This article is going to be a little weird because it will reflect a very, very different mindset than one which is extremely common. Writing this article was weird for me as well, because it's difficult for me to sometimes understand other paradigms - and financial decisions is an area where I generally operate in my own little world.
For example, I delayed marriage and children for financial reasons. I didn't buy a new car until I had enough to literally retire. Right now, I'm reading the same books that I hope my financial planners had to read to become financial planners, because I want to know about every aspect of my financial situation and future.
To read more about my thoughts on careers and developing strategically sound income streams, keep researching this website.
No, I've Never Had a Job
I've never had a full-time job. I've had some freelance relationships as a writer, copywriter, and funnel builder for some financial companies. But I've never actually had a salary or anything along those lines.
It just never materialized. I started learning marketable skills while in high school. In fact, I started my business while in high school. I was doing consulting during my very brief moment at college before I dropped out to work on growing my business.
Yes, I'm a Millionaire
I mention this a lot for a few reasons. First, I don't care to be polite. It's not polite to bring it up a lot. But it's relevant, so I'll do it anyway. Second, as I just said, it's relevant. I'll talk more about this below, but suffice it to say
- Your boss is fundamentally irrational. One of the fundamental problems with career development, financial advice, and any kind of wealth planning is this: people are nuts. They're almost always incompetent at almost everything they do. Bosses are no different. Relying on your boss to not randomly try to screw you over is something I seriously don't want to deal with.
- Jobs rarely provide much transparency. Chances are, the business you work for - especially if it's a small or medium-sized business - is just one slip up away from collapse. This has massive impacts on the employees that most never realize. Your entire resume could be shifted at the drop of a hat - and you won't know until after the fact.
- Careers aren't always as easy to shift as you'd think. Unless you're very adept at shifting directions at the drop of a hat, a career change can be exceedingly difficult. The more unique your skills are, the more this becomes a question of extremes. You can either easily switch or could have trouble for years. The damage can be severe - a year or two of unemployment can severely damage your bargaining power literally for a decade or more. This depends on the person, of course, but it's a massive variable that I never wanted to deal with.
- Finding good jobs is going to get even harder. As technology progresses, "good jobs" will be few and far between. Those that exist will often be wonderful - but the overall percentage of the population that will have one will likely become more consolidated. This means that not only should you focus on saving as much as possible, but you should also make career decisions with this in mind.
- If you can "job" it, you can often "business" it. If your job is critical to a business, then nine times out of ten you can turn it into a business. Copywriting? Programming? Graphics design? Janitor? Accountant? Mechanic? The list goes on.
- Jobs don't make much money, frankly. Even if you're the top-performing person at your job, the money is almost never going to be that great. If your goal is to generate substantial wealth - like a million per year - there's almost no chance you'll do that with a job.
