Found this rather, ah, interesting article the other day. I don't know exactly who this Steve Pavlina guy is, or whether he's writing tongue-in-cheek, but he has some pretty strong opinions as to why people *shouldn't* get a job:
It would help tremendously if Mr. Pavlina got off his high horse. His tone is that of disdain towards those of us "bovines" who actually hold a 9-5 job. Among other things, he uses such enlightening adjectives to describe job-holders as "morons," "idiots," and "co-slave."
His most valid take-home message is that ideally, we should earn income by providing value to others. In other words, start our own business. Well. I will be the first to admit that entreprenurship is not one of my strengths. Not everyone has the training or innate knack for it. It's not a fault or an insult; not everyone can be a doctor, or a policeman, or detective or journalist.
What Mr. Pavlina fails to emphasize is that starting your own business is a job in and of itself. He brags about making $9000 (or "update: $40,000 a month as of 10/31/06") just from his own blog/website; he also dangles the unfortunate bait by asking, "Don't you think your life would be easier if you get paid while you were eating, sleeping, and playing with your kids, too?" Then he goes on to briefly describe "passive income" via websites, investing, or starting a business (*ahem! Who the hell says starting a business is "passive???"). These are the sorts of infomercial poison that entices Americans to shell out thousands of dollars for those "lose weight fast!" diet pill scams. Imagine! You can lose weight by just taking a pill and then sitting back! You can also make money just by starting a blog and then sitting back! Watch the money pour in!
Wrong. As many of you who make income from websites or selling on Ebay or providing a "service" as a side job, it is a job in and of itself that requires some time, effort, and management. In fact, for many, these "side jobs" eventually become full time work. I cannot imagine anyone simply sitting back and having money magically pour in (though that would be nice).
Lastly, what offends me most is how he ignores and alienates those of us who work and who actually enjoy working for our corporations and companies. We choose to work a salaried job and we enjoy doing so. And in the end, that makes us feel proud, too. THough unlike Mr. Pavlina, we don't need to go insulting other people to justify our work ethic.
November 21st, 2006 at 03:37 am 1164080251
November 21st, 2006 at 03:52 am 1164081135
Pavlina probably neglected to mention that having a successful blog took enormous effort to start. there is no easy money. i'm not saying having a job is bad (i have one too!). but we should use that to build passive income so that we can enjoy life! does this sound more reasonable to you?
oh yeah, watch out for get-rich-quick scheme.
November 21st, 2006 at 08:23 pm 1164140602