One of my favorite cartoons shows a politician
giving a speech at one of those thousand-dollar-a-plate dinners.
He's saying, "...And during my administration, we've created 200,000 new
jobs!". Applause sweeps through the room as a bus-boy is shown in
the background picking up dishes, thinking,
"And I've got THREE of them."
Well, personally, I haven't held a
steady job in 30 years, but I can tell you that it was one of the most
soul-scarring experiences of my life: not only was I expected to show up at the
same time and place every morning, but I had to stay there and pretend to
be doing something for eight long hours every day, with no consideration
whatever for what I REALLY wanted to be doing.
Okay, I'm (sort of) joking, but if you
still find yourself working for The Man, then it's no joke to you, and if
you're trying to make a go of homesteading AND holding down a steady job
(or three) it may be down-right depressing.
Which brings us to ask why you want to
have a job anyway.
Maybe you’re doing it for the money.
In which case, you need to remember that if your employer weren’t making a
consistent profit on your salary, then you wouldn’t be working there for
very long. That means your work has more value to him than it’s
earning for you.
Maybe you’re working because you really
like the work, but do you really need your boss to tell you how or what to
do? It could be that your employer provides an environment you could
never equal, (maybe you’re starring in a Broadway play, for example) but
maybe he just has the organization and drive that you, so far, haven’t
exhibited.
Maybe you’ve got a job because you like
the security. In which case, maybe you haven’t been reading the
papers for the last few years. For the vast majority of wage
earners, job security is only a myth. We're currently looking at a
higher unemployment rate than this country has seen in years, employers
are cutting back on basic benefits and loyalty seems to be a thing of the
past.
Okay, you’re thinking that this is all
pretty easy for me to talk about, but when it comes to the real world, you
can’t just get up tomorrow morning and decide that you’re going to stop
going to your job and start working for yourself.
Well, actually, you can, but if you have
a job that your family is depending on now, I certainly don’t recommend
that you do so.
The Time Has Never Been
Better
However, you’re a lot closer to that goal
than you may think. If you’re reading this, then you already have
access to the internet and probably have at least entry-level computer
skills. That alone gives you a greater advantage at self-employment
than entrepreneurs have had since man first started marketing the wheel.
The first order of business is attracting
business and right now, right under your fingertips is the most affordable
method of advertising and promoting yourself that has ever existed.
Ten years ago, I was spending thousands each month on advertising and now,
thanks to the benefits of the internet, that cost has shrunk to a few
hundred dollars per month, and frankly, I’ve found that my best sources
are close to free.
I promote my business with a weekly
newsletter to a mailing list I have collected on my website over the
years. Even though I have been collecting these addresses for years, many
of the most valuable ones tend to be just a few weeks old. I do not, and
you should never, resort to spam. There are two reasons why you should
never spam. First, is because the only people making money from spam are
those that charge net-naive companies to spam for them. Spam does NOT
effectively promote any worthwhile product or service. The second reason
is more philosophical, perhaps spiritual: a business cannot thrive if
everyone hates its guts. (I know what you’re thinking, but everyone does
NOT hate Microsoft’s guts, only those who have gotten to know them well.)
