Ever wonder how people end up in dead end jobs at 40?

[Vigilante]

This is a long, rambling story I wanted to share with you after I was troubled by something I saw the other night. It's almost written as a short story. If you don't like a little introspection, or are reading for a business plan, skip this thread. Someone out there needed to hear this message, and I hope it gets in the hands of the people that needed to read this. Many of us might see ourselves through the eyes of the main character below. - Vigilante

I stopped in with my kid a few nights ago to a local sub sandwich shop, and the sad story written there is etched in my mind. In a combination of thankfulness and helpfulness, I pour out the story here like retelling of a dream. Only, this wasn’t a dream, but a glimpse into the desperate eyes of thousands of people across the United States. The forgotten ones, the failures of capitalism. The working class.

You can find my perception judgmental, until you realize that the story also marks the beginning of my story. I was this guy. Dropping out of school, I was working in retail. Young and not wise enough to realize the deck was stacked against me, I bucked the odds. Through a combination of tenacity and reinvention, I broke the mold. However, I can give you a glimpse into the life I saw a few nights ago, and give you eyes to see through the hands and into the heart and mind of the clerk, the salesperson, the forgotten ones.

I pulled into the sandwich shop, needing to get my kid a sandwich. Having spent the afternoon at an amusement park and her private swimming lessons, if I brought her fuel tank back on “empty” I would be answering to her mother. A ham and cheese better than nothing, we pulled my paid-for vehicle into the lot and went into the store. We ordered some food, and settled into a booth that she would spend the next fifteen minutes using as a jungle gym. She’s the kid that you hate sitting at the table next to.

It was then that I saw him, the 21 year old mirror image of me. Only, he was probably 48. Dressed in a cheap suit and tie, name tag slung around his neck like a noose, he was on a 29 minute escape from his evening shift at the mens clothing store a few doors down the mall. His suit was a little rumpled, which was probably OK as a quick scan of the parking lot indicated there probably were no customers to notice that night anyway. His eyes showed that he was a million miles away.

He was on about minute 10 of his 29 minute escape, an unpaid half hour that extended his required scheduled time by the same 29 minutes. You get a half hour break plus two fifteen minute breaks for every eight hours you work in the United States. A half hour isn’t really enough time to do anything, and most nights the time is spent sitting in the break room, watching the clock and wishing you were anywhere else. It's just enough time for you to settle in to your resentment of your job, and then the bell rings or the whistle blows and you are right back where you started from.

This wasn’t his first job, and likely wouldn’t be his last. A series of choices and setbacks had led him to this sandwich shop that night. He turned it over in his head, over and over and over again. When he left the clothing shop for his "break" his 24 year old boss told him to make sure he was back on time this time. As if there were another time that he hadn’t been. F*cker.

He looked at the clock on his 4th generation iPhone, and with 19 minutes left, his mind slipped away into another mindless game of Tetris. He set his personal high score last week, in what was probably his millionth game. High score. The occasion passed with nothing more than a quick flash on the screen, and then he was back folding shirts again.

His dinner that night cost him more than he made for the last hour. He had a base pay of $12 plus commission, but with no customers in the shop, there was no commission. Add to that he was required to take a half hour unpaid, and his sandwich cost him more than he made after taxes for nearly two hours.

The Tetris helped him forget. It helped him forget that his son's tuition was due tomorrow. He felt dead. He felt trapped. When he allowed himself to think about it, he couldn’t breathe. His ability to pretend it wasn’t happening ended when the credit card was declined, and then they started calling. Not sure what he was supposed to tell them. He put their number on ignore, but knew that was only going to make it all worse.

He looked at the clock as he drifted away into another game. 9 minutes left.

They told him tonight they were cutting his hours back to one hour less than full time. He’d have even less. He didn’t have anything to say. Where else would he go? When he took this job, he told himself it was just temporary. But last week turned into yesterday, which turned into today. And now he had to go home, and tell his wife he just got a pay cut.

6 minutes.

It was easier to just not think about it. Three more hours of standing around a store with no customers. It made no sense to him. He got mad. He thought about the fact that his time was worth so little to them that they would just have him stand around, folding shirts and paying him less than a sandwich. Last month, they changed the commission plan so that even the sales he did were subtracted from his “salary” before he got any commission. Tonight, though, that wouldn’t matter.

4 minutes.

He would almost rather be there than at home.

3 minutes. He slumped down in his chair. He didn’t want to be there. The sandwich made him sick, as the stress turned into a knot in his stomach. He started another game, and then realized he had to get back. Back to what? Back to nothing. Back to his time clock. He had to rush back to be on time to stand around.

He crumpled up his salary in the form of a sandwich wrapper, and headed towards the door. Making a left, he was the only one headed to the clothing store from the parking lot. He’d watch the clock roll towards 9PM, knowing his wife was likely to be asleep when he got home.

And tomorrow, it would start all over again.

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This forum gets dozens of thousands of hits per week. Many of them are people just like this guy, looking for something that can help them. Something that can encourage them. Something that can teach them. Maybe… maybe that guy is you.

These people are all around us. Capitalism requires it. There are more of them than there are of us. Most of them will never break out. Most of them will never find a way. Some won’t do it because they can’t, some won’t do it because they won’t. Some won’t do it because they think it is game over.

The guy in the sandwich shop reminded me of me. I was him. I fought like hell and found a way, but absent that I once wore his suit. Many of us did.

It’s not enough for you to take everything from this forum and use it for your own gain. It’s not enough for you to read the Millionaire Fast Lane, the Four Hour Work Week, start your business, and live happily ever after. Your life will still be devoid of meaning until you figure out how to reach people with scale and bring them with you.

Look deeply into the eyes of the clothing store clerk in the sandwich shop. At a minimum, lets realize that he deserves compassion. He may never make it. He may never find it. He may always live from day to day eating those shitty sandwiches. Showing you shirts. Folding shirts. And you and I? We look past him. We wonder why he's such an a**hole at the clothing store.

KAK left the forum. He then came back to reach more people in scale. MJ DeMarco could have just walked away, and never written the Millionaire Fast Lane.

I taught some classes last fall. Most of the people sitting in the class were in various stages of being that guy in the sandwich shop. I haven’t reached enough of them yet. We’re not all called to be teachers. Some can give back through philanthropy. Some can give back through teaching. Others through works or other ways of effecting people, either individually or in scale.

