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5 Ways to Make Marriages Work

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So, a few weeks ago during the middle of the Millennials as Entrepreneurs series, there was a little article that made some waves in my Facebook News Feed. While many friends agreed with it, Maria and I kinda thought it was a little off center.

As we were reading it, it occurred to both of us that the problems that the author, Anthony D’Ambrosio, noticed were superficial problems. That said, I think in general that the problems that many Millennials have are due to much deeper problems. Problems that are going to take some actual time and possibly some self investigation to figure out.

So, here’s my tough love advice in how Millennials (well, really, anyone) can make marriages work. After reading this list, I hope you’ll have better luck in the marriage department!

Statement 1: Sex Becomes Almost Non-existent

My Response: Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

First and foremost, let’s not confuse sex columnists with relationship columnists. They are not one in the same. Sex experts generally run in the same circles as pickup artists and porn stars, while you usually find relationship columnists in circles of people like John Maxwell, Les Brown, or a Gary Chapman. They’re typically not the same people.

Need an example of who you might listen to? Ok. Then let’s take an example that I’m sure you’re familiar with: Dr. Drew Pinsky of Loveline.

Now, Dr. Drew has been in many of our lives since we were growing up. (It’s still hard for me to not think of him AND Adam Carolla hosting the show.) However, he’s not just about sex, even though many of us would think he is. He’s actually a licensed Physician and Surgeon. On top of that he’s been married since 1991 and has a couple of kids. So obviously, you can listen to him as he does have experience.

In contrast, sex educators like Emily Morse and Sandra Daugherty, while they might actually have credentials to talk about sex, you can tell just by listening to their podcasts that they have issues with relationships.

Also, you’ll also notice that in the political spectrum, relationship experts are generally more conservative while sex experts are more liberal.

So make sure you’re getting advice from the right kind of expert here.

Now that we have that ironed out, here’s something else to consider. Gary Chapman’s book, The 5 Love Languages tells you all you need to know about filling up your partner’s love tank. In the article, Anthony says that sex is the “most important part” of a relationship. Well, there’s a type of person that’s like that in Gary’s book. There’s also 4 other types of people who think that the most important part are other things.  One guess is that Anthony and his spouse might not have had matching love languages.

My recommendation? Find a partner who shares the same love language you have so that you don’t have to think about what fuels their fire, so to speak. 

Statement 2: Finances Cripple Us

My Response: Learn How to Live Under Your Means

Having grown up as the only child of a single mom, I’ve kind of always known about the problems of the household. People need to vent at times and frankly who else was she going to tell? Of the many things that my mom could have talked about, the thing that she did talk about the most was finances. I think mainly because she didn’t understand them herself until she was in her late 40’s. Even then, she wasn’t a master. So she made sure that I was interested enough to study them myself. In the end, I learned how to be frugal. Lol, who am I kidding. I might suffer from being a tight wad… but I’d sooner be that than out on the streets.

One of the things that Anthony talks about is that he can’t live life because of all the debt he has.

Well. I don’t have debt. Not much, anyway. Hell, I didn’t even have a credit card until a couple of years ago. Why? Cause either a.) I worked my tail off to get what I wanted in college and bought with cash. or b.) mom helped.

NEEDS vs WANTS

However, her helping me didn’t come free. There was a trade off somewhere. Many times my WANTS were put aside for my NEEDS. For example, I’ve never owned a brand new car. Would I like one, sure. Who wouldn’t? But instead at college, I rolled around in my 1983 Oldsmobile Firenza and later my 1995 Chrysler Lebaron. I made the trade of getting a college degree vs having a sporty looking import. (A side note, it’s 2015 and I just scored an awesome 2007 Dodge Magnum. Pretty pimp if I do say so myself. Has the space for the future me but the engine of the now me!)

Another want? To go on vacation. Like, for it to be paid for and not worry about money. As far as vacations go, the last vacation I took was my honeymoon in 2013. Thanks to gifts from my wedding. Before that, the last vacation I had was in 2003 to Las Vegas… where I didn’t play anything more than $50 at the slots? All other trips I’ve taken have been road trips to visit family. Not really vacation.

Don’t judge your life based on other’s high points.

Another thing he mentions is that he sees others having awesome lives. That we’re “forced to see the life everyone else is living.”

