantly memorized it because I felt there was a great truth in it.
Human beings are learning all the time, and the more subtle the teaching, the more effective the learning.
Here's a concrete example. Every day that you spend at the office, working for somebody else, you are "learning" to be an employee. An employee is a person who usually does only what he is hired to do. Indeed, it is a rare employee who will do more than what is required to get his paycheck.
It's not that employees cannot do more. It's just that under the current employment system where doing more will not result in a salary increase, it simply makes NO SENSE to do more. It also doesn't make sense to finish your work faster, because you know that your boss will give you more work.
The result is that most employees will do as little as possible and will work as slowly as possible.
You might be laughing, but this is really what is happening in corporate offices!
In Corporate America, people merely push paper. It's very bureaucratic. Few people know what value they are creating, and even fewer people are able to put a precise cash value on the work they are performing.
Entrepreneurial America is different. Entrepreneurs don't push paper. They print money. Not only that, but they also create machines that print money. It's called franchising. More on that later.
So every day, millions and millions of people take the subway or drive to work and ... dig their own financial grave.
This is so because the entire environment they work in, will "teach" them -- every day! -- to be good employees (defined, as mentioned above, as people who do the minimum and do it as slowly as possible).
Of course, it eventually gets to a point where the entire organization is no longer able to survive due to aggressive competition or foreign competitors, at which point the CEO begins to downsize.
Then, suddenly, everybody begins to produce more and work faster. Eventually, people "calm down" and begin to work slowly and produce the very minimum. This infernal cycle goes on and on. This is really crazy, if you ask me. I'm so glad I quit Corporate America when I was 31.
However, if you are an employee, it is NOT hopeless at all. You can study how your employer is creating value, how they organize their processes, how they recruit people, how they train people, etc. All this valuable knowledge, which you are learning from a (hopefully) successful organization, WILL serve you once you become an entrepreneur.
In other words, consider your job as a training ground for your future life as an entrepreneur!
The amazing thing is that while you're being trained to become an entrepreneur, they're paying you!
The trick, of course, is to choose an employer organization where you can learn useful business knowledge. "Business knowledge" refers to knowledge about how to create value and convert that value into money.
The good news is that ANY business organization can teach you something. The very fact that they are able to hire you, already shows that they are somewhat successful. You can learn about business at any business organization.
Contrast that with my own 3 years spent at university studying business. I read a lot of "required" readings and passed many exams, but did not really learn how to create value or how to convert that value into money! Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of my management degree. It's a framed piece of vellum with my name inscribed in calligraphy and with an official seal from a well-known university (McGill). It's amazing how such an artfully crafted institutional artifact can positively impact my self-esteem. :-)
But back to business.
During the 90s, I consciously sought out the best employers and began to work for them. I rejected permanent job offers and deliberately chose to work on contract for Fortune 500 companies. I learned everything I could from them. In fact, I know secrets about IBM and American Express and Abbott Laboratories that I can't -- ever -- reveal to anyone since they are insanely valuable and proprietary business secrets.
Of course, not revealing those business secrets is one thing. Learning from them and creating my own business processes is a different thing, and is perfectly legal.
My point is that you may currently be working as an employee, and that's alright. But be careful not to let them teach you how to be a good employee.
A good employee is a poor person -- cash-wise, asset-wise and time-wise.
Take the initiative and learn to become an entrepreneur who is absorbing all the knowledge available at the corporate workplace.
In the end, all employees are "digging." The only question is, are you digging your own financial grave (by doing minimal work and doing it as slowly as possible) or are you digging a tunnel through which you can escape Corporate America and become financially free (by learning about business as much as you can in order to become an entrepreneur soon)?
Brian Tracy, one of my great teachers, wrote that "In America, you work 8 hours a day to survive. Every extra hour that you work every day, is a direct investment into your future." I read that line in the early 90s and instantly memorized it because I felt there was a great truth in it.
posted by Super Peter at 5:22 AM
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