Thursday, January 28, 2010

Open For Business

brohammas said - "But what of those who have no desire to own their own business(?)"

But in America today... everyone is their own business.
A waitress must manage her clients, build regulars and is responsible for accurately reporting her tips to the IRS.
Often she must buy a comfortable uniform, shoes and makeup to help her make more money than the person working next to her.
She negotiates her wages, hours and responsibilities before she is even hired.
She gives the responsibility of paperwork to her employer in exchange for a place to perform work and a monetary profit for her employer.

A good teacher often works unpaid overtime and often buys supplies for her students.
A construction worker must provide her own tools and is often responsible for finding other work when her current jobs are complete.
Everyone is in business for himself.
Some approach their tasks in the same way as artisans and craftsmen in years past.
Those who failed to think about their jobs in this way and relied on a boss to offer security are the ones worried about the extension of unemployment benefits.

3 comments:

FreeMan said...

Well popular verbage says what you says that everyone should think of themselves as a business. But, some think it and some do it. All of these jobs could be vendor contracts with their current employers just as many people outsource their payroll to ADP.

My reason for my rant on the previous post is saying if we had the mindset of building for ourselves then we wouldn't rely on anyone. Even if we are working for someone else it would be a in a mentor trainee role until one can do for self. I believe this is what American Ingenuity and the American Dream is about at least that's what they say to all the immigrants who do for self. I guess for regular Old Americans the American dream is tied into quality of life instead of reaping the rewards of creating a viable business and thus a self sourced way of life.

brohammas said...

You may call it thinking of ones self as a business, but why not just a person being responsible and doing their best?

I would much preffer a doctor who is all kumbaya and wanting to save the world one sick person ata time than a doctor who sees himself as a business.

What you are writing about here is a mind set. The actions of an individual promoting a business and one just doing their best may look the same but are not.
The business philosophy promotes wealth and efficiency... neither of these are, nor need to be, everyone's priority.

Again, to each his own. Besides, working for one's self still forces you to rely on someone else... either as an employer or a customer. We are not alone in this nor can we be... unless we are advocating self sufficient hermit lifestyles which I might profess I have more experience with than most.

uglyblackjohn said...

@ brohammas - But being selfish is bad business.
Why did Wall Street fail?
Because they thought greed was good.
Being selfish may seem good in the short term but it is not sustainable.
The best businesses are those who understand their role in the community.