I don’t know what kind of life he’s living, but the awesome pictures that I see others posting on Facebook and other social media are more than likely those people’s high points. To judge yourself based on an endless stream of those highs, is really not fair to yourself. So stop it. Seriously. The people who travel all the time? They probably aren’t in a steady relationship unless you see that person too. The person who posts pictures of their family? They probably desperately want some alone time. One thing that has helped me out quite a bit is learning how to curate my news feed. Now all I get are pictures of cats, memes, and political stuff. Totally ok by me!

That said, if you have no idea how finances work, then you’re going to be the victim of your circumstances. Unfortunately, that rarely ends up at an ideal destination. Want to start learning about finance? A great source would be Dave Ramsey’s show and/or podcast. He’ll give you all the tough love you want.

Statement 3:We’re more connected than ever before, but completely disconnected at the same time.

My Response: Put down the controller and go outside, kid.

People who can’t learn to put down their phone or tablet or put down their laptop, apparently were never told to go play outside as a kid. I admit that I am the definition of a gamer and even I know when I’ve had enough. But that’s because I’ve been around technology all my life. I was a geek before it was trendy. I have this clock inside of me that tells me when it’s time to do something productive.

So, first hand, I’ll tell you this: If you want to lose time quickly, stare and interact with a screen that has moving things on it. Time will fly by, I guarantee it. Likewise, as an adult, poking at social media all day isn’t any different. The same synapses are firing in your brain.

Going outside to play makes life slow down as a kid. As an adult, putting down your phone and just being present is what you should be striving towards. Stop worrying about things you can’t control. You’ll drive yourself insane if you do otherwise. Don’t let your social media and technology control you. Learn to control it. Learn to know when enough is enough.

Statement 4: Our desire for attention outweighs our desire to be loved

My Response: There’s an empty hole inside you, dear serial selfie taker.

I have never taken a selfie. Not once. Have I had other take a picture of me? Yes, of course. There’s a difference. In my case, a big difference. I’ve never enjoyed having pictures of me taken – even when I was a kid. I know a part of it was that I didn’t like looking good in pictures – that kind of still lingers to this day. However, I think the biggest thing was that I didn’t like being the focus of attention. I’ve never been interested in being a celebrity.

However, there’s a difference in being a celebrity vs what celebrities have, don’t get me wrong. If I could be a part of the infamous 1%, I would. Even with the media hating on them and people constantly trying to assassinate them or the need of constantly having to worry about million dollar deals on a daily basis, I’d think that would be awesome. Why? Simply because with money does come options to help people in ways that no one person can do otherwise and frankly, who wouldn’t want the ability to have the finer things in life if it was desired?

But outside of being a teacher and speaker, I have no interest in being in front of people. If I am going to be in front of people, I better be adding value to them. 

Statement 5: Social media just invited a few thousand people into bed with you.

My Response: This is actually a continuation of Statement 4…

Ok, so you don’t take selfies. I’ll give you points for that. But why would people feel it necessary to take pictures of their wardrobes? Or during their date? Why? What’s that going to get them? Again… you’re going for bragging rights or least some form of being a celebrity. The last I heard, true celebrities are made the old fashioned way. They’re selected by the powers that be. Just because some people Liked your last Instagram picture, doesn’t make you an insta-celebrity. If you want people to stick around in your life, leave them feeling better than when they came in it. They’ll never forget you.

So, that’s just my 2p…

What about you? Are you or anyone you know struggling with the above problems? Are you guilty of some of these? Is your significant other? How about a friend and their mate? Did you say anything similar to what I’ve said above? In the comments below, I’d like to hear about cases in your life… and if they were a friend, what you told them!

Giving Yourself a Chance to Succeed at Being 1 of 10 Business Archetypes

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But First a June 2015 Update…

Hope you’re all having a awesome mid June. Mine is progressing interestingly. Things are going smoothly with the development of the podcast. I believe I have the intro to the point where I’m going to be happy with it. Can’t wait to get started “interviewing” which will commence very soon, I’m sure!

I use quotes with interviewing because I’m still thinking about what kind of format the podcast is going to be in. I listened to Pat’s recent session with Michael O’Neal from the Solopreneur Hour and one of the things that stuck with me was his format. I enjoyed it quite a bit… and frankly I think it fits the style of what I’m trying to do here. So, as of now, I’m leaning more towards just chatting with guests similar to what he does there. So check out his podcast if you’re curious in how that might work.

