With an ever-increasing population of listless, vocationally confused Teen/Tween/College Millennial's... What Are Parents to Do?
So I have recently been putting much thought into how the influx of social media and video game savvy, pre-millenials who have been hitting the job market in the coming years will affect the business culture in America. With large swaths of boomerang kids (young adults who can't get good playing jobs after college, and move back in with their parents) feeling largely stifled, and forgotten in a job market engineered for the ultra tech savvy, or the menially minded; what is a young person to do? Anyone who knows this generation, knows that taking orders isn't their strong suit!
Although kids are being programmed by public schools to be good workers and good little "think inside the box" clones; sooner or later reality starts to set in. Just like it set in with my in my own personal life. It becomes quite clear after a period of time, that all of the traditional roads of success that other people pointed you towards for your own vocational happiness might not work. Or worse yet might leave you in some form of career hell, at which point it's easy to get trapped in some kind of a "golden handcuffs" type scenario. So instead of having a perpetually broke kid/child/friend/spouse, you instead have a perpetually depressed kid/child/friend/spouse to deal with... Thats six to one, half a dozen for another, as Patrick Mcgouhan from the famous 60's TV show "The Prisoner" would say..
Luckily, we can easily fix this problem in society. This is where Crowdfunding comes in. How about, instead of forcing young people down this commonplace, eventual disaster of a corporate career path, we start showing kids how to engineer their own vocational track early in life. We can let them embrace long term success and emotional stability by learning to fail forward, and not always play it safe....
This is a subject I talk about in depth in my book "Startup Fever, available here...http://tinyurl.com/onclkbn)
Now I know many of you out there may think parents don't have time to make this happen.... But I can assure you that you do... Start with somehow bribing your kids to read books about career fulfillment, vocational success, small business, crowdfunding and the like. (Email me for book suggestions) Or If you have extra cash you could hire them a small business tutor, or a money saving role model of some kind to help them figure out what kind of business they can afford, and bootstrap (start with no money down) so that they are able to grow their own little vocation slowly but surely.
Now some of you out there probably know young people who are either totally driven and focused towards one particular career or vocational track already, and thats amazing; but I bet that 80 percent of young people are very very confused about their longterm career plans. Plus, even if they think they know what they want to do, when they start to pursue that given career, they might not find it to their liking. Nothing is ever what you think its going to be? Its like dating the cutest person in your social circle. It may seem good, but constantly fending off suitors and insecurities can get tiresome for some, or perhaps they end up being high maintenance and self centered. Whatever the case theres always 2 sides to any equation...
For those of you looking for help in this arena, I would suggest reading my new book/ebook, or contacting me directly. I have also composed a 6 part audio series dealing with many of these issues and I am available for mentorship sessions to work with kids one-on-one to help them figure out what they would actually like to do.
Best of luck to everyone in 2015, and please feel free to give me a shout with any questions!
Best Vocational Regards,
Austin Muhs