Isn’t It Time You Found A Real Job Already?
by Joel Elveson, Columnist & Featured Contributor
F YOU ARE a fast food restaurant worker you get a regular check. You have a real job. If you work as United States Postal Carrier you get a regular check. You have a real job. If you work as a Java Developer you get a regular check. You have a real job. Whatever profession you work in no matter what your title is if you get a regular check you are considered by narrow minded traditionalists as having a “real job.” With a steady paying job you can support yourself. If your pay is insufficient to meet your financial obligations you take on a second job for extra money. You simply go out and find a second “real job.”
Being of entrepreneurial spirit whereby you control your income by going after business and closing the deal while collecting a handsome commission for your efforts conversely means you do not have a “real job.” It has long been the thought process of less than knowledgeable people that if you work on a straight commission basis you are not working. For the record cab drivers take home a percentage of what they “booked” that night plus tips which is this same as commission. Yet they are held to a different standard.
When people around you see you struggling to earn a living minus a salary whereupon you have to rely on others for help will sooner or later be asked:
Isn’t It Time You Found A Real Job Already?”
Other than a salary these narrow minded people who go through life with earplugs in their ears and blindfolds over their eyes cannot conceptualize what you are doing is work as defined by their own definition of the word work.
There are very legitimate high-paying opportunities open for well qualified candidates. Jobs with competitive pay are also available for those who have lesser skills. As the holiday season approaches department stores add to their payroll. If you need extra money in general your local fast food establishment will be hiring sooner or later. Wanting to only work at a job that pays a salary is not only perfectly legal it is more in line with contemporary modern thinking that a majority hold to.
If you want a job working for any branch of the government all you have to do is search the internet for upcoming examinations (these jobs require testing. depending on how you score on the test that will determine your standing on the list to be called) fill out the required application and e-mail it back along with your non-refundable filing fee. Examination related study materials must be obtained through out of pocket costs. Government jobs are exceptionally popular due to the pay along with a host of other perks that come with them. Your chances of landing one of these jobs are not overly high. However, they are without question “real jobs.”
You know the history of this country where legal immigrants became citizens and went to work building our transportation infrastructure. The work was back breaking with practically no protection against injury as labor laws did not exit back then. We tip our hats to those people who gave physically so much of themselves.
Along come the likes of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Benjamin Franklin & George Washington Carver. Armed with little more than dreams of creating something few would ever believe was possible they set out to make their dreams a reality. The astounding number of times they failed labeled them as “crazy.” They continued their pursuit of bringing their ideas to life.
Now many centuries removed from the days of inventors we have seemingly forgotten that just about every modern convenience we enjoy now was the end result of those who dared to want to make a living by their own means. They were the original pioneers of the entrepreneurial spirt many now hold. Why is the modern day person who will happily forgo a salary for the chance to build something of their own held to a different measurement? Why?
For a recent College Graduate or soon to be College Graduate the foreboding shadow of student loans that now must start to be repaid loom larger every day. Their beaming parents no longer basking in the glow of your graduation do not want to have this debt saddled on their shoulders. It’s time for you (the graduate) to make your way in the world. An opportunity comes along to learn the brokerage or other business. The lure of big $ is too much to ignore so you sign-up to be an unpaid intern. After a short time their parents sternly issue the now infamous ultimatum “get a job or get out!”
Unless there is a post-college nest egg put away for you to pay-off your student loans while you search for “the opportunity” for the sake of having a roof over your head finding your way into a paying job is probably your best option at this point. Put away as much money as you can now so that later on you can begin your work to create something that will earn you a living at your very own venture.
Understanding that the salary earning world will never understand nor accept your thinking in terms of doing what you want to do in the way you want to do it is a realization you will have to accept and deal with. Loosely translated this means working 9-5 5 days per week fattening many wallets none of which belong to you is just not in your make-up.
Having learned this lesson the response you will give with a smile when asked the magical question “isn’t It Time You Found A Real Job Already?” is NOT YET!
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