So somewhere I had that…

Oh yeah. Speaking of podcasts, one I heard probably a month or two ago now is the Fizzle Show session 91 via our friends over at Fizzle.co. In that particular episode, they spoke about 10 Business Archetypes that use an online presence to build their business. Here’s the quick run down of the list:

  • The Teacher
  • The Thought Leader
  • The Mediapreneur
  • The Freelancer
  • The Coach
  • The Artist
  • The Maker
  • The Curator
  • The Engineer and…
  • The Retailer

Now, if you’re looking to start a business, you should probably consider which of these you’re more than likely going to be. Each one will use internet marketing differently to get customers. The teacher is going to make and sell their own digital products online, while the Artist might have online products but more than likely will lean heavier on marketing. Also, believe it or not, there’s different strategies that the teacher and thought leader uses than the mediapreneur will use. (Which… without listening, they probably all sound the same! They’re not. :))

First Thing’s First: Give Yourself a Chance by Focusing

To be successful as any of the names on the list, you’ll need to give yourself a chance to be successful. Just like anything you start, you’ll want to make sure that you FOCUS on being just one. This is really important. Focus on One subject. One project. One product. One Thing. Just because you could cram for tests in school doesn’t mean that that “skill” correlates to the real world.

In the past, I have tried to focus on several things at one time. Nothing ever got done well that way. A good example was in 2012 when I was trying to teach part time, be a coach, learn from the Foundation, have a hand in LTD/Amway (which I still believe is a great opportunity) and build New Inceptions. Yeah… don’t do that.

Here I am, three years later… and ::cough:: yeah. Say this with me: Focus. Is. Key.

Now that I’m sitting comfortably using Fizzle as my community and working specifically on building New Inceptions, my work ethic has been the best it’s been in a long while… maybe since grad school (which is saying something!).

Tired of Goals? Try Having None

Another thing I’m trying (at least partially) in building New Inceptions is something suggested on Zen Habits: having no goals. Or as Leo says it The Best Goal is No Goals. The idea is simple: Just Do. Don’t worry about some made up list. Just pursue your passion and the result will be great.

I believe that’s kinda what I’m doing. I’m currently going through a Building A Blog that Matters Course via Fizzle. Each week I get an email of new things I should do that week. But you know what? Each time a new email comes to me, I look at it as a suggestion of things I could be doing that week. A reminder if you will. What’s funny, is that many times I find myself seeing things I’ve already done.

I’m feel that as long as I have a framework to work in, it’s all good. Keeping metrics and recordings actually hinders my creativity.

What Leo says is true in the same post: “In the end, I usually end up achieving more than if I had goals, because I’m always doing something I’m excited about. But whether I achieve or not isn’t the point at all: all that matters is that I’m doing what I love, always.”

So my question to you this week is simply this:

What are you doing to make sure your project, business, and/or other work is getting worked on? Have you had problems with focusing in the past? Chime in the comments below. Also, if you think what I’ve said is bogus, let me know that too!

A Look at Today’s “Lost Generation” – Are We Repeating History?

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Last week, I completed the 10 part series of why Millennials should strongly consider being entrepreneurs sometime during their career. I strongly believe those who lead this movement are going to be the leaders of not only their own businesses, but the next generation as a whole.

In part 6 of the series, I touched briefly on how many believe that Millennials are the today’s Lost Generation. However, I didn’t spend much time actually defining what the means.

We’ve seen the problem we have today before. In fact, the last generation which was actually referred to the Lost Generation was the generation that came of age during World War 1. In a story involving Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, a garage owner referring to a young mechanic called those who had been through the war as une génération perdue – translating as “a lost generation”. Furthermore he added, “That is what you are. That’s what you all are… all of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation.”

Looking back we can understand why he might have said this. The events surrounding the war led to young people realizing that life was going to be rough for them. This belief was backed by many promising young lives being lost as casualties in the war itself. So, of course those who survived are going to be potentially depressed and not care as much about their career and place in life. Obviously, there was probably a lot of undiagnosed PTSD going around.

Furthermore, the world that they learned about from their parents didn’t exist anymore. So naturally they questioned the principles of their parents’ generation. Combine this all together and you get a lack of certainty, direction, and purpose. This led many to search for deeper meanings and truths. Finally leading many American artists and writers to Europe as “wanderers of culture”. Hemingway and Stein were a part of this group.