Not sure why I spent the time telling you all this, other than the realization that had my life taken some different turns, I could have been that guy in the sandwich shop. That guy is here. Reading this post. Rather than step around them when they find us, maybe we should do a better job here at the forum of helping them find a way.

What will your legacy look like?

 

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[Vigilante]

If you have any kind of business success, one very simple but extremely important way to 'give back' is to look after your employees.

It's great to create a business and turn a profit but not at the expense of other people's happiness. I would be utterly miserable myself if one of my employees was this unhappy and it's just not good business sense anyway.

Take care of YOUR employees and they will take care of YOUR business. Then everyone's happy

If you own a business, and you have 10 employees, 7 of them hate their jobs. Period.

Nearly 70% of employees dislike their jobs. It's an unfixable condition, created because capitalism requires it.

My opinion was like yours once. I finally had the financial means to solve the problem you describe.

I paid my employees WAY more than average wages, gave them WAY more than average benefits, and did everything possible to make it the best place in the world to work.

Know what I received in return? Nothing more than what I would have received if I operated like all other businesses.

The fallacy of my hypothesis is if they just treated the workers better, the outcome and productivity would be better.

I was dead wrong, but spent dozens of thousands of dollars taking my theory and disproving it.

The bottom line is when people work to make other people money, they're not happy.

I know a guy that my multi-bazillion dollar mentor rescued from the scrap heap. When he rescued the guy, the guy couldn't buy a pair of shoes. Several years into the rescued guy's six figure annual salary, the guy quit in a blaze of fire. Why? Envy. Even though he was rescued from the scrap heap, and paid annually several times what he was on his first day... once he saw that the fruits of his labor were going to make someone else money... he forgot where he came from. It was't enough any more. If you told him on day 1 what his net earnings would have been in year 4, he would have sold his soul to the devil for that kind of money. But once he saw the fact that he was making that money because he was making the boss 10x that, suddenly it wasn't enough.

So you (and I) were 100% wrong. It doesn't matter how well you take care of the people. Until they get the yield from their labor, they're always going to want more, and take more. And they should. It becomes the awakening that their existence is to serve someone else's needs. The anger is right. The distain is right. The tradeoff is not worth what you sacrifice. In the book, MJ talks about trading 5 days of slavery for 2 days of freedom. This is what this represents. That is the average worker. That is why they hate it. They may not be able to articulate it like MJ did, but that is what they are feeling. And some... never do a damn thing about it. They just wait until another Friday night arrives, and drink it off for another long weekend.

The whole reason you are at this forum is because you agree with that. There is NO BOSS that can treat you well enough that you don't want to chart your own destiny... or you wouldn't be here.

People can be complacent. People can settle. People can be resigned to their lot in life. But they comprise the 70%+ of people that hate their jobs. They are the subject of the OP.

Are YOU the subject of the OP?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Gripping tale, evoked some serious anxiety.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I love when people try to counteract human nature, as if they can resolve 10,000 years of programming.

Just to give you a clue how things work in an medical facility.

The janitors think the receptionists make too much money.
The receptionists thinks the scrub technicians make too much money.
The scrub technicians think the nurses make too much money.
The nurses think the doctors make too much money.
The doctors think the facility shareholders make too much money.

Envy has no end.

 

[Vigilante]

I will add a few stories to fuel the fire, because they represent most workplaces in America. These stories are not unique to me.

Story #1
@ryanbleau's story IS my story. When I worked at Wal-Mart, the typical work day at their corporate offices was 6AM to 6PM. If you rolled in at 7:30am some morning, your boss was looking at his watch. The first few days, he might not say much, but make it a pattern and you're going to be called out. So the typical work day is roughly 12 hours a day. Need to leave some day at 4:40PM for a kids softball game? Once in a great while, you can get a "get out of jail card" but twice in one week? Forget about it. They consider it dedication. The other employees, or "associates" as they are called to help you numb the pain of being an employee, are the worst rats about it. Envy if you leave "early" creates angst on their part. If you routinely show up at 7:30am for your 9-5 job, your co-worker associates will take you down. The fact that a newbie called out Ryan comes as no surprise to me, when people try and climb over other people in a false perception of job security. The person who commented that to you Ryan is poison. Watch for it. This was only the first comment.

I quit Wal-Mart Corporate one Saturday morning, forced to attend Saturday "management" meetings which usually amounted to public floggings. Sam Walton preached that if the stores had to work weekends, so did the corporate employees. It was a holdover from the Henry Ford production days, when everyone worked six days a week.

So I was @ryanbleau. I sat in your chair. I dealt with the same assholes. Been there. I drank the same poison you are sipping on. I would like to tell you that my escape was easy. It wasn't. But I can tell you that when you claw your way out of the prison and slam the door shut behind you, you will never look back. I would and could never been an employee again. And I crawled out of the hole, starting from below $0. So, you can make it out. It's not going to be easy, and it's not going to be fast. But... almost all of the tools you need to do it are contained within MJ's book, and buried deep within the pages of this forum.

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Story #2
I was at a Best Buy vendor meeting. Leading the vendor meeting was a giggly new "director" who was introduced as the "team lead" for this particular division of Best Buy. It was painfully apparent that she new nothing. This was accentuated by the fact that she said, to this group of vendors Best Buy had assembled, that she "knew nothing."

"It's a good thing" she said, "that her employee <<reference to red faced guy standing behind her>> knew everything because he was training her in." Giggle, giggle, giggle from her. Stark stares back from the vendors she was speaking to. They all liked the guy that worked for her that was tasked with teaching this monkey how to press the buttons. He got totally screwed, and she laughed about it in front of a room of his business peers.

Did you catch that? He was the guy that had worked for the company for a dozen years. He was the guy that sacrificed his weekends, hoping for the promotion. He was the guy that got passed over for the promotion, only for them to hire him a new boss who knew nothing. She laughed about it, alluded to that fact, in front of vendors who knew the whole story, and further emasculated the guy. Two years later, he quit. I wish I could tell you that his story had a happy ending, but he ended up in a similar situation to the guy in the OP.
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Eventually, this corporate bullshit grind just wears you out to the point where you find yourself at age 40 or what ever, working in a mens clothing store while know nothing directors laugh with vendors at your expense. It was really sad to watch that vendor meeting, and his professional embarrassment played out on a very public stage.

