Someone telling me what to do is never up for debate. I alone, decide what that will be.
I call my own shots.
If ever I am in a postition that does not allow me to exercise my free will at all times, predictably, that situation is going to end badly.
In somewhat of a heated exchange a few weeks ago, a women said to me, "I don't own this. I'm not free to do what I want."
Well, that's the difference between you and me.
I do own.
I am free to do what I want.
Should I have spoken all my mind, it would have gone like this- I honestly think you're a worker drone ass kisser who has every minute of every day dictated for you by someone else.
There is nothing about your life that I admire, nor would aspire.
I find you uninteresting, room temperature at best, and immediately bland. No spark. No creativity. A big bunch of bleh on a plate.
Everything you do is with the herd. No individuality. And furthermore, if I had it to do over again, I would have played it the same way.
This coming week, Entrepreneur Chick is being interviewed on a radio show- people ask me all the time, "Can anyone be an entrepreneur?"
My answer? No.
If you find that someone telling you what to do is the most distasteful and detestable thing you could possibly imagine- if you've been fired from several jobs for not getting your way, than I'd say you're probably an entrepreneur. With the right type of hard work, vision and grit, big money could be just around the corner in about ten years.
Yes, ten years.
Nothing is easy and nothing is quick.
Here are fifteen other signs that you might access as to how well matched you are at being a true, dyed in the wool, ain't nobody gonna boss you around entrepreneur:
1.Your business is your life and your passion
2.You take action then think about it
3.You don’t like people telling you what to do
4.You dream about your business
5.You always find new ways to do everything
6.You hate small talk
7.You don’t actually read fine print or long contracts
8.You expect things to happen instantly
9.You hate waiting in line
10.You don’t like meetings
11.You look forward to your workday
12.You have a ten minute attention span
13.You don’t read long emails
14.You write short emails and people think you’re blunt
15.You hate hearing that you’re wrong
P.S. I actually enjoy meetings because I always learn something new and more often than not, someone ends up handing me a check at the end.
I expect things to happen quicky, but have learned, alas, that they do not. Slow and steady really does win the race.
.jpg)
Can I ask how you got on at school?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was running my web design business, and moving in circles of lots of self employed people, one thing I discovered that was almost universal.
Nearly everyone who worked for themselves did not get on well, or seriously despised, school.
Either they were expelled, left school early, were constantly in trouble or were dyslexic at a time when it wasn't recognised.
And none of them was head boy or girl.
My theory was those who did well at school, were those who learned how to take orders and do as they were told.
Those who did not, were not brainwashed by the system and learned to think for themselves rather than just blindly obey.
Of course there were always exceptions - but they were exceptions, not the rule. The vast majority of self employed/entrepreneurs I've known have been independent thinkers from a young age, and that always brought them into conflict at school, where the empahisis was to do as we are told.
So, EC, what were your school days like :)
Kim,
ReplyDeleteThat is such an excellent observation! You're so right. Most of us did not get on well at school.
How about YOU? Did you do what I did?
In elementary school, I'd fake illness, which I had down to a science. I had two ploys that my mother, who though very smart and naturally sceptical, would fall for nonetheless.
My mother had two rules. You could stay home from school IF you were:
(1) Running a fever.
(2) Throwing up.
So, being an inventive little entrepreneur even back then, I'd carefully stand with my cheeks to the heater in the hallway- weakly walk into my mother's room and sorrowfully say, "Feel me, Mom. I think I'm sick."
"Oh my God. You're burning up. Get back in bed!"
You can't just run a fever all the time, mind you, so it's good to add in a little puke.
Enter instant oatmeal. Ah, yes. You mix it up, stand on the tile in the kitchen for maximum effect and go: "BAAAAAAAARF!" while simultaneously splattering the oatmeal.
Go back into your mother's bedroom and sadly explain what's happened.
"Well, I'm not cleaning it up. Clean it up and get back in bed."
You could also use "the stomach ache" in that, who can really verify your symptoms? You might throw up, you might run a fever. Better not to push it. Back to bed I go.
Or, if she wouldn't let me go back to bed while you're still at home, how bad can you make your mother look when you pathetically call from the principal's office and plead to go home because your stomach hurts so bad?
What kind of a mother are you in not allowing your sweet little girl to come home, eh?
In junior high, I'd wait until they put my name on the absentee slip and clip it to the classroom door.
DUH. I'd simply go by, scratch my name off their stupid list, and I was FREE for that hour. Then I'd hitch hike to the college and pretend I was seven or eight years older then I really was. Kick around campus corner and flirt with the boys on the football team. Very fun.
The only thing I hated worse than school was actually being sick, of which, I seldom was.
I loved college though and mostly could carry a four point average. (Minus math classes.)
As you say, Kim, "My theory was those who did well at school, were those who learned how to take orders and do as they were told."
Yup.
Not me. Not you.
Not me either. I did not enjoy being told what to do. I like being my own boss in life. People have sometimes told me they find me blunt. I'm not rude but I am honest. When I was teaching the children generally loved me (they told me they did, I'm not bragging!) and other members of staff had a problem with me. I didn't manipulate or patronise the children and was unfailingly honest and fair with them. I treated them the way I wanted to be treated as a child at school and wasn't. Some other staff members felt I was too fair with them!!! I like thinking "out of the box". It makes life an adventure. I love reading your blog. It makes me think and I like that. :)
ReplyDeleteGoodness me, I think I'll have to try and write shorter blog posts from now on...
ReplyDeleteThis is solid gold, EC! This will go down like a storm over the airwaves, I think.
I think I'm in the club! I don't read fine print, and I CANNOT STAND people telling me what to do. Being in the workforce always makes me believe that there's got to be something better than just getting ordered around for a living, y'know?
I do like small talk, though. With people I know, at least. Am I out of the running?
I was never that good at math. Just barely made it out of Statistics alive...
I think, however, that people who didn't do well in school, will succed in life only if they are surrounded by those who did well in school. In other words, they'll need both good, competent advisors and performers.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand ,those who did well in school might succeed as 'stand alones' as they have the inner discipline and perseverance without which nothing can be achived.
Mimi & Tilly,
ReplyDeleteI think I would have liked to be one of the children in your class. I bet it would have worked out. :)
From what I've read of you, you seem so awesome. Really, REALLY like ya, girl.
Postie,
ReplyDeleteYou know you're in. I've already told you, you're going to big, big places.
Duta,
ReplyDeleteI truly agree with that. I'm very much happy that my accountant, book keeper, bankers and lawyers all seemed to do well in school!