It sounds to me that the phrase “Lost Generation” was more of truthful description back then. While the comment the shop owner said was probably meant to be an insult, it actually had a lot of truthfulness to it.

The Past Can Help Predict the Future:

In Strauss and Howe’s Generational Theory, there is a noticeable cycle of eras spanning roughly 20 years called turnings. These turnings are caused by generational events which define the turning’s mood.

According to many out there (especially this subreddit on reddit.com), there are a lot of similarities of the Millennials to the Lost Generation. We’ve both had a war to fight which wasn’t really ours to fight. (Both, many would say, were started for questionable reasons as well.) We’ve both also had to come to terms with a world we weren’t programmed since birth for. The list goes on. To many out there, it’s not a great time to live in.

Young adults everywhere are questioning the whole “Get good grades, go to college, and get a good job to support a happy family” plan. And it makes perfect sense in why they’re doing that. For one, the jobs aren’t there which you need a degree for. And frankly, the end result didn’t really happen for our parents half the time. So why follow their plan if we see it not working?

So yeah, Millennials could be seen as the New Lost Generation. Sure. There’s definitely a case for that.

However, if you really look at the Generational Theory, you’d see that Strauss and Howe believe that Generation X was the most recent Nomad Generation (which is what the Lost Generation was) – not the Millennials. In that same vein of the thought, the GI Generation (aka the Greatest Generation) were those that came after the Lost Generation and took the world by the horns.  This group is who they compare Millennials to. People remember them. Generally we don’t remember the Lost Generation.

Interesting, huh?

Going from Good to Great

So, the summary is this. We are kind of a mixed generation. There are those of us who are caught up in the “I’m a victim of the times I live in” mentality. Those that are Lost. And then there’s those of us who want to be Great. We realize the world could be better, yes, and we’re driven to make it that way again.

So the question is… which one are you? If you consider yourself part of the Great, what are you going to do to make this world better then how you found it? Below let’s talk about what you’re doing and how you’re paying it forward.

Millennials as Entrepreneurs, Part 10 of 10: Where To Get Started

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In the end, as I mentioned in the last part, the decision is yours to make in whether or not being an entrepreneur is right for you.

 

A few good questions that I’d recommend asking yourself can be found in this article:

 

  • Are you comfortable with uncertainty?
  • Are you willing to put off good for the great (even though the great isn’t guaranteed?)
  • Can you wear multiple hats when needed?
  • Can you deal with a daily emotional roller coaster?
  • Can you stay committed to building a successful business even though there will be plenty of barriers set before you?

 

If you answer yes to all of these, then you’re good to go. If you realize that life is not a practice run, I don’t see how you can’t say no. Everyone deserves an adventure in their life to find out what they’re made of.

 

Personally believe that we only live life once and we should all at least try going solo once. Maybe it works out, maybe it doesn’t and it’s a big learning experience. Either way, at least you’d know.

 

Figure Out Your Type of Business

 

As we’ve explored, there’s plenty of business opportunities out there. Which one will work best for you? The main thing that I want you to think about is that there’s really no true offline business anymore. I mean, you can be, but you’ll be doing yourself a major disservice.

 

Even if you decide to go towards starting say… a daycare, for example, you should probably be adding some sort of online element. Parents would love to check up on the activities that are going on with their kids and what adventures they’re going on from day to day. Heck, if you get something like a GoPro, then perhaps you can strap one on to them from time to time and see what they see? Or heck, start writing a blog about tips and tricks to correspond with what they did during the day (This is just me thinking out loud.) Can you imagine how many customers/kids this daycare would get vs those that didn’t?

 

Educate Yourself, Leaders are Learners

 

Remember, as a business owner you need to be a leader. One thing I learned out of being in LTD was that Leaders are Readers. However, you don’t need to actually read books. You need to be learning. Whether or not you’re learning from audio books or listening to podcasts, or watching educational videos, you need to be learning regularly.

 

The best thing you can do is not look at it as a chore, but as part of your strategy. Start utilizing a filing method (Evernote or something similar would be useful) so that when you have say a post or doing something new, you can fall back on that information. That fresh perspective on the topic will make you look good to your customers.