To those of you in the fight, keep fighting. To those of you with a job (today), you need to psychologically take the edge back by looking at it as a game, and YOU decide when the checkmate is going to occur. While you are being the best employee your company ever had, you need to have a freedom date in mind. That will change your mindset. Every day when you walk in the door to train in your know nothing director, recognize she or her protege she is training to take your job will still be there when you are long gone. You having an END GAME in sight will make the days pass more tolerably, when you look at your current paycheck as a means to an end. The company doesn't own you. One day, you will emancipate yourself. This is the beginning of your story, not the end of it. The change for you can start with your own resolve.

Those of you have made your way to the forum have an above average chance of escaping the gerbil wheel than those who stay in the cocoon. Knowledge is the beginning of transformation. Draw energy from the people that have gone before you. The struggle is worth it. The planning is worth it. Burning the midnight oil with a wife or husband and two kids at home? Worth it. Freedom is worth it. Set some things in motion now that will create your path to escape down the road, and use that chess match and eventual victory as the thing that allows you to tolerate the seemingly intolerable existence of a worker who toils day after day to make somebody else money. They don't own you. That isn't your end game. You may need it today to pay your mortgage, but freedom is in front of you.

There are thousands of people just like you. They just don't happen to sit in the cubicle next to you, singing happy birthday to the office secretary as another piece of crisco-laden birthday cake breaks up the monotony of another Tuesday in the office. Your tribe is here at the Fast Lane Forum, and we're waiting for you to join us on the climb.

 

[Vigilante]

The last two posts really resonate @Vigilante.

While my kids are really young, my priority is to spend time with them, not even grow my business. Maybe it will always be that way actually.

My thinking is that I don't want to see less of my sons now so that I can see more of them later.

It means I currently earn less than I could, and yes, even less than some jobs I have had.

But I am not beholden to anyone, even clients.

I am designing my own lifestyle, centred around what is important to me.

We all have different priorities. That's ok.

We can be in a job too. Nothing wrong with having a job if it helps you get where you want to go.

What I love about this thread is how it's made us all realise how much it means to us to control and shape our own destiny.

Our legacies are ours to create.

We're all on our own journeys. We might be at different stages in that journey, and we might want to go at different speeds and have different reasons for travelling.

What we all have in common is that we don't want to be hitch-hikers in someone else's journey.

We all want to control our own steering wheel, even if we veer off in the wrong direction occasionally.

We only have one life.

Enjoy the journey.

It is a lie I allowed myself to believe and delusional to think that you can recover or pay forward any lost time.

There's only going to be one third grade Christmas concert, one age 10 first soccer practice, and one first dance you get to take pre-pictures for. You don't get any do overs when you voluntarily let other things take priority over moments you can't get back.

I have two grown children. I would sacrifice nearly anything I have to be able to go back in time and make different decisions than the ones I made in their early childhood. I convinced myself I was sacrificing on their behalf – but in reality what I was sacrificing was them.

I struggled to write that last sentence.

 

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[Vigilante]

@Vigilante i really don't know what to say here, running high with different emotions reading your post, unable to come up with words - just anger against me self.

Being dead,Being trapped & the tetris games with high scores is exactly what i have been doing for the past 9 yrs .

Been here for more than 3 months reading the forum & the millionaire fastlane - I know the secret sauce is "Taking Action" and i have started but not with the same commitment as you did.

Thank you for the post - My legacy has to look legendary!

The fact that you made your way here means you are different. I don't care if it takes you a week, a month, a quarter, or a year… But a year from now everything can look differently for you and your family and your legacy. It's not too late.

You don't need a big declaration, or huge unobtainable goals. All you need to do is stick a stake in the ground today… A turning point.

The fact that you can recognize yourself in my original post and have it reflect back on you like looking into a mirror means that you're not dead. Most people don't have enough self-realization or honesty to look into that window. You're different. Hope comes from that difference.

Here's what's different. From today forward, you're not going to allow yourself to slip back to the obscurity of the game. From today forward, every waking moment to have is going to be spent working on your midterm to long-range game plan.

It's OK if it takes you a while to figure out what that needs to look like. At least now you have the start of a vision for where you want to go. Today is a different day than yesterday. Today you are one step closer towards freedom.

Today should be a day full of hope for you, not despair. I despair for the people that are not here… The people that don't have the chance that you have to create for themselves a different outcome. Not you. Not this time. Your story is going to end differently.

"Life is like a movie – write your own ending."

 

[Vigilante]

Conversely, the message of the Millionaire Fast Lane is rather than doing what you love "and you will never work a day in your life" (which is complete bullshit)... add value to people's lives in exchange for money. Then scale.

Then, down the road, you will be free to do what you love.

I taught a class at some local Universities last Fall. Had a blast. Earned nothing more than validated parking. Didn't care.

I volunteer for the Red Cross. Love it. Spend money to do it. Don't care.

Don't do what you love. Change the world, and THEN you will have plenty of time to pursue your muses.

 

[Bouncing Soul]

Are YOU the subject of the OP?

The whole country sympathizes with the guy Vig describes in the OP. There are political movements that shake the world built on this very story.

Almost everybody envies the guy in the dead end $100/hr job (and most political movements attack this guy), but all that really changes is the clothes don't suck and the house and car is nicer.

 

[Paul David]

A couple of years ago I made myself 'dispensable' to my business. I wrote an operations manual for each role in my business.

I have step by step instructions for each task that needs to be performed. I can literally pull someone in off the street and they would be able fully trained with a few days. Maximum of 1 week.

I've gone from performing 75% of every task in my business to 1%. The 1% being the most important.

I now work from home most of the time and only go into the office once a week. Whenever I decide basically.

My wife was sick last week and had to take 2 weeks off work. She's an management accountant for a large fashion company in the UK. She was advised to take 4 weeks off but she was so worried that her boss would find a way to get rid of her because of the time off she went back after 2 weeks.

My wife and I currently earn similar amounts of money. I don't however have to drive 40 minutes every day to work and back and I don't have to be at the same seat in the same place year in year out, day in day out. My income is passive and if I didn't work for next 5 years I would get the same money.

I purposely set up my life a few years ago to get to this point. It was something I 'manufactured'. My Wife went to university and got a degree in accounting which means that unless I can double my salary (which I'm working on) or she tries something new, she's 'manufactured' a life of working until retirement age.

