Are jobs filthy habits?

I think the problem with jobs is when they cause you to fear your ability to survive without one- they institutionalise you away from starting out on your own
I'm a crap employee. I'm a bloody good contractor however- I love targets, and I like beating the clock and then relaxing.
Some people like the frequency of pay- there is something to be said for that certainly!
I think we need to learn to follow our own life journey- and stop looking at how other's choose to live and judging them on it. Sometimes I envy those happy to live a conventional life of a job, a mortgage and a secure every day is the same plan. I'm just not cut out for it!

I personally love having a part-time job. Its why I got myself one at Office Depot. At least when I get around to making big bucks online, I'll have that discount at the Depot. It is all in good fun for me, and getting my lazy ass out of the house and out of my computer chair.

-Sean

I think it's easy to get into the mindset of taking shots
at people who work hard for honest wages but don't think
they way we think.

The real truth is that a very large % of the population is
not suited to owning or operating a business. They're happy
doing what they do... and there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm very happy that the good people who provide goods and
services to me on a daily basis have those jobs.

Tsnyder

J. O. B. = Just Over Broke

Maybe it's interesting.But I still don't agree this viewpoint.In this society,every has its value and are responsible for himself,his family and even his country.If you can find your value,then it's honorable,no matter what job you are doing.

I think that having a day job is okay. I personally have an Associates Degree in Fire Science (Firefighter) and I am currently working as an EMT. I want so badly to be a fireman and that is my dream. With the recession that we are in right now, town/city budgets aren't very conducive for hiring new employees so I am playing the waiting game. I like technology and I and things to do with online. I think that it is perfectly fine if you do this as a hobby.




09/11/2001 - WTC 343 NEVER FORGET

Wow Trader54, that was a monster, value packed post in the link posted. It's all in perception.... personally I use jobs for a few months out of the year when necessary(trading my time for money), then discard them when I'm done... in some ways you have to use the system to escape the system.

But as Tsnyder rightfully pointed out, not everyone is cut out to run their own business, and are happy to be in a job with upward mobility potential, benefits, coworker buddies. I absolutely love when most of the year I work from home on my business, living alone and having no interaction face to face with coworkers/bosses. Other people would flip out and need to go with a laptop and work from a coffee shop just to be around people... different strokes......

I think the post above is right - not everyone is cut out to have their own business and run things on their own, and a certain unique type of mindset is required. From my experience talking to hundreds of people, few people possess this certain mindset.

@Lincoln Ryan - I can see your point, but a successful entrepreneur will look way, way beyond that. That's a limited 'employee' mindset, where you're just trading time for money. If you're entrepreneurial and looking to take things way beyond just 'replace my job' type income, you'll outsource all the tedious, monotonous and low-paying work to someone who can do it more reliably and consistently than you! The true entrepeneur will look at what task(s) generate him the most profits AND concentrate on that, and outsource the rest of the menial work!

This is what I meant by mindset earlier. Very few people have this vision to see beyond just a small business that generates so-so income, and I also feel that NOT having a job completely changes your mindset towards your IM and entrepreneurial activities - you start seeing opportunity and potential where others just see competition and saturation, because this is your calling and passion now, not just some 'part-time' hobby!

This blog post has hit the nail on the head.

If you read it, you notice he talks about the so-called "employee benefits". Most people would not have read that far.

The myth of "employee benefits" has been perpetuated for far too long.

How long does it take to get health and life insurance? Two or three trips to your insurer at most. And you KNOW what's going on. Which you should. This is your life, your life savings and your family we are talking about.

For society to flourish and for us to advance, bureaucrats simply decided they had to turn the population into worker bees. And when they do that, they know a few will 'slip through the cracks' and not follow the same downtrodden path.

These people, not easily being 'happy with what they have' and don't want to take orders all day, are the ones who usually end up becoming the full-time entrepreneurs.

Fabian

I do agree with you on the slavery comment.

A lot of people are slaves to the banks because of the debt they build up.

I see it all the time - guy gets nice new job, goes on spending spree, buys a flashy new car, a new house, expensive clothes, goes to top end restaurants, etc.

All on credit with the assumption that the job will be there for him the next day.

Well you know what just happened?

He just turned himself into a slave.

He MUST work at his job or else he won't be able to pay off his debt or get to keep his nice things.

His ability to take any risks has been destroyed because now he must keep up with his payments.

I'm pretty sure it's hard to think out of the box when you got creditors looking for payments, a family to feed, and an appearance to keep up.

Just one way society tries to enslave its citizens.