 

Affiliate – Find a Community that Supports Your Decision

 

Another thing that will help is affiliation. Learn about your potential community before you dive into it. There’s different ways you can do that. You can mingle with potential customers, or you can mingle with other like minded people who are in charge of their own startup. Both have huge benefits in being involved with!

 

B2C Groups – Going to groups that have potential clients is a great way to figure out what products you need to develop. For example, if you’re wanting to start that daycare, find out from other parents what kinds of things they do or don’t like about daycares that are available to their kids. You can ask these parents individually or host an event. Either way, you’ll be getting valuable information that will give you a leg up on your competition.

 

B2B Groups – In Indianapolis, I like to think we have a huge tech startup community. Obviously, not as big as certain places on the west and east coast, but still something pretty strong. I think a big part of that is Verge and the The Speak Easy.

 

As I’ve seen these groups grow up, the party has just gotten bigger and bigger. Groups like these support tech startups – which is huge in Indy. However, there’s groups like Fizzle.co that support online businesses.

 

If you’re wondering if there’s a nearby group interested in what you’re wanting to do, check out meetup.com – you’d be surprised on what’s on there. If there’s nothing there, then perhaps you should start a group? Here’s a recent SPI podcast that illustrates how important masterminds are. Perhaps a good place to find people to be part of your mastermind might be reddit?

 

Next Step? Take Action.

 

If starting a business is something that you want to do, start as soon as you can. Is there something you need to get trained in first? Assuming that you’ve talked to people in that field and that you really want to be a part of, that might be your first step.

 

If there’s no special training required, perhaps your next step is to start looking into hosting your site. Or if you want to start in the real world, perhaps your next step is figuring out how you can start finding customers.

 

Whatever it might be, it’s time to start your adventure.

Millennials as Entrepreneurs, Part 7 of 10: Easiest Method of Self Expression in One’s Career

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In the last session of this series, I had a little tough love for our generation. But there was a reason for that. A lot of us ARE lost. Not lost as in a lost cause but lost as in confused. It is said that when people are confused, they lack clarity on what action to take – so they take none. The secret on taking action is to first find out where you are.

 

Just like when you’re lost geographically and you want to get somewhere, you need to know where you’re at so that if you had a map, the map could actually be of use to you.

 

Part of finding out who you are includes finding your personality. Another part includes finding your purpose in life. To Millennials, these are highly important. We are very self expressive. (You might not think you are personally, but then again we are the Generation of “Me!”.)

 

When you find your purpose in life, life gets that much easier. You start making choices that reflect where you want to go. It’s a life hack that is well worth the search.

 

On the other hand, when a person hasn’t found their purpose, there’s a good chance that they’ll jump from occupation to occupation or vise to vise hoping that they can fill the void in their life.

 

How to Find Your Purpose

 

Personally, I’ve learned a lot about myself since I’ve gotten out of grad school. I’ve had time to figure out what makes me tick and what I’m good at. This has helped me clear the view of what I want to accomplish in life. In other words, I’ve found my purpose.

 

Before you start on your path of finding your purpose, you might need to deprogram yourself. I did this with the book The Four Agreements. I highly recommend this book, however it might come off a little out there. So if you want something that’s more down to earth, try this. It has a longer list of things to remember… but it’s still useful.

 

Once you deprogram yourself, the first part to finding yourself is to recognize your personality. Finding your personality helps you learn how you naturally interact with the world around you. Do you live for the future? Do you live for the now? Or do you live based on where you’ve come from? How do express yourself? How do you think? These are questions that can be answered by figuring out your personality.

 

Once you find out who you are including your strengths and weaknesses (and acknowledging them) then you can start looking at finding your passion. Your passion is basically the concept of what you’re naturally interested in. What do you do with your spare time?

 

People might have similar strengths and weaknesses. They might have similar personalities. But the chances for them to have the same strengths, weaknesses, personality, AND interests is a pretty small chance. This is what makes you valuable. You just need to know where you fit. Once you’ve discovered your passions, you’ll be onto finding your purpose.

 

Your purpose is finding out how you fit into the world. And my biggest recommendation is: Don’t try to force it. If you’re a circle, don’t try being a triangle. If you’re a connector of people, don’t try being a super geek.

 

If You Don’t Program Yourself What To Think, The World Will Do it For You.