It's as simple as that really.

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

 

[Andy Black]

My daughter is at school today, and maybe sick. My wife left them my cell phone number.

If she is sick, I go pick her up. I don't have to check with anyone, tell them I am leaving, or have them use my PTO.

Pretty much all my time is PTO. I won't punch out.

^^^ This is what it's all about for me.



I've not detached my income from my time yet, but I at least don't have to report to anyone.


This Wednesday I was able to drop one of my little lads off to a class before school and go for a little walk before picking him up and taking him up to school.

I took the picture below at 09:20am, on a Wednesday morning, when everyone has settled into their cubicle.

I didn't ask for permission to walk around that lake.



If I have to take a job to keep the wolf from the door, I will.

If I have to flip burgers to stay in the game, I will.

But I'll miss taking my little lads to school.

And I'll miss crisp October mornings like these.


Thanks for the shot in the arm @Vigilante.



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A Crisp October Morning In Ireland

I sat on that bench on the far right for 10 minutes just taking it all in and being grateful I was able to be there, at that time.

 

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[Vigilante]

This is a really good thread. Thanks.

Makes me a little mad at myself, because I'm not exactly this guy financially, but in spirit I guess I am close.

I make around 90k a year at my day job (Telecom), which is just enough to keep me tethered to that leash.

Lately we have been "asked" to work overtime damn near every day, which really kills my family time. I get off work at 630pm, get home at 7pm. Family time is the most important thing to me at this point in my life, so needless to say I am looking for an exit strategy.

I am 41, which is basically the same age as the man in the story. I guess its time for a midlife crisis.

When I worked for Walmart corporate, I would get there at 6:30 AM. Even though the workday didn't officially start until 8 AM, if you got there at 7:30 AM it felt like you were late. After getting there at 6:30 AM, you'd think you could leave at four or 5 PM for a kids softball game or whatever. Most people worked until 6:30 PM. If you left at 5 PM… The normal end of the workday… Your boss might look at you with raised eyebrows the first day and talk with you about the corporate culture the next day.

At Walmart, at all levels of being an executive you were required to work at least every other Saturday. The philosophy was that as long as the stores had to work on the weekends… The people at the corporate office should also be working on the weekends.

They truly owned me. When you get to the point where you mortgage or willingly give up the years that your children are growing up in exchange for a paycheck, the depth of the trade you made of your time and your soul for that paycheck are out of kilter. I've been there in the exact position you are in.

I then took everything that I had learned – everything I acquired in terms of knowledge gained while on somebody else's payroll, and figured out how to leverage that unique skill set into something that could make me money. My pivot point came out of desperation one Saturday morning when I came to the same realization you did… That I looked exactly like the guy from the original post. It didn't matter what my salary was (it was about the same as what you're making now). To the rest of the world my salary looked pretty good, but the rest of the world had no idea what I mortgaged for that paycheck.

I didn't quit that exact Saturday, but that was the day that I made my decision that I had to get out. From there, it was simply planning my strategy and working on my plan towards my exit. But from that Saturday forward, everything was different. Now it was a game, and only I knew the ending. I could face my day to day bleak existence easier knowing that I had an exit strategy I was working towards. Nobody knew my secret plan but my wife and I. Nobody knew I was working on breaking out. The plan itself, with the red date circled on the calendar was enough to allow me to breathe and be excited and survive the window of time in between that Saturday and the day I sprung myself from the prison I had voluntarily committed my life to.

I was in my mid to late 30s when I broke out of corporate America.

 

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[Supa]

Just wow.. I'm a bit lost for words after reading this to be honest.

@MJ DeMarco this thread is GOLD-worthy in my opinion. This story has the potential of making people realize where they are heading to. This is something that should pop into your head when you are laying on your couch watching the 5. episode of your favorite tv show in a row.

Just listen to a few pop songs on the radio and you will hear the main topic (besides love stories) is to party and live your life.. I don't have to look any further than my own friends to see why those songs are so popular. People got things like 'yolo' written in their whatsapp status or on instagram. But instead of using it as a kick-your-a$$ because of the limited amount of time we all got, they use it as an excuse to make Thursday a 3rd day of partying every week. They don't think any further than next weekend, they try to forget their boring life while the few hours of happiness a week, but don't realize that just because you don't think about it, doesn't mean that it is not there. It's like closing your eyes in front of a monster, hoping that it is just not there. This may even work, thanks to alcohol and dancing to 'live-to-party'-lyrics in the club, but as soon as you have to open your eyes again, the monster is still there. People realize this when they have to set their alarm clock for the next day, on sunday evening. People don't think about the fact that they will be setting their alarm clock every sunday evening for the next 40 years if they continue living this way.

People are so into their lifestyle and love their party nights so much, that everything you say against it would be considered as strange or being a fun killer. I had to learn that it is nearly impossible to convince someone of something with pure logical arguments, people don't even want to listen to something that's against their opinion. That's why I find this story so powerful, it hits you with the blunt truth, and thanks to Vigilante's way of writing, you really see that guy sitting there, making it possible to feel the story and not just hearing it.

Another good point here is to not just judge a person based on their mood or behaviour without knowing their story. When I was about 16 and started to go to parties and drink and stuff like that (yep in Germany you can do this with 16) I was just careless, I felt free and happy. The weekends were awesome and I wanted them nights to last forever. Besides all that party stuff, me and my friends really felt free.. We just graduated from school, we all lived at home, we had no bills to pay, no worries other than teenager problems, we didn't have too much, but we felt free.

Then came the day I had to start a job. And I never felt that feeling of being free again for a long time. I asked myself 'that's it? That's life? Working a job for the next 40 years?' I always felt like something was wrong with me. Everyone was talking about carreers and how much effort they put into their job. And me? I hated every single morning of the week. I hated to put on this uncomfortable suit every single morning of the week. I didn't want the ride to work to end, because I knew those 30 minutes of listening to music through my earphones are followed by 8 hours working a job I don't like. I used to tell myself that I have to grow up, and that I'm still too immature. I always thought something was wrong with my way of thinking, I never asked if something may be wrong with the standard way of thinking, with society at all. I'm thankful that I never adjusted my way of thinking to society's.

