What Even Is A Real Job These Days?
When first started blogging I was working at a “real job” that focused on finding people “real jobs.”
Jobs that I would never want, nor would recommend to anyone even remotely close to my circle. But they were real jobs. Telemarketers, construction workers, housekeepers, financial sales reps, mechanics and the like.
They are the jobs our parents, and their parents held down to put a nice meal on the table and kept the lights on.
When I first started blogging, I was blogging so that I would never have to hold down another “real job” again.
And the plan was going pretty darn well. I was building a sweet following of musicians and creating some products over at Gen-Y Rock Stars. The income was starting to fliz-ow and I was in the pre-launch for my biggest launch to date, the New Music Economy Blueprint.
Then it happened, I got sucked into a “real job” again.
But it wasn’t a job like most young people are accustomed to. It was with a startup, Cognitiv, that offered some pretty nice perks and an opportunity to do all this crazy stuff I do at a massive scale.
So I jumped from at home, surfer bum entrepreneur to employed. With an office (window view).
Then I had a conversation with Rob Granholm from IT Arsenal today and we talked a little about his job. He didn’t think of it as a job. Something that he dreads every morning and anguishes over every night.
It’s a similar conversation I’ve had with many young pros who are not entrepreneurs but who work like one. They are passionate about their work, about their industry, about learning and sharing and about making a better future for themselves.
So Then What Is A Real Job And Why Do We Hate The Feeling Of A Real Job?
About 2 weeks ago I got an email from Scott Gerber from the Young Entrepreneur Council and author of the book, Never Get A Real Job (How To Dump Your Boss, Build A Business And Not Go Broke).
The book and Scott’s mission are pretty common among Gen-Y leaders. College doesn’t lead you down a yellow brick road to a dream job and neither does sitting on your ass. You need to stand out and be great amongst a sea of other great peers and no one is waiting to hand out million dollar bills for ideas alone.
But if you work your tail off, have a stellar idea and put it onto the real world, with a more than Facebook marketing strategy, you just might have something that people in “real jobs” with have envy over.
Scott’s real power is in his overall mission to help young people overcome the devastating effects of youth unemployment and underemployment by teaching them how to build businesses. I think this is really important as he really gets behind everything that is wrong with the current structure of the American work force (sorry, I’ve never applied to a job or worked anywhere else), and how young people are getting a royal shaft from universities with rising tuition, credit card companies who take total advantage of the high ticket price of college and post grab life and companies who still look at a piece of paper before seeing if you qualify via some bullshit piece of software that can tell what people are like.
He has started the Death To The Resume Movement and even kicked off his book launch with a resume burning party.
We All Hate Real Jobs, Because At A Real Job…
you can’t be yourself. You can’t express yourself and your vision. When you have something vested into a company your true colors show. You write blog posts at 1am knowing that you have to run a few miles at 6am before a full day of ass kicking.
I know that when I started this blogging thing 4 or so years ago a real job was where I thought my life was headed. I tried the entrepreneur thing. I started a record label in high school, ran a recording studio to pay for college, waited tables, DJ’d, rocked the world with my music, flipped real estate, tried eCommerce, got a “real job” and then killed it with Internet Marketing only to get back wherever it is that I am now.
And I couldn’t be happier or more excited to see the damn sunrise every morning.
So what the hell is a real job today? Shit, I dunno. And I never want to find out.
Win A Copy Of Never Get A Real Job
What’s your idea of a real job? Let me know in the comments. Best answer wins a copy of Scott’s new book - Never Get A Real Job. You got till Friday. The clock is ticking.
And if you don’t want to wait to get a copy, grab one now via this sexy Amazon affiliate link.
-Greg
Hey Greg,
Anyone that mentions surfing and entrepreneur in the same sentence is a rock star in my book. I’ll keep checking back for new thoughts and ideas.
A real job? Yeah, I used to have one of those way back when.
A real job is waking up at the same time every day, driving to the same place every day, clocking in to make the same pay every week, doing the same mundane work every day, clocking out to record the wasted hours you’ve just logged, waiting for the check that barely covers the expenses, hating the fact that you’re going to bed so you can start this all over again, and again, and again. Ugh.
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. Well, off to do my own thing at my own business making as much money as I want.
All the best!!
Greg, thanks for another kick @ss post. A real job? Well, I guess people think that 9 to 5 is still the way to go - but not me. This weekend I sat around a table with an eclectic group of teachers, state workers and entrepreneurs. The “established” jobs offer safety, pensions (I can’t believe they still exist), and great benefits. A lot of the people in my age group - thirty somethings - still hold on to the era of work, work, work, and get you 3% increase every year. That’s nice but isn’t going to allow you to design your lifestyle.
I’ve been stuck in a similar situation. Working at a traditional job from 8am to 5pm or so and then working until 1am on all of my Internet projects. That’s where my passion lies. Online marketing, SEO, affiliate marketing and so on. Over the past 5 years I’ve launched websites, written books, and done a lot of consulting on the side. When I think about what I’ve accomplished or what I’ve thought of as my real job, that’s it… not the 9 to 5 stuff - anyone can do that!
To me a real job is all about doing what you love. Yeah, we all need to pay the bill. I get that. At the same time that doesn’t mean you should sit on your but and say I coulda or woulda. When you look back you’ll regret it. Call it a job or not, do what you love and eventually you’ll reach the payoff. Which honestly might be the satisfaction that you made the effort and enjoyed the process!
Great post, and thanks for sharing that interesting book, I love the resume burning launch hahah.
I like to think of a job now, not as the negative connotation it holds as “9-5 grind, and wage slave,” but as a duty to yourself toward fulfillment.
That fulfillment is what lets you rest your head easy at night, and keeps you excited to see that sun-rising every morning.
Greg, you love your life, you love being Greg. So it is your “duty” to blog about it. I mean the tedious parts. The sitting down, writing the post, aggregating it, coding your site, etc…
Through that “duty” you can have that fulfillment of living out your passions. Not just fulfilled with objects and things, but great relationships, and the knowledge that you are truly helping people.
I do not know what a “real” job really is either….I was once a telemarketer, I felt shackled and like a sheep. Ever since then I have not had any sort of real job. I performed at Disney, do freelance marketing work, and now at surfer lifestyle design, it is my “duty” to show everyone how living a fulfilled life is more than a possibility. Keeping your passions as apart of an everyday routine, and making money based on being YOU is absolutely a reality, and I am heading toward it!
Thanks Greg
Hey Greg!
I think the whole process of life is to find out what you like and get closer and closer to that. Maybe it is as an entrepreneur, maybe in a 9-5, or maybe in a start-up that appreciates your talents.
What I’ve been looking for is a place to best utilize my strange set of talents, and I think it’s cool that you’ve found that for yourself. Getting up and going to work is always going to be hard. If it is for yourself, or someone else. But at the end of the day / workweek / year, if we can happily say: “It was hard, but I got paid to learn,” then I think we’re doing pretty well.
Congrats on a new opportunity!
B