To employ means to use. I like being useful but I don’t so much like being used.
I read once that Will Smith said “there is no need for a plan B, it will just distract from plan A.” I think Will Smith is a yutz and it seems like an oversimplification like so many other pithy quotes but it holds some truth in it and that’s why it has stuck in my head. The most successful entrepreneurs have their 3 or 4 things that they HAVE to get done today no matter what and they don’t let ANYTHING get in the way.
I’ve heard the same thing about writers. Sometimes I hear stories about Hunter S. Thompson for example, writers of various stripes who have the most ridiculous routines and I think “how in the world are they functional or successful at all?” You can research the routines of various writers and find incredible variation in their day to day lives, but you know the one thing they all have in common? They write.
They don’t just talk about writing, they don’t just plan their writing, they don’t take classes about writing, they don’t do market research, they don’t all just get a lucky break with a publishing deal, the one thing they all have in common is simply that they write. To be a writer means that you write. It really doesn’t HAVE to include anything else.
I think a similar idea applies to entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur is someone who owns a business. That’s it. That doesn’t mean they are the best at networking, that doesn’t mean they were born into the right circumstances with people who could guide them on the path, that doesn’t mean that they took a class on business, it doesn’t mean that they are the smartest people or even the most hard working. It just means that they took action. They started. They took responsibility. They stopped talking about it and they just did what they wanted to see happen in the world.
I noticed myself caught in a mental trap today. I have so much fear about making enough money, so much fear that I can’t make it. I’m always thinking about how to maximize my income because my income is rather low (compared to the people around me). I keep thinking about getting a job. I already have two jobs, in addition to the work I do on my own business but I keep thinking that if I can just get another job that might be the answer. Today I remembered there is no escape as long as I am working for other people.
“The salary is the drug they give you to forget your dreams.” I believe I heard that from Josh Tolley, I don’t know if he is the originator of the quote. Why is it a trap? If you find someone with a dream and a vision you would like to help, is that not a good thing on the whole? My mother used to say “if you don’t control yourself, someone else will.” Here’s why it’s a trap: you are no longer able to fulfill your full potential. You are handcuffed to someone else’s dream.
The best entrepreneurs (not just the most successful although there is a high correlation) are not worried about the money. It’s not about the money to them, it’s about the mission. The money is a by-product. If you are dialed in on serving the highest form of truth, the highest calling, the heaviest cross you can bear and you are disciplined and dedicated to maximizing your impact on it, the money will come. Money is only what people agree it is in a given time and place. Money is a medium of exchange of value. Its utility is a spiritual function. It represents the value that one person assigns to another person or to their labor or to the product they might be able to provide.
It takes real dedication to get clean. Ask anyone who went through recovery from drug addiction. I suspect that unplugging from the matrix of the paycheck cycle is much the same. You have to start waking up early on purpose because you are self-motivated, not just because someone is making you. You need to find people who understand what you are trying to do that you can turn to for support. You’re going to have to end some of your relationships with people like your drug dealers and they are most likely not going to be happy about it. If you’re going to walk the path of recovery you’re going to have to get in touch with that inner voice deep down, you’re going to need to surrender yourself to a higher power.
I have experienced so many months where I didn’t know how the rent was going to be paid next month but it keeps getting paid somehow. In 2019 God reminded me that He is totally in control and He will take care of me, He will provide for my needs, He will keep me where I am until He needs me somewhere else. Just as quickly as the gig that tripled my income started, 11 months later it ended. It was a good reminder that I am not the one ultimately in control. I still had to show up and do the job well of course but my job is to push the boulder, God can get it up the hill if and when He wants.
So I have chosen to sail the seas of consequence. I decided today that I am done looking for jobs. I am not updating my resume. I’m not going to bother seeing what’s out there. I do not need a plan B, it will only distract from plan A. My purpose is noble, my cause is just, my path is straight and I am ready to go to battle for the Lord. He has blessed me with the ability to see the path, to know my calling, to be able to set my aim. My responsibility is to be a good steward of that blessing. Not to let it sit there in fear that I might mess it up. Looking for a job, staying on this drug, not venturing forth, getting distracted by the noise is all equivalent to spitting in the face of God.
Don’t spit in God’s face.
Find your calling.
Get to work.
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