To learn in life, I've realized it's important to unlearn too, therefore, this piece is aimed at the open-minded.
I've heard the statement from different people, writers, motivational speakers, entrepreneurs, salary-earners, talkatives and the likes, and there's never been a time that I hear it that it doesn't appear distasteful to my ears. What statement ? It's the; “Your salary is a bribe your boss pays you to forget your dreams”
If you've ever nodded your head in agreement to the statement or you've gleefully shone your eyes the first time you heard it because it appeared to you like you've found wisdom, then sorry I'm not sorry, you're wrong!!!
However, before I get carried away by my emotions and start to spew jejune drivel, let's look at the statement critically.
When people say; “Your salary is a bribe you're paid to forget your dreams” I want to believe there's a part of them that wants to motivate people to do better for themselves, to find something more worthwhile than just sitting around expecting a monthly income that will barely cater for their needs. That's one.
Another reason I feel some people make that statement is arrogance, as humans, there's that constant desire in us to show that we are better than others, hence the statement sometimes could mean; “look, you sit in an office daily, expecting a meagre pay from your boss, while I'm here, boss of myself, making it big”
To some who make the statement, they simply don't understand the weight it carries, they just say it because it sounds alright to them.
For one, I believe we shouldn't motivate people to be something by simply bringing another down, telling people that salary earning is bribery simply because we want to motivate them to become entrepreneurs is degrading to salary earners. Considering that there are people out there who has built their life around their salaries.
The statement itself simply aims to motivate everyone to become entrepreneurs, something that's totally impossible. It's like expecting every tall, slim-bodied lady to end up as a runway model.
Please note that I'm not against entrepreneurship, in fact, I support that you leave a job that pays you a salary to become an entrepreneur, but, for how long shall we keep putting unnecessary pressure on people to become entrepreneurs, making them feel like they've failed in life by becoming salary earners ?
When we force the ideology of everyone becoming entrepreneurs on the society, we become unrealistic, we tend to forget that not all entrepreneurs have it rosy for them, many entrepreneurs are out there forcing themselves to make it work, yet it won't, why ? Because they don't belong in the entrepreneurial world. The truth, whether bitter or sweet is that, many so-called entrepreneurs would do better making a career in their field of study, making more money and having more time to rest that being entrepreneurs.
If we are being realistic about the life of a salary earner too, we'll know that, the way some firms treat their workers is what drive many to become entrepreneurs, they don't pay their workers on time and when they do, it's way lesser than what they deserve, most people can't just deal with this, so they'd rather find something, no matter how small to feed themselves, which, to an extent is good.
However, we can't say because the salary earner is treated badly, then prospective members of the labor market should then choose to become entrepreneurs, just as the salary earner answers to his boss, the entrepreneur answers to his customers, just as the salary earner is beaten around by the waves of his company, the entrepreneur is beaten around by the waves of the market. It's just the way it is, we can't change it, Instead, we should encourage people to find what suits them, whether salary earning or entrepreneurship.
But, you could say, all the big men you know, the Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet, Aliko Dangote and the likes, they are entrepreneurs, therefore to be big or considered wealthy in life, one must be an entrepreneur. Well, we need to remember that these big names didn't find themselves there, they've put in years of hard work to get to where they are and many more years of consistency to stay on top of their game, can the story be the same for the salary earner too ? Yes! A wise/smart salary earner would know that to reach the peak of his career, a peak that'll be determined by him, he wouldn't sit around too, he'll put in years of hard work, diligence and consistency too, in both ways, whether salary earning or entrepreneurship, we should simply encourage people to be creative, skillful and problem-solving oriented. Developing this skill for the salary earner would make him highly employable, and an indispensable worker to his employers, that way, getting to the top of his career would be easy, infact, being a salary earner, there's a part that seem unopen to people, that is, being the intrapreneur, the intrapreneur develops businesses within a company, imagine heading a business line while being an employee of a clothing firm, or developing a drug while working as a researcher for a pharmaceutical, it's what it is, people like that infact earn as much as $2m-$10m per year. How about developing problem solving skills, creativity and other skills as an entrepreneur, it gives you the chance to stay on top of your game, makes you create opportunities where there seems to be none and therefore, earning a good amount of money.
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Let's not forget, getting a job is difficult in this country, more reason why people undergo employability skills training, fine-tune their CVs, and do all sorts so as to land a job, this, people say makes it impossible for them to become salary earners, but if we are being truthful, there's basically no business that you'll want to start and earn a substantial amount of money with, that you'll start for free, in this country too, it is hard for the prospective entrepreneurs to access loans to start business, unless you have one Uncle from your village who, coupled with your own fasting and prayers will be nice to lend you money to start a business, without that, starting a business from scratch is almost as hard as getting a job in Nigeria.
Which one would you do ? Become an entrepreneur ? Or find a job, build a career ? It's up to everyone to decide, we need to know that we can't force people to be either of the two, instead, we need to encourage them to find what suits them. We need to give people the chance to test themselves, fail and know the kind of person they are, that way, we won't have salary earners who should be out there as entrepreneurs, creating jobs and entrepreneurs who should be doing well earning an income and not forcing themselves on the entrepreneurial world that'll never accept them.
Above all, I believe schools right from secondary schools should include core entrepreneural studies in their curriculum, most highschool students are taught to be job seekers not creators, the university curriculum should also involve entrepreneurial studies right from first year in school up until the final year, just that, such studies should be tailored to suit the student's course of study.
Also, we need to encourage everyone to take up skills, skills like website development, graphics design, shoemaking and the likes, whether you choose to become an entrepreneur or not, it will help, the salary earner would be saving his boss more money if he can do the job that'll require hiring a freelance professional for, the entrepreneur will reduce production cost of his services if he can handle the work he'd have hired someone for, in the end everyone is happy and again, it makes one indispensable.
Like Robert Greene said, “If we succumb to the illusion and comfort of a paycheck (to the salary earner and entrepreneur in this case), we then neglect to build up self-reliant skills, and merely postpone the day of reckoning when we are forced to fend for ourselves.”
Ponder on that.
Love “LOrenz O’ Valor” Tolulope
All Rights Reserved.
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