I have to be truly honest.....I am new here and there may not be any value in what I say here but I truly loved the idea of being self sufficient and not having to depend on a job. I am doing a few offline ventures now that pay residual over the years and at present but I would not want to fill out another application for a job to save my life. It is just my first few two cents.

I don't know about other kinds of jobs, i have worked in corporate cubicle prisons for a long time so I can talk about that.I actually wrote a recent blog post about how much it sucks to be an employee.

First of all employee income is the most heavily taxed.
Second, the health insurance isn't some free benefit, you pay for it.
You can get a nice plan from ehealthinsurance.com just as good as whatever you get as an employee. You can choose to cover big expenses like an unexpected surgery or major accident/illness, and pay for smaller stuff like office visits and prescriptions. Or you can get an expensive plan with low deductible, higher premium. There are many choices.

If you are in great health like me, you can pay as low as $30/mo for a decent plan with fairly low deductible.

When you are an employee, you are even paying for the office space you occupy. You pay the highest taxes. You feed the executives and the investors. That is no life. Cubicle prison is a depressing place and sucks the life out of you and spits you out as a broken, empty shell.

Creating multiple streams of income is the biggest favor you can do to yourself.

Didn't bother reading it because of that bloody popup. Principle thing

To be honest I think there's both sides of a coin, I ahve run and owned my own business and when i sold it I was happy working for someone and not having to deal with the day to day of being self employed.
Also I like being a part of a team and not always calling the shots. It's good to be a part of someone elses world sometmieas but in saying that a lot of what was siad is true.

You can really build massive doubts in yourself if you learn to rely on a single form odf income all your life, I think the trick is to keep busy and don't be limited by yoru income.

Having my own successful business... I don't think a job is a filthy habit

Ultimately... we're all trading time for money.

And we all work for someone else.

If you don't work for a boss... you have clients... customers... whatever.

Look, I love the freedom of being my own boss... of working when I want... of sleeping in.. of working from home.

But at the end of the day... I've still gotta work.

Ultimately do what makes you happy. If that's a job... great. If that's working for yourself... great.

It's just money, after all.

-Dan

I personally think the ONLY thing that matters is whether or not you're actually happy with what you're doing.

This is really old news what he writes, however it is nevertheless true.
The sad thing is that our society DEPENDS on that people do this "dirty work". Been there, done that.

For example, every time i go to the store i feel VERY BAD for the cashiers people working there. I know they are working in a "horrible" job from 7am to 8 pm...and i dont even want to know what they are getting paid.

But then i think: ACTUALLY, its not that bad. Because unemployment is certainly NOT the better alternative. Right now in your economy people should be glad IF they have a job and can pay the bills. Because many people don't have jobs at all.

If people actually look in the dictionary on the meaning of 'slavery', there are a few definitions. 'Slavery' doesn't necessarily mean some poor guy in the 1800's being of servitude to someone else.

If you are forced to do anything of considerable effort that you otherwise would not do if you weren't under the influence of employers, society, peers, school, whatever, that can be considered a FORM of slavery.

There are degrees of slavery, and financial slavery is certainly one of them.

Fabian

Yes, jobs suck. I will never have a another job again.

Yes they are.

What do I think about that post? Perfect... No one could've
possibly laid it out better.

For a long time I've been in the jobs suck camp
(also refused to read the article because of the pop up, it refused to let me get to the "close" button)

however... on my LinkedIn page I'm getting job offers, pretty good ones

Fortune 100 companies seeking SEO manager, I'm liking what I'm hearing,
offer is enough to get me to want it, what it'd do for my resume / portfolio sounds even better than the money!

Everyone I know is loosing their job and I'm getting offers (and getting new business as well so I don't really need either one, job offers are a back up to my business so I can afford to "get my price")

The thing about jobs is they keep us Just Over Broke but that doesn't make them bad. The way our society is structured ,we need people who are in jobs and we need the entrepreneurs. Not everyone who is in a job has what it takes to be an entreprenuer and I know for sure many entrepreneurs would make lousy employees.

However, people in jobs need to take time out to look at their talents and see what they could do in addition to their jobs. Everyone has unique skills that they could put to use to create an additional income stream.

Jobs are only filthy habits if you're Mike Rowe.
Dirty Jobs : Discovery Channel

Orvil, there's another essay similar to the one you posted, but much better written, at 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job.

Now for the Eric Graham essay:

The idea that property tax means you actually "rent" even a "free and clear" property from the government has nothing to do with where you get the money - from a job or from your own business. It may be a good point, but it's an irrelevant rant.

The idea that a mortage means you actually "rent" a "house you own" from the bank has nothing to do with where the money comes from - from a job or from your own business. It's another irrelevant rant.

