The Best Job in the World
One of the greatest social trends I have seen in recent years is the rise of entrepreneurship, self-branding, and individualism. More people, especially the younger generation, are bold to challenge the cultural norms when it comes to work-traditions.
Three years ago, when you see someone talking to a camera in public, you might find it weird, awkward, or even laughable. However, for me personally, when I see someone vlogging themselves or capturing footage of their daily lives today, I see a person pursuing their dream and success —all while having freedom.
Growing up, especially in a collectivistic and traditional culture, I was taught that a good-paying job, a family, and a house with a yard is the ultimate goal. But now, as you look at many people talking about their business ventures and personal lives online, and compare that to a corporate 8-5 job holder, you doubt the validity of the traditional goal.
The Unseen Risk of a Corporate 8-5
So often we hear people say that entrepreneurship and starting a business carries a lot of risks. Or even "only a good risk-taker can excel in the realm of entrepreneurship." You might be in your thirties, looking at your kids playing next to you, the risk of entrepreneurship turns the idea of starting a business into a dream. No matter how miserable you might be at your current job, the uncertainty of entrepreneurship almost forces you back to your corner of misery-camouflaged-stability.
But is that really the case?
Sadly, yes, to a certain extend. As a business owner, you are responsible for the capital, its success and failures, and all of which can fall on you and your family. However, in today's age of modern technology advancement, there is a much bigger picture to consider.
As a corporate job holder, time is not your friend. Your value (for most people) will not increase with time. The new generation of workers will come in year after year, with their innovative ideologies and perspective, replacing the old. And, even more so today than ever, corporate job holders are in a race against AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning. As Gary Vaynerchuck once said, "When you compete with technology, you will lose."
Entrepreneurs, however, your value will increase in time. Your skills, your audience, your brand awareness, with consistent output, will only increase with time. Once you are on track, your monetary potential grows exponentially.
Therefore, I think entrepreneur does carry a certain degree of risk, but the risk they carry is short-term, while long term risks are controllable. Corporate jobholders, on the other hand, have a very minimal short-term risk, while suffering from a high long-term risk of being replaced.
So, Entrepreneurship, Self-Branding, What Now?
I am no business expert, I have never launched or ran a successful business. Similar to you, I am a regular corporate 8-5 person, starting on my path of entrepreneurship. There are millions of content offering different advice on how to start, but one thing seems to be consistent across all materials: and that is “create”.
Create, Create, Create
Start accumulating work. Put yourself out there. create value for your audience. Among all, the easiest way to start is with your words. Start writing about things you are passionate about and speak out on things that matter to you. And believe me, your writing skills aren't as important as you think. Your goal should be resonating with your readers, not to impress them.
Also note that the modern age wants us to speak out, and it doesn't care if you are an introvert. If you want to create a brand, you need to vocalize yourself and your personality. Your brand, your products, can be duplicated. But no one is ever going to be able to duplicate YOU.
As you start to generate value consistently, your readers population start to grow, and your audience starts to get broader. In this case, you generate something called, "Attention Economy." This is an ideology that human attention is a scarce commodity, and if you have their attention, you can translate that into business results.
The Best Job in the World
So what is the best job in the world? The answer to that question is completely subjective to personal opinions. One may seek something easy, some might want a sense of purpose, many might want the fattest paycheck in the shortest amount of time possible.
Personally, I think the notion of "Best Job in the World" must have the following characteristics: a sense of purpose, have monetary traction, autonomy, respect, and able to adapt to the future. And the position that best fit under such categories is being a Key Opinion Leader (KOL). A KOL may include being a YouTuber, blogger, social media influencer.
When you look at the amount of time it takes to dabble into the realm of "making it" (I use the term making it relatively loosely here), being a KOL stands out with a relatively short amount of time:
Jury - 15 years
Doctor - 10 years
Lawyer - 7 years
Pilot - 6 years
KOL - roughly 2 years (with consistently creating value and churning out content).
However, it is important to note that those 2 years listed above can paint an easily misunderstood picture. The reality is, essentially, there is no shortcut to success, and there is no guarantee of success. KOL can be a tough field, especially in the early stages of seeing little engagements and audience. But, theoretically, it gets better with time and dedication. Your selfless generation of values builds audience slowly; and as audience size slowly broadens, you accumulate Audience Interest and begin to set foot on the path to generating wealth while having freedom and purpose. A job that lacks audience or purpose is easily replaced, so therefore you should start building yours.
