“Getting fired,’ Tyler says, ‘is the best thing that could happen to any of us. That way, we’d quit treading water and do something with our lives.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Comfort is natural. The pinnacle of human achievement, not having to worry about a single thing, food, shelter, sex. Our lives have all become treading water, doing just enough to survive but never enough to grow and thrive.
This is all well and good for those who wish to be comfortable, in fact according to Robert Kiyosaki, there are 4 types of people:
- Those who have to be right
- Those who want to be liked,
- Those who want to be comfortable
- Those who have to win.
My hope is to inspire and influence those who want to win.
As a man, your work is your purpose and vice versa. But what does this mean when in this day and age when most of our jobs seem meaningless and minimum wage is not even enough to afford rent in most places?
To me, your purpose should be to become successful, it is your duty and your obligation. Too many people don’t even live close to their potential but they’re surrounded by countless others who merely scrape by on the bottom.
We have no role models, no mentors, someone to show us the way. In the old days, your mentor was your boss, someone who would show you not just how to be a carpenter but also to be a man in life. Going to work was more than just collecting a paycheck, you were learning how to be a man, provide for your family, and be a meaningful contributor to your town.
Today, we have no such mentors. Out of the many jobs I’ve had the only ones ever enjoyed were the ones in which I had a strong man as my boss. Not necessarily nice, but a good man who made us all get our shit done. In the best example I used to work at a tire shop changing tires in the freezing cold/sweltering hot garage. The work was intense, and the pay wasn’t great. We used to have to always be running to the next job or car, there was no walking allowed.
Under normal circumstances I probably would quit much earlier- the work sucked. But this garage had an excellent head manager who looked after his shop and his people. When he stepped onto the floor, he suddenly became the hardest worker out there, moving faster and better than anyone else. This created massive respect amongst his fellow men.
Men need respect from other men, and also need to be able to respect another man. This boss also lifted weights regularly and was a muscular 210 pounds, something that I believe is crucial to earning the approval of men and others around you. When you’re in shape and fit, people take notice and inherently put more trust and confidence in you.
They might not say it aloud, but everyone will always respect the muscular in shape man versus the fat and out of shape man.
Continuing on, yes we had a good leader. But for me I needed something more. I wanted more money and more opportunities for it.
At the end of the day, very few jobs on this planet can give you the fulfillment and money you should desire of yourself to be able to get. There are some out there but they are few and far between, at least that you will be happy with long term.
Short term however, my advice is absolutely to get a job, really any job that can pay the bills and with a boss that you don’t despise. But every minute of the day in your employment you should be planning your next move, waiting for the time when you can strike out on your own and build your own empire for yourself, or at least upgrade to a much better job with exceptional pay.
If you’re reading this then I know you know what i’m talking about when I say you have an urge deep within you. A harboring of greatness, and a rejection of anything mediocre. This is what most jobs are, mediocre. This word is often replaced by a more popular and hip word, “normal”. This is the advice most people give you. Graduate high school, go to college and get a useless degree, graduate and get a normal job and have a normal family.
Ironically this is actually great advice for most people. As we talked about earlier, only 1 out of the 4 types of people really wants to win, leaving most people with the desire to be right or liked, or even comfortable. There’s really nothing wrong with any of these things. But as a man if you choose one of those paths you’re not allowed to complain that you don’t make enough money, have enough power, or get enough sex.
For the men who read this, those who want to win, we have a different objective.
If that’s you, quit your job.
No, not this very instant as that might be stupid, you should be patiently plotting and planning your next move. Once you have enough money saved up for a couple months of emergency cash you’re ready, and you’re never looking back.
In my case after a very poor paying job at an ice rink where I made $12.50 an hour a couple years ago I made the easy decision that that was something I would never ever do again. Getting a 2 week paycheck for a part time job of $300 bucks is downright embarrassing and pathetic. As soon as that job was over I set out on a path to make my own money, and lightyears faster than that racket.
At the advice of a friend, I started my own pressure washing and roof cleaning business. That friend had his own lawn care service but he knew someone who made $1,000 a day by cleaning stuff. I figured it couldn’t get much better than that and so I immediately went and bought a pressure washer and started to hit the pavement.
It took a few months, and I’ll write more about that story another time but a few months later I could proudly say I had hit the infamous $1,000 a day by pressure washing a house and cleaning their roof.
The ability to make this kind of money had permanently changed my perspective and resolve. I knew that no matter what I could succeed as long as I kept up my job getting skills and was able to do the work. This is my first piece of advice on your own. Learn a skill. Preferably something hard to do, or undesirable.
For example, getting the equipment to clean a roof and getting on a ladder is much more work than most homeowners are willing to do. This is a highly paid (100-200 an hour) skill. Electricians have a unique skill set, as do other contractors. Carpet cleaning is another example.
The thing I love about service business is that the competition is very slim. In any given city you may be competing with a maximum of 12 other businesses but there is likely more than enough work to go around. A very competitive business however is something online like being an online personal trainer. Believe me i’ve tried it and made some money at it but let me tell you, that market is unbelievably crowded. You can be the most in shape and popular person but the fact is that business likely has millions of other people competing for clients. Not a good situation. Yes you can have location freedom and all that good stuff but there’s no reason we can’t have that as well with your other businesses very soon (much sooner than you think).
Go where the money is and the least competition is. Drive to the furthest and best stocked lake. The local city lake likely has the smallest and overfished population but just one hour outside of town you can have the best fishing in the state.
My current market is homeowners. These folks all have jobs and a source of income. I can afford to be expensive and charge $300-1,300 for my services and have more customers than I know what to do with. Read some of my other articles for more business marketing and strategy pointers, here I want to focus on the why, the emotional reasons to chase the feeling inside of you telling you to achieve more.
You can feel it deep inside you. Everytime you see a nicer car drive by, every time you waste time scrolling on instagram and see the dude on the boat surrounded by women in bikinis, I know because I have these same thoughts and many times have wasted precious time by scrolling and seeing other people live their lives instead of living my own.
Will it be easy? No, of course not. But it will be worth it. If you take the time to learn a valuable skill and have the ability to make $1,000 a day you will soon see what I mean.
Money aside, the pure freedom to go when you want, to work for only folks you want to, to take a piss when you want to instead of having to ask, these are all the small joys that me and so many other men who took the plunge get to experience every day.
What are you waiting for?
- Spencer
P.s. If you need or want more help, send me an email at the contact page and we can chat.