| I like this message a lot. I expect my dedication to one career niche years ago got the big picture out of the way. Must have helped me appreciate the near-term smaller things when they come along. I think there can be life/career "obligations", life/career "responsibilities", and life/career "goals" in many ways. Sometimes when it seems like "life" vs. "career" might be at odds with each other, it might be because underlying obligations, responsibilities, or goals are not well sorted to begin with. Things like this are not always going to be well aligned if ever, but it can be an unfair advantage if there is more harmony rather than less. >I realize how complicated it can be and how little you end up doing the thing you truly enjoy. But these things are essential to business, especially if you are going to make the most of the (profitable[0]) part you truly enjoy on a daily basis. So you need to get it under your belt early and start devising how you will overcome any compromising effect. >what you would like to accomplish from a life standpoint in the next decade what would you say? Same thing. Just doing it is an accomplishment. Every decade it has gotten easier in the career even though there have been major life upsets financially and operationally from repeated natural disasters. Now for the next ten years I'm going to take advantage of the increased opportunities. [0] As long as it's profitable, you don't have to pick the absolutely most profitable operation you can do. This can be a lot easier to accomplish if there is not really any greed factor, you still need a desire for a lucrative sustainable or growable opportunity, but you do not need to be obsessed when it comes to making every dollar that is somewhat within reach. Especially at other people's disadvantage. Sometimes the less aggressive business operator comes out way ahead of the shooting star. It could be like getting 250K for being on-call 24/7 vs 100K for easy office hours, either extreme may not be ideal for most so it may be best when there is some choice about how things like this balance out. |
Totally agree. I've seen or been a part of some startups (not the Silicon Valley kind) that made payroll but not much else and the effort that was required to get that (from leadership) was close to what I'd call all consuming. If I start something I want to go in eyes wide open but the more they are open the less I think what you hear about online matches most realities. By that I mean most small business offer a mediocre salary (for the owner(s)) for way more work than you'd do with an job/employer and you're still subject to outside demands that make you do the "not fun" stuff. You hear that if it's something you love then you haven't worked a day... but IME that's BS. Yes, if you work for yourself there are good parts but there may be more parts outside your control (payroll, taxes, employee issues etc) and I've seen it where they take so much effort to stay on top of that it's hard to work "on the business".
With all that said I'm trying to separate wanting the idea of a business from the realities of owning/operating one. I added it because it's been on my list for a long time and I've put a lot of effort towards understanding the "right way" so there is some part of me that feels like I'd be regretful if I didn't try at least one time with 100% effort.
Also the mind space I was in when I asked the question was one of "what do I want to put on my career & life resume for the next decade".
Thank you! I appreciate your input.