Sound familiar?
It was the safe path for Baby Boomers.
But for Millennials, times have changed.
And your 8 to 5 corporate job isn’t the “safe” choice you think it is.
Now, I’m not here to debate whether or not corporations are “evil”.
I’m sharing the following information with you if you’re trying to decide whether or not to stay at your “safe” corporate job or start your own business.
Because I know it’s scary! I’ve been there, where you’re sitting…at that job…in that office…trying to work my way up. Escaping to get a coffee just to breathe, or having a drawer full of the things that make me happy so I can get through the day.
Trying to play the game, climb the ladder, and truly believed that it was the safe choice.
I know where you are, but I want to know where you want to be. So say “me” in the comments below if you’re trying to decide whether to venture out on your own or stick with your current job.
First Priority is Shareholders NOT Employees
If you work for a publicly traded company, meaning you can buy stock in the company on Wall Street, the number one priority of that company is its shareholders — and a shareholder is someone who owns stock — NOT the employees.
If employees were the number one priority, salaries wouldn’t be stagnant, pensions wouldn’t be none existent, 401K matches would be the norm (instead of rare), your department wouldn’t be “restructured” every 18 months, and you wouldn’t keep seeing more and more taken out of your paycheck each year to cover health insurance costs.
Employees aren’t high on the list anymore.
If they were, you wouldn’t see decisions being made at the end of each quarter that are helpful in the short-term — hello, quarterly earnings — but are bad for the company in the long-term.
Layoffs are still a very real thing
Remember the recession of 2008?
I bet you can think of at least one or two people you know who lost their job. You might have even graduated into that recession and you couldn’t find a job at all. When people joke about their Barista having a Masters Degree, it hits home for a lot of people (and isn’t really funny, right?!)
Someone very close to me was laid off during that time — my mom. After more than 25 years at the same company, she was brought into a room and told she no longer had a job. I was a freshman in college at the time, and I remember sobbing on my way to class when my mom called. I couldn’t believe after dedicating so much of her life to a company, they could just let her go like that.
But the reality is, if things aren’t going well, your job is just a line item on an expense sheet.
And yes, 2008 is an extreme example, but markets are cyclical and go up and down all the time. As the Motley Fool put it, “Layoffs are a fact of life for those in the workforce, though that will likely be small comfort to those getting a pink slip. Gone are the days when a worker could count on having the same employer through good times and bad.”
Middle Management
If you’re here, you’re probably an ambitious individual who wants to grow.You aren’t going to be satisfied sitting at the same desk doing the same thing for the next 20, heck even 3 years.
You want to move on up.
And what does moving up mean…becoming a manager!!
But here’s the thing…middle management sucks.
You’re basically a babysitter who doesn’t have the authority to make any decisions. You’re trying to keep the kids happy because you care about them, aka the people on your team, but you have to go ask the parents, aka your boss, every time you want to give them a popsicle or try a different approach to getting them to eat their vegetables.
Middle managers are the least satisfied employee group, and according to Gallup, only 35 percent are engaged in their jobs for reasons that include:
– A lack of growth opportunities
– Being overworked and undervalued
– An inability to influence strategy and resource allocation
And if you think middle management is just a pit stop, look at how many senior and executive positions there are. Only a select few make it there and most of that usually has to do more with office politics than how smart or good they are at their job.
Growth in corporate is more of an illusion, like when your boss says something isn’t mandatory but “highly recommended.” We all know what that means!
Your Job is Your Life. Well…at least ⅓ of it.
Here are some stats that might at first scare you, but I hope instead you use them as motivation:
- The average American spends 90,000 hours working. That is more than ⅓ of your life. If you’re going to spend ⅓ of your life doing something, it should be something you are excited about. Enjoy, don’t dread every Monday, and that provides you with the life you desire and deserve.
- Speaking of being happy with our jobs — 87% have no passion for what they do. I freakin’ love what I do. It’s a beautiful Saturday and I’m sitting outside with my two beagles writing this. You might be thinking, why are you working on a Saturday? I don’t have to be “working” today, but I am choosing to because I was inspired this morning and love what I do. I also spent yesterday (Friday) taking a nap and then going to the golf course with my husband. I get to choose when and where I work.
- In the U.S., stress from work is estimated to be the fifth biggest cause of death. HOT, URGENT, ASAP — let’s be honest, unless you’re saving someone’s life, is it really that important that we need stress about it, drop everything else we are doing, or spend time away from our family? NOP.
- Nearly half of Americans have gained weight at their current job. Maybe we should stop worrying about whether or not coffee is going to kill us and instead looking at the underlying issue — we are unhappy and stressed.
Yes, it can be scary to give your “safe” bi-weekly paycheck and take a chance on yourself, but I will tell you something.
I am less stressed, a whole hell of a lot happier, and I make a lot more money working for myself.
Case and point: Your corporate job is not the “safe” choice.
And that’s why I created the free training…
[optin-monster-shortcode id=”lzp8qjqunlcwy6siga8f”]Until next time… stay ambitious!
** (https://www.fool.com/slideshow/these-12-companies-have-laid-workers-2018/?slide=14 ; https://www.business.com/articles/invest-in-the-middle/ ; https://www.businessinsider.com/disturbing-facts-about-your-job-2011-2#that-might-not-be-changing-for-the-better-anytime-soon-as-40-of-millennials-say-they-feel-guilty-for-using-all-of-their-vacation-days-16)
