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Put being your own boss on your resolutions list – Metro US

Put being your own boss on your resolutions list

If you are anything like me, the thought of working a 9-5 job would be about as thrilling as staring at dry wall… not to mention causing me to break out in hives.

Being an entrepreneur at heart is more than just an aspiration, it’s a serious commitment to a very different lifestyle. According to author and columnist Scott Gerber, there are plenty of reasons for why you should burn your resume and start up your own business.

Gerber, who has been described as the Simon Cowell of young entrepreneurship, paints a pretty graphic portrait of the real life start up in his book Never Get a Real Job… and be forewarned, it may have you rethinking your ‘being your own boss’ fantasy.

In the first part of Gerber’s book, the chapters take the tough love approach, a refreshing perspective when you think of how over coddled we, especially us Generation Y folk, have been raised. We “were so busy riding the ‘Everyone–Is-a-Winner’ bandwagon that you failed to realize you were being rewarded for mediocrity” says Gerber.

This book is written for Gen Y, and the reality is, many new grads, university and college educated to boot, aren’t finding work. There just aren’t any jobs to be had, and since the economy went in the toilet, entire layers of companies have been wiped out.

“According to a 2009 National Association of Colleges and Employers study, 80 per cent of college graduates looking for jobs couldn’t find one.” The bad news is the class of 2010 is facing the worst job market in a generation.

Sadly, most of these grads retreated back to the school that newly minted them as graduates, the only ones smiling, of course, were the academic institutions cross-selling ‘cures’ for the malaise of unemployment.

I am certainly biased towards Gerber’s opinion, fire your boss and take charge of your own fate and income, or if you’re just graduating, rather than go back to school, start a business. As he highlights in his book, its far easier to start a business when you are younger, and have less to lose.

It’s 12 days to the new year, if your New Years resolutions include becoming a start up, start with Gerbers tome of no nonsense advice.

– Craig Lund is the President Elect of the American Marketing Association’s Toronto Chapter and can be reached at hello@craiglund.ca