 

The mistake of not finding your purpose will more than likely land you in a situation you don’t want or appreciate. I’ve seen several people struggle with themselves through a midlife crisis. Yeah, you remember that phrase? It’s not used as much as it used to be, but people still go through them. Why?
Because they have been living someone else’s dream for them. They didn’t take the time to figure out what they wanted in life… until they realized they were a certain age and it wasn’t what was supposed to happen… to them. They might be really successful if compared to others, but in reality, they should have been doing something else the whole time. Have you ever heard of the expression in regards to a person’s career: “I found that I was climbing a ladder but realized that it was on the wrong building”?

 

Believe it or not, this has happened to a number of our parents. It’s one cause for people suddenly seeking divorce after being married a long time.

 

Have Full Reign to Follow Your Purpose

 

As an employee, we’re told what to do, when to do it, and possibly how to do it. Of course, as an employee this is what we signed up for. We’re selling our most valuable commodity, time, for money. If you have a problem with any of that… you should probably be a business owner.

 

However, if you’re an entrepreneur, there’s obviously risk involved. But there’s also risk if you’re an employee as well. As an entrepreneur, you might find yourself not needed. As an employee you might find yourself… not needed.

 

The difference? When you first started your job, you were guaranteed income. You knew you were going to get paid. As an entrepreneur, that might not be the case. However, as an entrepreneur, you have full control on your career. For some that’s a little hard to handle. Yet for others, that’s all we want to handle. We want to be personally responsible for our own success.

 

In the comments below, let me know if you’re on the path that you feel is right for you. If it isn’t right, say why not. If it is right, let me know how you found this path. Did you go through the above process or simply stumble into it?

 

Next week in part 8, we’ll be discussing Leadership by means of being an Entrepreneur. We touched briefly on this in part 6, but we’ll be looking more at why being a leader gets you closer to your ideal self.

 

Millennials as Entrepreneurs Part 3 of 10: Business Opportunities Galore!

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Business opportunities are everywhere for us. With the internet opening up the whole world for commerce in the 90’s, many of us have just grown up with it as being there. Personally, I think I just ordered a few items offline before I made the jump. And man, when I did, it was so easy to keep doing.

 

I remember one of the first things I ordered was a movie poster for one of the Ace Ventura movies. It’s still somewhere, rolled up… collecting dust. When I ordered that, I was totally into whatever Jim Carrey was in. Heck, one of my first CD’s I ever bought was the soundtrack to Dumb and Dumber. So when I found out that I could order this poster, I sent in my money order to some random place and 3-4 weeks later I got my order.

 

Many of you will never know that pain. I don’t even think I could put up with it myself anymore.

 

The 21 Jump Street Epiphany

When I finally got to see this movie, it totally rocked me in how it portrays the difference in high school from when I went to what it’s like now.

 

When I went, there were definite cliques, yes. At most schools, jocks weren’t band kids or geeks. However, they were the popular ones. It was simple. (At my high school, they did intermingle a bit – but I write that up to class size and my class being a Gen X and Y hybrid.)

 

In a particular scene in the movie, however, it shows just how much that is changed. Ha, I felt Jenko’s pain. I mean, I recognized him as cool, but the kids didn’t. The kids in fact thought of him as an out of place dinosaur.

 

I realized it was a whole new world. It’s no longer cool to not be a geek about something. Even jocks are geeks about sports. Look at Andrew Luck! There are so many types of people in the Millennial culture. Because of just that, there are plenty so many business opportunities.

 

 

Mike Rowe and the Blue Collar Revival

 

If you think that all business opportunities have to be online, that’s because we’re in a digital age. However, one of the shows that I loved watching as I was going through college was Dirty Jobs starring Mike Rowe as the host. As I was watching the show, it occurred to me that a large portion of the people he shadowed were business owners.

 

Yes, they were all dirty jobs, but as the theme song says, someone has to do it.

 

Since the show, Mike has started a foundation called Mike Rowe Works where the main focus is to educate people in the need of trade workers. He continuously states that college shouldn’t be the destination for everyone. And to be honest, I don’t think it needs to be with all the types of people that are out there.

 

Currently, as it is, college is a one size fits all model. Sure, you have different majors, but everyone that goes through it is going to come out being ready for a white collar job. (It also takes creativity out of most students… but that’s for another post.)

 

If you’re passion and interests lie in the real world and/or you’re a little more of a tech immigrant than most Millennials, consider listening to Mike.

