KNESSET TOWERS

Archive for October, 2009

Do you enjoy working in a sport shirt, slacks, and sneakers? Or do you prefer neat khaki work clothes? Perhaps you have other favorite clothes in which you feel comfortable. No matter what your favorite clothing is, you can wear it when you work at home.
Other conditions which can make you more comfortable while you work are lack of noise, a cool working space, freedom from interruption, proper light, a pleasant view, and handy equipment and supplies. You can have all these and more conveniences when you work in your own home. Will they be expensive? No; you can furnish your office or shop at low cost when you start your business. Then, as profits increase, you can replace worn out or inefficient equipment.
One of my good friends, Tom B., worked for several large companies without much success. Finally, after twenty years of poor luck, he told me his troubles. He couldn’t hold a job because he disliked taking orders and liked to drink homemade apple cider. As we talked it became clear that Tom, while ambitious and capable, was actually an independent thinker. He was really cut out to be in his own business, instead of taking orders from vice presidents in large companies.
“Tom,” I said, “did you ever consider going into your own business?”
“I’ve dreamed of it many times,” he said.
“Then what’s stopping you?” I asked.
He pondered this for several minutes before he said “I guess you might say I’m afraid.”
“That’s foolish, Tom. You’re afraid you won’t make good with a large company because you’re an independent thinker. And you’re also afraid to go into business for yourself. Give fear the boot by deciding what you want to do. Then do it.”
Tom did. He went into the chicken feed business because he lived in a poultry farm area. Today he works his own hours three days a week and drinks apple cider the other four. As he remarked recently, “I find it very comfortable working at home, away from nasty memos, insolent vice presidents, and bossy secretaries. I should have done this years ago.”

You can start at the bottom in a large corporation today and rise to the top—if you’re lucky and if you’re willing to wait thirty to thirty-five years. By the time you reach the top you may be so weak and so worn out from the competition with other people that you can’t enjoy the results of your labors. Worse yet, you may work for years, giving all your energies and time to the company. Then your department may be reorganized, or merged with another, and you may be demoted, discharged, or laid off “until business picks up a little.”
You can move ahead ten times faster, and with much greater satisfaction, in your own business. Why spend thirty years waiting for the big promotion when you can earn as much, or more, in your own business within three years, or less? Hundreds of top executives say to me every year “If I worked as hard for myself as I do for this company I’d be a millionaire many times over. Yet, what do they pay me here? Peanuts!”
The older you get, the more Important It becomes that you move ahead fast. A business of your own has the ideal advantage of combining fast success with a disregard for age. Try It and seal