The employer – employee relationship is highly flawed.
Or, more precisely, the perception of this relationship held by both employers and employees is highly flawed.
And it is this flawed perception that continues to be at the very core of why many businesses are seeing their employee satisfaction levels hit record lows.
It is also why so many managers have being able to browbeat, bully, and intimidate their employees into performing at some basic level of adequacy.
But this is changing as more and more highly valuable and incredibly talented employees realize the simple truth underlying the employer – employee relationship.
The simple truth is that all employees are entrepreneurs.
This week I write about the one piece of advice that I provide to all employees whether they have already realized this truth or not.
YES, YOU ARE AN ENTREPRENEUR
That's right, you are an entrepreneur.
Contrary to popular believe, being self-employed and being an entrepreneur are not the same thing.
While it is true that most self-employed people are entrepreneurs, the same thing can be said for people who wake up every morning and go to work for someone else.
This is based on the fact that while many people use the term entrepreneur to describe people who go into business for themselves, an entrepreneur is really anyone who engages in entrepreneurial activities.
Entrepreneurial activity, in its simplest form, is simply the process of determining what product or service you already have (or can develop) that you can sell to another party for money.
This is precisely what you did when you entered to job market.
When you first submitted your resume for a particular job, you were (in fact) submitting a proposal that outlines all of the features and benefits of your service.
When you attended a job interview, you were making a sales pitch for the purpose of convincing your prospective customer (i.e. the employer) to purchase the services you were offering.
Believe it or not, you ARE an entrepreneur.
YOU'RE AN ENTREPRENEUR...SO WHAT?
Ok...you now call yourself an entrepreneur...so what?
It doesn't change anything, does it?
Well, actually, yes it does. IT CHANGES EVERYTHING.
When asking employees what they believe the most desirable thing about being an entrepreneur is, the most common answer is the belief that entrepreneurs are in control of themselves.
This is in contrast to the belief that, for employees, their boss is in control.
Now, if every employee were to see themselves as an entrepreneur...someone who is selling their services to a customer...how would their perception of who is REALLY in control change?
How does your perception of where the control really lies change?
You are in control. Period.
You get to choose who you sell your services to, just as any other entrepreneur gets to choose this, by selecting where you apply for a job.
You get to choose if you want to fire your customer and no longer sell your services to them by quitting your job.
You choose how happy your customer will be by deciding how hard you want to work to meet their needs.
You choose if you want to improve your marketable skills and services by engaging in professional development.
And, by making all of these choices, you choose how much money you want to be able to make.
Like every other entrepreneur, you choices determine your success.
So, to you, I offer this one piece of critical advice...
MY ADVICE FOR THE EMPLOYEE ENTREPRENEUR
Ok, here it is...the most important piece of advice that I can offer every employee, entrepreneur, and employee entrepreneur:
Take 100% ownership and accountability for your happiness and success. Stop viewing your employer the way a dog views its master; begging for attention, hoping for validation, and starving for the few scraps that may come your way.
You are better that this. You deserve more than this.
You are in control of your career and are exactly where your choices have led you to be.
If you aren't happy where you are, then YOU must make different choices.
Stop relying on your employer for every scrap of progress you make in your career...for getting that meager raise...for offering to send you to learn the new skills THEY want you to learn...for meeting THEIR needs at the expense of your own.
You ARE in control of your career. You always have been.
It doesn't matter that you work for someone else. We ALL do.
I quit my job as CFO of a successful company 6 years ago and, every day since, I have woken and gone to work for a boss...only now, that boss is the client I happen to be working with that day.
The idea that to be an "entrepreneur" means that you are your own boss is false.
You are NOT your own boss, so long as you provide a product or service to someone else in exchange for money.
The person paying you...your customer...will ALWAYS be your boss.
And you are in control of who that will be.
TIME TO EMBRACE YOUR INNER ENTREPRENEUR
Embrace your inner entrepreneur.
I know it may have been a while since you and he or she last spoke but go ahead and start up a conversation.
Ask them if THEY are happy where you are.
Ask them if they think you need to make some changes in your life and/or career.
Find out from them what they need to feel satisfied with where things are.
Do they need you to learn something new? Try a new industry? Find a new customer?
No matter what they say, remember this:
You already have within you the power to choose, and therefore the power to change. You are in control.
Stop waiting for someone else to decide that you deserve more. Take the first steps toward self-mastery on your own terms with the Personal Mastery Program.