I'm not where Vigilante already is, but I know that I will be one day. My resistance of accepting society's way of thinking finally led me to TMF and TMF led me to this forum. And yes, reading a book or in a forum doesn't make you a millionaire and it doesn't change your life. But it has the power to change your mindset and if you act on that new mindset, it has the power to change your life in a good way. And Vigilante's story is something that has this power, at least for me.

So the next time you tell your children, your family, your friends or anyone a horror story, tell them this one. It may change their way of viewing things.

 

[jon.a]

If you own a business, and you have 10 employees, 7 of them hate their jobs. Period.

Nearly 70% of employees dislike their jobs. It's an unfixable condition, created because capitalism requires it.

My opinion was like yours once. I finally had the financial means to solve the problem you describe.

I paid my employees WAY more than average wages, gave them WAY more than average benefits, and did everything possible to make it the best place in the world to work.

Know what I received in return? Nothing more than what I would have received if I operated like all other businesses.

The fallacy of my hypothesis is if they just treated the workers better, the outcome and productivity would be better.

I was dead wrong, but spent dozens of thousands of dollars taking my theory and disproving it.

The bottom line is when people work to make other people money, they're not happy.

I know a guy that my multi-bazillion dollar mentor rescued from the scrap heap. When he rescued the guy, the guy couldn't buy a pair of shoes. Several years into the rescued guy's six figure annual salary, the guy quit in a blaze of fire. Why? Envy. Even though he was rescued from the scrap heap, and paid annually several times what he was on his first day... once he saw that the fruits of his labor were going to make someone else money... he forgot where he came from. It was't enough any more. If you told him on day 1 what his net earnings would have been in year 4, he would have sold his soul to the devil for that kind of money. But once he saw the fact that he was making that money because he was making the boss 10x that, suddenly it wasn't enough.

So you (and I) were 100% wrong. It doesn't matter how well you take care of the people. Until they get the yield from their labor, they're always going to want more, and take more.

The whole reason you are at this forum is because you agree with that. There is NO BOSS that can treat you well enough that you don't want to chart your own destiny... or you wouldn't be here.

People can be complacent. People can settle. People can be resigned to their lot in life. But they comprise the 70%+ of people that hate their jobs. They are the subject of the OP.

Are YOU the subject of the OP?

Work just hard enough not to get fired.
Pay just enough so that they won't quit.

Those are the rules.

 

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[Vigilante]

I'm still cranking. I don't think I will ever really retire. In fact, after the summit, I started pressing hard again (thanks @Kung Fu Steve and all of the rest of the presenters and attendees.)

Here's one way life looks different.

I woke up this morning, and decided not to go to the office. The house will be quiet, and the office can survive without me. So, it's Friday, and my office will be a patio table under an umbrella in my back yard. And, I will get done in a few hours more than an employee does in a day. The key to the patio office? Zero distractions.

We decided to go spend a few months in my native state of Minnesota in a few weeks. So, while everything continues to hum along here, I will slip away to Minnesota. I posted in another thread that I can work from anywhere.

We'll be on the Pacific Islands for three weeks over the summer. Everyone is like "nice vacation." I guess. I will still be working, but from a tiki hut with a coconut drink in my hand. I can run the business from anywhere. I can be in Florida today, Minnesota tomorrow, and Maui Sunday.

This type of lifestyle wasn't available 20 years ago. Technology and innovation has made the 4HWW available. For Ferriss, and for me, it was never about working for 4 hours a week. For MJ, it isn't about working for 4 hours a week. It's about the freedom of being unchained from a 9-5, earning money for someone else. It's about limits that only exist in your mind. It's about separating your time from your income.

Freedom.

You could go back to the office 10 years from now, and the same anonymous faces would be having the same conversation. The names change, but the story remains the same.

 

[Andy Black]

The last two posts really resonate @Vigilante.

While my kids are really young, my priority is to spend time with them, not even grow my business. Maybe it will always be that way.

My thinking is that I don't want to see less of my sons now so that I can see more of them later.

It means I currently earn less than I could, and yes, even less than some jobs I’ve had.

But I am not beholden to anyone, even clients.

I am designing my own lifestyle, centred around what is important to me.

We all have different priorities. That's ok.

We can be in a job too. Nothing wrong with having a job if it helps you get where you want to go.

What I love about this thread is that it shows how important it is to control and shape our own destiny.

Our legacies are ours to create.

We're all on our own journeys. We might be at different stages in that journey, we might want to go at different speeds, and we might have different reasons for travelling.

What we all have in common is that we don't want to be hitch-hikers in someone else's journey.

We all want to control our own steering wheel (even if we veer off in the wrong direction occasionally).

 

[Vigilante]

Another one from the archives.

I had an assistant follow me around all day one day reminding me to be cordial to people. Really. All through Wal-Mart's corporate campus.

See, after I had been there for a long time (at Wal-Mart corporate) my boss said on a review that I wasn't cordial enough with my colleagues.

So the next day, I literally spent the day with one of my three full time clerical assistants walking around the office. ALL DAY.

I greeted people. I smiled at people. I stood around the water dispenser shooting the shit with people. I stopped and chatted up the front desk receptionist. The sample room worker. The mail clerk. i cube hopped. I worked the cafeteria. EVERYONE.

The whole time, my assistant was in tow, keeping track and telling me where I might have missed people along the way. Meanwhile, I got absolutely F*cking NOTHING done.

It was important on my review, even though my sales for my business were off the charts positive.

My boss called me in towards the end of the day and told me I needed to stop. Word had gotten out I was on a campaign to be cordial.

Which alone is FUNNY, because one of the office snitches did what they always did... when running into the big boss with the latest gossip.

It lasted exactly one day. She decided she wanted results over congeniality.

The review, however, stood as delivered.

 

[Vigilante]

Here's the upside. If you press through this, you can do what ever the hell you want.

This afternoon, I think I am going to go to the racetrack, play Keenland (as their meet is short) and then maybe catch the rollover of the Pick6 at Santa Anita.

I don't work for the man any more. I couldn't be a responsible employee ever again. I passed my red circled date on the calendar several years ago.

 

[Vigilante]

Absolutely. I have to say one of the things that resonated with me the most from the Millionaire Fastlane was the realisation I was investing 5 or 6 days a week of my time for a 1 or 2 day return. Hearing that (audiobook) was like a huge kick in the nuts.

