@bnt on Money #7: Who Are You Gonna Work For?
Hello there, this is lucky number 7! I'm falling in love with Steemit and I'm very excited as I write and share my essays with all of my fellow steemians. I will talk about the prospect of being an employee in order to become wealthy. This essay is specially relevant to you if you currently work for somebody else.
All feedback is welcome, appreciated and WILL be upvoted!
If you’ve had any interest in wealth-generation before you came across my essays, chances are that you have read a book called The Millionaire Next Door. If that’s the case, you probably heard a lot of things about how you can become a wealthy employee of a corporation.
Now, my biggest point of contention with said theory is how long it takes for anyone to get to that point. I read the book and heard of butlers in their 60s and CEOs of companies in their late 50s who had been with their respective companies or employers for decades. That’s all well and good, but let’s look at the facts for a quick minute...
First of all, employees who become millionaires under the flag of their companies or employers seem to be rarer with each passing year. The old dogma that a lot of people used to adhere to had to do with becoming a “company man” or, in other words, someone who defends and sticks with their company through thick and thin. The loyalty that these people gave to their companies used to garner loyalty back from the companies to the employee in question.
But frankly speaking, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find ANY company willing to take an employee through the hard times in this day and age. The wide availability of outsourcing companies makes it a breeze to replace a local employee with someone who will ask for a lot less money. Sure, the output of said employees is rarely satisfactory as the local’s were, but hey, at least they can afford Avaneeh right now, so he’ll have to do and your ass is out the door before you can say “I eat beef.”
More and more are we seeing a lack of trust from the employees to the companies in their ability to keep things afloat and keep them on board. This is more than understandable given how often we see the kinds of situations that I mentioned in the last paragraph, but it doesn’t have to keep you down.
In fact, I would argue that the idea of becoming a “company man” is the first thing you should toss out the window. Make yourself valuable within your field, not only within your company. If you want to demand high fees, you have to earn them, but if you specialize in the methods and structures of any one company, you’re going to have a hard time marketing yourself on those skills and making them relevant to other companies.
Do not get it twisted, I’m not saying you should blow off promotions or be completely unambitious if you are currently working for somebody else, but you shouldn’t necessarily hold your breath if you don’t see a future at your present company.
However, if you do insist on being an employee, my recommendation is to look at it from an investor’s perspective. You should be able to look at an array of companies, say “these are the ones that will likely have a good exit which will leave me wealthy” and work for those. Exercise your options, get equity and get your big payday when the exit happens if it does indeed happen.
In a way, your position is advantageous. If the company doesn’t have a big exit, you can move on to a better prospect, whereas the investor is stuck with the money invested unless the Bigger Fool Theory is realized, but that’s another topic for another day.
However, your chances of becoming wealthy will always be better if you decide to become a business owner. The amount of equity that you’ll have in a venture of your own will always make a transaction into wealth a more likely event since your exit doesn’t have to be as big as if you were an employee. With that said, you will be assuming most of the risk, but I will also address risk in a different essay in the near future, so be sure to check that out.
You may contend that starting a business is not a safe bet either, and you'd be right. But considering the amount of freedom that you get to operate and guide your business as you see fit, along with the substantially larger amount of equity that you get as an owner, the prospect should be enough to bring you over to the sensitive side of this debate.
Naturally if you do decide to have a go as an employee, even if temporarily, you should seek to position yourself as an authority in whatever career it is you’re engaged in. See the big picture, don’t work harder, work smarter and look out for number one.
One last thing, politics. Look, I hate politics as much as the next person, likely even more. But just because you and I hate them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. You should learn to play the game of politics without getting yourself too dirty. Don’t be a backstabbing asshole, give credit where credit is due and make yourself a company necessity. Follow that thread and prominent prospects will follow.
TL;DR:
- Wealthy employees are the exception, not the rule.
- If you completely abhor risk, there are ways to become wealthy working for somebody else, but you might as well just go for it by yourself.
- Make sure your wealth journey is well calculated, even as an employee.
Thank you SO MUCH for reading this all the way through. I'd be thrilled if you could help me out by following me and/or if you could spare 2 minutes to share what your thoughts on my piece are... I'll love you forever!
Previous Essays On Money:
- The Essence of Abundance: https://steemit.com/life/@bnt/bnt-report-1-the-essence-of-abundance
- Frugality Is Overrated: https://steemit.com/life/@bnt/bnt-on-money-2-frugality-is-overrated
- Experimenting Your Way To Riches: https://steemit.com/money/@bnt/bnt-on-money-3-experimenting-your-way-to-riches
- Greed Is Moronic: https://steemit.com/money/@bnt/bnt-on-money-4-greed-is-moronic
- Poverty Is A Mental Disease: https://steemit.com/money/@bnt/bnt-on-money-5-poverty-is-a-mental-disease
- Become An Adept Adapter: https://steemit.com/money/@bnt/bnt-on-money-6-become-an-adept-adapter