The idea that self-reliance is necessary because the government can't be trusted to provide a "social safety net" has nothing to do with whether it's better to earn money from a job or from your own business. Yet another irrelevant rant.

The idea that an HSA, high deductible plan plus pay as you go can provide more cost effective medical treatment has nothing to do with where the money comes from - from a job or your own business. Still more angry ranting.

The argument about the purpose and history of the current education system would be much more compelling with some citations or examples.

The point that a college degree is not just about the content of the courses, but also a screening tool for persistence at assigned tasks, is not really a big secret.

He is right that you need to be aware whether the person teaching you knows what they're talking about. But to dismiss all business courses, saying "Real education is ALWAYS self-education," goes too far. For example, I'd be thrilled to take a Harvard Business School course from professor Michael Porter.

There are some secret agendas in media and government, but pissing people off with a rant about jobs (that's not really about jobs) is not the most astute way to expand consciousness of the masses.

He then throws in an out of context Bible quote and immediately calls his readers "morons."

If I wasn't reading this for the purpose of review, I'd simply give up on the article at that point. Ironically, just after this is where the article should begin, with everything up to that point thrown away!

The specific reasons that a business owner has more power and profit than an employee are good ones: flexibility, control, multiple streams of income, breaking the trade of time for money, tax savings, better benefits. I see from the comments that some people got inspired by the ranting part of the essay to consider these points. Personally, I'd have been much more inspired by a happy, optimistic, positive walk-through of those advantages, rather than by a pissed-off rant against the current system.

Chris

I think on my laptop, the close button for the opt-in box is below the fold so I cannot even read the site.

Why they have both a opt-in banner that renders the site useless for some users; but ALSO use a footer pop-up... Sheesh.

The world would be a strange place if we all sat at home blogging like that guy.

Well I only feel its a job if your not doing something you truly love. Which unfortuantly thats about 80% of the population. However, if your doing something you absolutely love doing, then its not a job, its a passion. Or just having fun. Its not work if your having fun. ;-)

Some of you are clearly passionate about this,
as I am -however...

In the time it takes for you read the article and respond
(assuming you did read the article), sit down and think
about what was talked about and step outside your
ego before you make a decision to write it off as "common
sense" or "I already knew that" or the all to common
"some people like their jobs"...because I promise you this:

Most of them DON'T and if they had a choice, they would
almost ALWAYS choose their own business or a profession
where they have a controlling stake.

I know, because I ask people - literally - lots of them.

And the #1 thing they ask for is more CONTROL over their
own lives, especially the area where they have to put food
in their mouths and their kids - finances.

It's easy to take things like this personal if you are the
guy/gal who made the decision to give up your time doing
something you absolutely hated for the last 5-10 years of
your life, only for some guy to show up and tell you that
you've been wasting your time.

I'd feel devastated - and possibly defensive if i were one of
those people. so i get it.

And you can argue that trading your time for a job is just as
bad as writing articles, creating WSO's, selling products, or
offering your service(s) for a fee.

But the point many who make this argument fail to make is
that YOU can earn as much or as little as you want - at ANY
given point of time with NO limitations nor restrictions on what
you feel like making. Am I selling articles? sure. But guess what?
I STILL have control over my income based on the value I give...
and the more articles (or better the quality), the more money I
can command for them - commonly known as "freelancing".

Try doing that at a job, and unless your doing sales commissions,
your extra value will count for nothing but a "job well done" and
you'll still be paid the $7 an hour you agreed on just like the hour
before it.

This is just on the topic of "selling your articles like a part-time
job" subject. Let's not even get into the unlimited potential there
is when you sell your own products or sell affiliate products.

Quite frankly, when I started in business, I was scared that I
may not have anything of substantial value to offer to warrent
making more than the $7 I was used to making an hour - who
was I to believe that I can make $700 in one hour, when it takes
me 3 months to get the same results?

Could be that most are afraid to see what their true value and
worth is in the marketplace. Because it's nothing more than a
reflection of your "self worth". And stripping away the security
and looking behind the double-sided mirror is a scary thought
especially when you learn there was little if any substance there
to begin with.

It's a wake up call. I know it was for me.

We must all accept that some people will never totally see
the benefits of making money on their own terms without
having to answer to anyone...for most, they were RAISED
to be told what to do next, how to do it, and the reward
they'll get when they do it at the end of every hour.

It's normal. Rational. And hard to argue with, so why bother?
If it truly makes them happy, leave them be.

I grew up on public schools and trying to "de-brainwash"
yourself actually takes effort and hard work to find your
own answers.

"It's hard to find freedom, control and choices when you don't know it's there to be found. And so many are stuck believing getting a good job is all there is worth getting. "



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