So I'm currently working towards removing myself from the business, but I'll admit, it's a struggle (but one worth making).

Time for another espresso shot. I'm up now so may as well power through till dawn.

The concept of separating your TIME from your INCOME is a foreign one to almost everyone. It makes sense when explained, but that is not the way the work force gets compensated.

@biophase takes safaris to Africa
@Kung Fu Steve is in a different State/Country every 30 days now
@GlobalWealth is an international man of mystery
@AllenCrawley doesn't have a "job"
@Kak is in his young 20s and will never have a job again
@LightHouse is migrating his hourly rates towards passive income
@JAJT quit his day job a few years ago now
nobody even knows what the F*ck @snowbank does
Two past contributors to the forum just completed a several month tour of the capital cities of the entire continental United States.

and on, and on, and on. None of them are wealthy from inheritance (well, maybe one...). All of them have streaming income, and it can be realized from where ever they happen to be located, and as actively or passively as they need it to be. I could list dozens more like them just from the pages of the forum.

The key for everyone on the above list was to obtain a degree of separation between their time and their income stream(s).

 

[socaldude]

Great post. Great writing.

I think compassion is very important.

I always volunteer to help the homeless and many people don't realize the "parallel universe" that exists.

We walk by them on the streets and we never know what they are truly going through. The mental illness, the loneliness, etc.

We don't realize that that could have easily been us if all the circumstances and variables aligned.

I think compassion is a great Fastlane quality because it allows us to STOP and listen to what cannot be seen or heard or what most people completely overlook in other people.

Most people don't have compassion. But then again most people are not successful either.

 

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[Vigilante]

Thousands, if not millions, of dollars are spent every year by businesses to "culture shape" to "improve employee engagement and productivity". Yet, for me, it never seems to have any impact. More likely than not, I hear people laugh at crap like "the mood elevator" and "be here now".

I recently read something that resonated with me: the purpose of paid employment is to get paid. Everything else is secondary to that. I think more people need to realize that, and seek meaning and inclusion elsewhere.

I had an employee tell me once she loved her job so much, she would do it for free. She was just "blessed" to get paid for doing what she loved.

Three months later, with the company struggling for profitability, I asked her to adjust her wage from 150% of the going market hourly rate, to 125% of the going market hourly rate.

She quit two weeks later. Took a job elsewhere for less money.

 

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[Supa]

While I'm sitting here at my job right now, I just witnessed a convo between two colleagues.

Both are women, one maybe 35 years old, while the other probably around 45.

I had to pull out my headphones, to listen to their convo because it's a great example of what I DON'T WANT my life to look like in 10 and in 20 years (yes I'm listening to music at the job, to avoid all those discussions about the latest bachelor episode or about this and that job stuff.)

Since I had my headphones on at first, I don't know how the convo started but it went something like this:

35yo "... That *insert a stupid job thing* was crazy yesterday."

45yo "yes I had planned to do some sport yesterday and also meet with a friend afterwards.. I canceled both because I was so exhausted.."

35yo "ha, at least you have something like going to the gym or meeting with a friend.."

45yo "I just need to do something after work, otherwise my whole life would feel like it's only the job.. I thought you take piano lessons?"

35yo "yeah once every 2 weeks.."

45yo "you have your music, and I just need to get out sometimes, to get our thougths to other topics besides the job.."

Think about it. 10 years from now.

If you're in your 20s like me, do you want your only escape from the job to be an hour of piano course 2 days a month?

If you're 35, do you want your job to control every other area of your life? Isn't that a great thought? Something you don't like being the centre of your life? Excuse me while I puke..

If you're 45, do you want to live another 20 years like the last 20?

Ask yourself where you want to be in 10 years.

Sitting in that sandwich store in your 30mins break, eating a sandwich that costs more than you earned the last 2 hours?

Or standing at your colleague's desk, talking about how your whole life revolves around a job? Without realizing it, talking about how this job squeezes out every little bit of energy you got left in you.

I know how easy it is to waste 5 years of my life. How quickly they pass.

Since you're living from weekend to weekend you're not really counting in 365s but rather in 52s. Remember how long a year seemed back in school? With most hours of the day free to use for you? Hanging out with friends, going to the lake/beach, playing some type of sport game with your friends.

That was back then when your calender still had 365 days instead of only 52 weeks.

I started working at my job in 2009.

Those 7 years passed by so F*cking fast, they seem so short. They seem so short because the only moments worth remembering are the 52 weekends plus the 3-4 weeks of vacation-time.

While those years had their moments, most of them were wasted.

I wasted 5 years working jobs, while living on the weekends.

Thinking back how fast those 5 years went by, it seems so scary how fast those 5 would add up to 10, 15, 20.

Just another 52 weekends and you will sit there at your job on a friday. The same date, just another year. Looking forward to create memories the upcoming weekend.

One of the few great memories to remember when you sit at that desk the upcoming monday morning.

Adding up to even fewer great memories of your adult life.

This sad amount of great memories could be viewed as a stone.

A stone laying next to a mountain.

A mountain that resembles the rest of your lifetime so far.

We all have that stone and that mountain in our lifes.

It's just that some chose to turn this around.

For them the stone resembles the suffering.

While the mountain resembles the great memories.

Memories that fill a life worth remembering on the deathbed.

And one thing is sure.

They didn't count their years in 52 weeks.

They lived every one of the 365 days of it.

Plus an extra day every 4 years

 

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[Vigilante]

The whole country sympathizes with the guy Vig describes in the OP. There are political movements that shake the world built on this very story.

Almost everybody envies the guy in the dead end $100/hr job (and most political movements attack this guy), but all that really changes is the clothes don't suck and the house and car is nicer.

And once you understand this --- it is the day you should buy a calendar, put a big red circle on a date in the future, and count down the days to that day.

Nothing short of escape is an option once you get it.

 

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[MTF]

^^^ This is what it's all about for me.

I've not detached my income from my time yet, but I at least don't have to report to anyone.


This Wednesday I was able to drop one of my little lads off to a class before school and go for a little walk before picking him up and taking him up to school.

I took the picture below at 09:20am, on a Wednesday morning, when everyone has settled into their cubicle.

I didn't ask for permission to walk around that lake.

Made me think of the last Friday when I went with a friend (employee, but setting his own schedule) to play tennis at 11 AM.