 

Tech is Our Friend

Obviously, most businesses right now are being started online. A good reason for this is because it gives you unlimited potential for customers. Another is that there is lower overhead compared to that of a Real Life Business.

 

There are many ways to do an online business. You can take advantage of companies that already exist and have a virtual store with eBay and Amazon. You can build your own website from scratch and sell virtual products. You can also make SaaS Products for individuals. Or heck, you can just run a site that points to places where people can buy things and get a finder’s fee (affiliate marketing).

 

Here’s the fun thing about all of those: you don’t need a degree and you can be yourself each and every day. In fact, it’s preferred (unless you’re a complete asshat!). Remember, there’s too many kinds of people out there not to be yourself. It takes too much energy to fake it!

 

There’s So Many Choices!

 

In the comments below, quickly let me know your thoughts on what kind of businesses you might be thinking of starting. Give me up to 10 possibilities. The more you list, the more you can eliminate for sure later! (Believe me, this is really important. You don’t want to be constantly thinking What If when you’re building your business!)
Also don’t forget that they don’t have to strictly be online! If you want to be an independent vet, author or speaker, say so!

 

In next week’s edition of the series, I’ll be diving deeper into Technology and how it has offered a distinct advantage for Millennials.

 

Millennials as Entrepreneurs, Part 1 of 10: Huge Expectation for Life

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This is the first of ten installments on why Millennials (and some Gen Xers) Have Great Potential in Being Entrepreneurs. In it, I will be discussing why many members of Generation Y shouldn’t be looking for any old job. Instead, they should be searching inside themselves for the answers to how they’re going to make a living as well as finding their purpose.

So a little introduction of why I’m starting this series…

I recently found an article in Forbes about what the millennials want in the workplace. It’s funny, but as a hybrid between Generation Y and X, I don’t see why X has so much angst for the Millennials. Yes, they’re different. But is that such a bad thing?

I found these numbers about Millennials from the article to be even more interesting:

  • 64% of them say it’s a priority for them to make the world a better place.
  • 72% would like to be their own boss. But if they do have to work for a boss, 79% of them would want that boss to serve more as a coach or mentor.
  • 88% prefer a collaborative work-culture rather than a competitive one.
  • 74% want flexible work schedules.

Now, current employers are going to scream and carry on that these numbers are crazy and down right scary. Why wouldn’t they? They might have owned a successful business for 10+ years and wonder why an established company needs to bend.

Well, that might be true. But as we all know, change is always immanent.

The thing is that millennials, as the article mentions, are going to be 40% of the workforce after 2020. That means that they’re going to be a huge part of the working force (possibly even a controlling segment??). That being said, their collective voice does matter. If the wealthiest business leaders are already doing this, then most businesses should and will follow suit. Otherwise they might find themselves low on workforce.

That said, who’s better at catering to millennials than those who understand them – other millennials?

Can You Really Blame Them?

Unlike previous generations who value hard work and sacrifice, millennials don’t necessarily feel the same way. They want lifestyle vs expensive items.

Or so we’ve been told. In an article by Ben Carlson at awealthofcommonsence.com, he explains that we have the same habits as our parents and grandparents. It’s just that we haven’t started our lives as early as they did. That makes sense, so many of us go to college anymore… and then play around for a couple of years.

But I don’t think that’s the only cause for the delay. I think that many of us want to be better at life then our parents or grandparents. We want to build on the foundations that they’ve given us. And why not? Hasn’t that been their goal?

Many Role Models

Us millennials have grown up with TV, movies, music, and sports as being the main things discussed about in culture. Few of us pay attention to world news and even fewer of us can picture what it would be like to not have media in our lives.  In the hierarchy of needs, I’d say that a lot of us haven’t had to ever struggle with the bottom tiers. We’ve been blessed to have the ability to look constantly at life and wonder how we’re going to be the next Brad Pitt, Eminem, or the next Peyton Manning.

Unfortunately, working a traditional 9 to 5 probably won’t let us get to that level. That’s why the above mentioned numbers are so huge. We can’t relate to just having a steady paycheck – even though that’s something that our grandparents aspired to have and made sure our parents saw the white picket fence as something worth chasing.

Nope. Each and every one of us millennials has a little rock star in us that is eventually going to want to come out.

It’s not OUR Fault! Our Parents Spoiled Us!

