Have you ever had that feeling on Monday when you wake up, get ready for work and arrive at the office and wished you were your own boss and didn’t want to be at the office working for someone else? I hear it all the time! “I hate Monday… I wish it was Friday so that I could have the weekend to myself!” I have met a number of entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start a new business in order to leave that 9-to-5 job. Those feelings are perfectly normal however I would like to offer another way of looking at our nine to five job.
What if you treated your 9-to-5 job like a business? This is your first shot at owning a business. You provide a service that an employer is willing to pay a certain price for, that is, your salary in exchange for your expertise. If your job was your business what would you do differently? Here are three things that changed my life when I realised that.
Improved performance
My work quality improved. I understood that reputation and reference are important in a career. It makes a big difference when applying for a new job, your previous managers will tell your new manager what an excellent colleague or individual you are. As an entrepreneur, you’d take every job and every client seriously, because they pay for your service and you need the money they pay. It’s an opportunity for you to work and make a living.
Having the mindset of an entrepreneur while employed in your 9-to-5 job will build the ethic you need to apply for your own clients when you eventually have a business. All the clients are not going to be happy clients, and you need the experience from your 9-to-5 job to teach you to be professional and to do a good job for them to the best of your ability.
When I discovered this approach, I stopped waiting for my manager to suggest new ways to improve myself. Don’t get me wrong, if there is a skill I can learn through my work, I learn, if not I find a way to learn without waiting around for someone to tell me. I want to perform at a high level because of my own desire, it is the quality of my job that builds my reputation in the end. Continuous improvement is what builds your expertise and solidifies your reputation as a captain of industry.
Are you adding value to the company you are working for now?
Smart career choice
My career choices are strategic to my “career” business. Looking for a new job is like looking for a client. You are looking for a company who will pay a certain amount of money for the work you will provide.
Just like a business has a budget to set a direction where the business is going, I have a career goal and make my career choices accordingly. I evaluate where I want to be in a year, two or three years and make choices as required.
When exploring your career goals, look for a job as you would a client. Ask yourself, why do you want to work for this type of employer, what will you learn, how long do you want to stay there? Furthermore, what experience will you gain, what gap in your knowledge will this job fill? Only change jobs when you have answers to certain questions, because remember your job is your business.
Easy to move jobs
I don’t want to get in trouble here, I value my job but at the same time, I am more grateful to a company when the business cannot offer me what I want in terms of job progression. If your employer can’t offer you job progression, then it might be time to look for another job. This will prevent you from complaining all the time about what your employer can’t offer you. Nobody wants to be an unhappy employee. When you feel like you have learnt what you needed to learn from your employer and need a new challenge then it might be time to move on before the frustration kicks in.
Think of your employer as a client who is paying for your service and how you would want to manage that relationship.