It was a pleasant, sunny and crisp October morning. We played for an hour and then went to a spot overlooking the city to chat for a while. Nothing could beat the feeling of freedom I had when I realized almost everybody in there was at work while I could take the entire day off and it wouldn't affect my business at all.

Granted, I made many sacrifices and suffered my share of frustrations, doubt, failures, and depression to get to where I am now. Still, I would do it all again (and then some), because nothing is better than this.

I wouldn't exchange time freedom for any amount of money. Better to make less (but enough to support your ideal lifestyle) than a boatload but be broke time-wise. Money is only a tool for freedom.

By the way, I find it fitting for this thread:

Only entrepreneurship can get you in the right direction - the direction of FREEDOM.

 

[Vigilante]

Almost as sobering as the first 100 pages of TMF , I am that guy, with a slightly better job, wondering if I've left it too late...

There is no such thing as too late if you found your way here

 

[James Thornton]

Very good writing. Thanks for sharing.

Reminds me of the other day, when I was in line to pick up carry out. The group in front of me was congratulating a lady who was about to retire. They were all quite a bit older. I'd guess she was in her 60s or maybe even 70s. Scared the work right out of me.

 

[MKHB]

This is a long, rambling story I wanted to share with you after I was troubled by something I saw the other night. It's almost written as a short story. If you don't like a little introspection, or are reading for a business plan, skip this thread. Someone out there needed to hear this message, and I hope it gets in the hands of the people that needed to read this. Many of us might see ourselves through the eyes of the main character below. - Vigilante

I stopped in with my kid a few nights ago to a local sub sandwich shop, and the sad story written there is etched in my mind. In a combination of thankfulness and helpfulness, I pour out the story here like retelling of a dream. Only, this wasn’t a dream, but a glimpse into the desperate eyes of thousands of people across the United States. The forgotten ones, the failures of capitalism. The working class.

You can find my perception judgmental, until you realize that the story also marks the beginning of my story. I was this guy. Dropping out of school, I was working in retail. Young and not wise enough to realize the deck was stacked against me, I bucked the odds. Through a combination of tenacity and reinvention, I broke the mold. However, I can give you a glimpse into the life I saw a few nights ago, and give you eyes to see through the hands and into the heart and mind of the clerk, the salesperson, the forgotten ones.

I pulled into the sandwich shop, needing to get my kid a sandwich. Having spent the afternoon at an amusement park and her private swimming lessons, if I brought her fuel tank back on “empty” I would be answering to her mother. A ham and cheese better than nothing, we pulled my paid-for vehicle into the lot and went into the store. We ordered some food, and settled into a booth that she would spend the next fifteen minutes using as a jungle gym. She’s the kid that you hate sitting at the table next to.

It was then that I saw him, the 21 year old mirror image of me. Only, he was probably 48. Dressed in a cheap suit and tie, name tag slung around his neck like a noose, he was on a 29 minute escape from his evening shift at the mens clothing store a few doors down the mall. His suit was a little rumpled, which was probably OK as a quick scan of the parking lot indicated there probably were no customers to notice that night anyway. His eyes showed that he was a million miles away.

He was on about minute 10 of his 29 minute escape, an unpaid half hour that extended his required scheduled time by the same 29 minutes. You get a half hour break plus two fifteen minute breaks for every eight hours you work in the United States. A half hour isn’t really enough time to do anything, and most nights the time is spent sitting in the break room, watching the clock and wishing you were anywhere else. It's just enough time for you to settle in to your resentment of your job, and then the bell rings or the whistle blows and you are right back where you started from.

This wasn’t his first job, and likely wouldn’t be his last. A series of choices and setbacks had led him to this sandwich shop that night. He turned it over in his head, over and over and over again. When he left the clothing shop for his "break" his 24 year old boss told him to make sure he was back on time this time. As if there were another time that he hadn’t been. F*cker.

He looked at the clock on his 4th generation iPhone, and with 19 minutes left, his mind slipped away into another mindless game of Tetris. He set his personal high score last week, in what was probably his millionth game. High score. The occasion passed with nothing more than a quick flash on the screen, and then he was back folding shirts again.

His dinner that night cost him more than he made for the last hour. He had a base pay of $12 plus commission, but with no customers in the shop, there was no commission. Add to that he was required to take a half hour unpaid, and his sandwich cost him more than he made after taxes for nearly two hours.

The Tetris helped him forget. It helped him forget that his son's tuition was due tomorrow. He felt dead. He felt trapped. When he allowed himself to think about it, he couldn’t breathe. His ability to pretend it wasn’t happening ended when the credit card was declined, and then they started calling. Not sure what he was supposed to tell them. He put their number on ignore, but knew that was only going to make it all worse.

He looked at the clock as he drifted away into another game. 9 minutes left.

They told him tonight they were cutting his hours back to one hour less than full time. He’d have even less. He didn’t have anything to say. Where else would he go? When he took this job, he told himself it was just temporary. But last week turned into yesterday, which turned into today. And now he had to go home, and tell his wife he just got a pay cut.

6 minutes.

It was easier to just not think about it. Three more hours of standing around a store with no customers. It made no sense to him. He got mad. He thought about the fact that his time was worth so little to them that they would just have him stand around, folding shirts and paying him less than a sandwich. Last month, they changed the commission plan so that even the sales he did were subtracted from his “salary” before he got any commission. Tonight, though, that wouldn’t matter.

4 minutes.

He would almost rather be there than at home.

3 minutes. He slumped down in his chair. He didn’t want to be there. The sandwich made him sick, as the stress turned into a knot in his stomach. He started another game, and then realized he had to get back. Back to what? Back to nothing. Back to his time clock. He had to rush back to be on time to stand around.

He crumpled up his salary in the form of a sandwich wrapper, and headed towards the door. Making a left, he was the only one headed to the clothing store from the parking lot. He’d watch the clock roll towards 9PM, knowing his wife was likely to be asleep when he got home.

And tomorrow, it would start all over again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This forum gets dozens of thousands of hits per week. Many of them are people just like this guy, looking for something that can help them. Something that can encourage them. Something that can teach them. Maybe… maybe that guy is you.

These people are all around us. Capitalism requires it. There are more of them than there are of us. Most of them will never break out. Most of them will never find a way. Some won’t do it because they can’t, some won’t do it because they won’t. Some won’t do it because they think it is game over.