We’ve been programmed by society to think how we’re going to be the next celebrity. Many of us didn’t consider answering the question what do you want to be when you grow up with the answers Fireman, policeman, lawyer, doctor, etc. like our parents. We didn’t even know what we wanted to be until later in life when we were forced to pick a major in college. Hell, even then I don’t know how many of us really knew! We just wanted to succeed. And how did we succeed?

By doing what our parents told us to do… Get good grades, go to college, get a good job and have a family! 

“But… but… that’s not part of me being the next Bam Margera,” your inner self protested as you followed the status quo.

End result? Now you have all of us who have gone through college seeking jobs that will allow us to be rock stars. Cause in our subconscious… that’s what we’re supposed to be doing.

So it’s not so much that we’re spoiled per say, it’s more along the lines that we’ve been influenced by old advice that our parents got from their parents (check out Generation Zero about that and more) and pop culture to an extreme. We’re to value the things that celebrities have but obtain them by how mom and dad obtained a house and white picket fence. There’s a huge disconnect there. No doubt, we’re all about the Me.

But what can we do about it now? Are we really naive enough to think asking corporations to treat us all as individual rock stars is really feasible? That each of us deserves $15 as minimum wage working at Micky D’s? Jobs that are typically reserved for teenagers??

Lol. When you really think about it doesn’t make sense.

We don’t fit the mold of the traditional employee. I mean, when you think of celebrities – do you really think of them as a typical employee or more of a freelancer?

The Chase of the Letter A

Those of us who have done what our parents wanted have probably gone to school and excelled. (Don’t worry if you didn’t – there’s good news coming up.) We have done the work that is necessary to get Good Grades. We also probably know what it’s like to not get good grades.

I remember the first time I got a C worth remembering. It was my first semester at Purdue. School had always come easy for me. I studied very little to be an A/B Honor Roll student in high school. By the time I got to Purdue, I didn’t even KNOW how to study.

Well, there I was in a remedial class doing algebra – a high school course. Day after day went by and I got Cs and Bs on my quizzes. As on my homework. Being one who never kept score of my progress, I thought I had it in the bag to get a B for the semester. Well, finals came and before I knew it – I was done with my first semester at school. I checked my grades the following week and… there was the proof the crappy semester I had had. 1 B, 3 C’s, and a D.

Omg, I didn’t know what to do. As far as I knew, I had put in the work and did as well as I thought I ever had done. Well, little did I know I was doing less than mediocre. I had to improve… and I eventually did.

The good news is that you can eventually learn to play the game. Just stick with it long enough.

 

The point of that story is that many of us don’t know that we’re living mediocre lives. We’re doing the status quo and expecting that it will get us the results we’re looking for. But if we’re following a plan that is outdated, how do we even know that it’s going to get us where we want to be? Hell, like me and “studying”, you probably don’t even know the plan of Getting good grades… is outdated.

The thing is that we live in a world where we’re really all a bunch of freelancers. Those of us who have been employees know that we’re going to go from job to job to job in our career. The days of hanging our hat in one place are over. The game has changed.

Sadly, many of us still seek the shelter of our employers with that W2 instead of going for the 1099. But when we opt for the W2, we’re telling the employer that we’re not his equal. That we are a servant. We’re selling our time for money. We’re playing the old game.

Whereas a 1099 could signal that you’re an equal.

A W2 tells the employer that you need him. Whereas as a freelancer (or consultant) you’re prepared to move if needed and you don’t mind having the responsibility of taxes. One less thing he needs to worry about.

Being an employee is using an old plan… and it’s going to get you a C in life. Being a freelancer, consultant, or other type of business owner gives you the opportunity to get an A. But like studying super long hours in college to get the A, being a freelancer comes with extra responsibility.

So it’s really up to us in whether or not we want the potential for a C life or an A life.

Which would you rather have? Your parents old desk job that they slaved away at for years or your self defined dream gig? Which one would you prefer to work towards?

Thoughts?

So real quick, what are your initial thoughts of millennials having huge plans for their life? Did you have any yourself? I know you wanted to be something (even if it was an astronaut or fire fighter) that some might consider a stretch.

Share what you thought (as a high school or college student) you were going to be if everything went your way in life by leaving a comment below. Did you arrive there?

By the way, stay tuned next week when we explore Part 2 of the series: Millennials as Trend Setters.