The guy in the sandwich shop reminded me of me. I was him. I fought like hell and found a way, but absent that I once wore his suit. Many of us did.

It’s not enough for you to take everything from this forum and use it for your own gain. It’s not enough for you to read the Millionaire Fast Lane, the Four Hour Work Week, start your business, and live happily ever after. Your life will still be devoid of meaning until you figure out how to reach people with scale and bring them with you.

Look deeply into the eyes of the clothing store clerk in the sandwich shop. At a minimum, lets realize that he deserves compassion. He may never make it. He may never find it. He may always live from day to day eating those shitty sandwiches. Showing you shirts. Folding shirts. And you and I? We look past him. We wonder why he's such an a**hole at the clothing store.

KAK left the forum. He then came back to reach more people in scale. MJ DeMarco could have just walked away, and never written the Millionaire Fast Lane.

I taught some classes last fall. Most of the people sitting in the class were in various stages of being that guy in the sandwich shop. I haven’t reached enough of them yet. We’re not all called to be teachers. Some can give back through philanthropy. Some can give back through teaching. Others through works or other ways of effecting people, either individually or in scale.

Not sure why I spent the time telling you all this, other than the realization that had my life taken some different turns, I could have been that guy in the sandwich shop. That guy is here. Reading this post. Rather than step around them when they find us, maybe we should do a better job here at the forum of helping them find a way.

What will your legacy look like?

Another V classic, however; this is my second favorite post.

Go watch my daughters tumbling class.

Money can wait for some other day.

This is still number #1. ^^^^ from your "Addicted to Passive Income" thread.

The young guys, and the bachelors may not get it, but for the fathers on the forum, it was subtle - yet very powerful - on the surface it was about economics, but peel it back and it's more about the man.


Being able to shut it down at anytime and spend the day/week/month with the people that matter....

that is the equivalent of "My Lamborghini Moment."

 

[Disobey]

Well I think I'm on the right path to discover it for myself.

This year has been a total shitstorm for us and this week I think it just reached its peak (let's hope I'm not too optimistic here).

As I said in my introduction post (almost 2 years ago, damn!) I moved back home to live with my mom and grandmother. So did my cousin.
Both our lives were in pretty bad shape at the time but we fought back. He managed to beat his addiction to alcohol and drugs, and gave up his criminal past. I've beaten my gambling addiction.
This house was always a kind of fort Alamo for our family. My mom helped other family members get back on their feet when they needed it countless times.

In march, my "father" sued my mom (who got divorced in 2014) to get the house and throw us out. He has a decent income and no alimony to pay to her, he's got his own place, but it's not enough for him apparently.
We'll know early november if we still have a house or if we'll be homeless, for good this time.

Business wise I've been spinning my wheels for a year. Nothing seems to pick up, probably because I have nothing more to give than what's already available out there. I tried the ebook route even though I'm a poor writer which is probably the cause of my demise. Launched a hand car-washing business for exotics and high end cars. Failed. Lawn mowing business? You guessed it. Failed. Looks like I suck at building idiot proof businesses.

I feel more like a wantrepreneur than an entrepreneur. Most of those attempts were just me trying to build myself a better job anyway.

The third major catastrophy happened this week as I was in belgium with my cousin looking for a foodtruck for sale. Milkshakes we're my next target. Yes I know... another job. Some low life idiot broke into my car and stole his tablet. No big deal I said. Let's just go signal it to the cops.

After giving our identities at the police station, they ask my cousin to follow them in an office. What's the matter I asked. "Nothing" they said, "just something to check with him, it will take a few minutes"
An hour later they come out saying they're putting him in jail. Turns out his past came back after him. He had been put on trial without even knowing and got sentenced this september to 40 months of incarceration. He told them he lived in Luxembourg with us 3 years ago but they pretended he left no address and they couldn't find him in belgium so they didn't even leave him a chance to defend himself during the trial. wtf. They'll find you in the middle of the north pole if you owe 50$ to the government but won't move their a$$ if you need to defend yourself in court.

I had to drive back 150kms (93miles) home with a broken window on my car and crying all the tears in my body. I was lost and didn't know how to announce my 85 year old grandma that she probably wouldn't see one of her grandsons for the next three years. This must have been the single hardest moment in my life.

I don't know what to do anymore. I have no debt but won't hesitate to go 30k in the red to get him out or at least get him a reduced sentence even though we lost one third of our income overnight.

The fear of ending like that guy you described chills me to the bone Vigilante. I dropped out of high-school so I've got virtually no chance to find a decent paying job unless I go back to school (even so). I'm not the smartest guy in town neither. My attempts at building a business is the stuff jokes are made of. And now I'm torn between getting in debt to save a man I consider like a brother or keep my money in case we lose our home.

I've really got to fix my mindset right now.

I'll be 29 in a few months but I feel like I just aged 20 years in a year.
I used to dream of Ferrari's, Lambo's and mustangs. Now I don't care anymore. All I want is freedom and safety for my family. They are all that matters to me.

This Al pacino speech sounds really fitting.

Tl,dr: Life is a box of chocolates.

p.s: Firstly, i'm sorry for bringing back an old thread.
Secondly I'm sorry if this post looks like i'm lamenting myself (Oh! Poor me!) but it feels good to get this off my chest.
And finally, if the bad english in this post causes sudden blindness, please for god's sake don't sue me!

 

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[Vigilante]

I however have made my self indispensable or almost...

A lot of employees think that.

Until the company sees it differently.

There's no such thing in most places as job security. It's a myth. It's a false security, wrapped in a blanket of limited income.

 

[Vigilante]

Isn't it funny how companies demand and expect your loyalty, so much so to the point where you are fearful of job hunting in case the word gets back to them? They'd be upset if they knew you were looking. Your quitting might disrupt their planned vacation. That's about as much as it means to them.

Meanwhile, they would F*ck your family over with zero notice to save your salary for their bottom line? Do you think they wouldn't? They would.

Does your spouse think that your job provides the family with job security? Does he/she realize that you're in an insecure position?

At a minimum, recognizing you are a FREE AGENT is one of the first steps towards independence.

Does that guy I saw in the sub sandwich shop in the OP think that his executive team (beyond his immediate supervisors) knows much more about him than his employee number, his pay rate, and his sales for last week/month?

 

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