Scott Gerber Believes in Never Getting A Real Job
Scott Gerber is a part of a growing trend of Gen-Y business owners. In fact, he's teaching others how to follow in his footsteps with his new book, "Never Get a Real Job." He's also founded the Young Entrepreneurs Council.
Today I'm debating Scott on my SIRIUSXM radio show about his recent controversial Inc. column entitled, "Why Being Passionate is Awful Advice".
Beyond the controversy, I asked Scott to elaborate on his own career path and the lessons he's learned being an entrepreneur at such a young age. I think you'll see below that his words are those of wisdom and ones we can all benefit from at any age...
Q: How did you know you were meant to "never get a real job"?
A: The thought of putting all of my eggs into one basket that I neither owned nor controlled was not appealing to me. I wanted to be in control of my own destiny and financial security--and even though my benefits-toting, stability-preaching teacher mother told me to get a real job every step of the way--I had confidence in myself that I would be able to validate my college degree and talents without a boss.
Q: What do you like most about being an entrepreneur?
Problem solving. I enjoy overcoming obstacles and making things happen. It keeps me motivated and driven everyday.
Q: What's your level of job security being your own boss? Do you feel you have less or more?
Much more. The buck stops with me. If I screw up or miscalculate something then only I'm to blame. That's much less risky in my opinion than trusting some C-level executive or middle manager that doesn't know my name with my financial security. Depending on multiple streams of income and partnering with smart people and companies always helps me to mitigate my risks and maximize my potential.
Q: What one skill should people make sure to focus on to be successful if self-employed?
Execute! Execute! Execute! If you plan to do something, do it! No one will hold your hand to make sure you work hard. Remember, entrepreneurs are doers, not talkers. Anyone and everyone can be a Monday morning quarterback, but only a few can make it to the field.
Comments
I don't disagree with Scott for thinking of entrepreneurship as the real job to get. But there is more to this subject than wanting control over one's own destiny and financial security. Where Scott speaks of having confidence in himself to validate his inexperience and untried talents without a boss, which is really what a college diploma stands for today in practical terms, I see half a decade later an expression of sheer bravado and not practical advice.
By his own admission in an interview with David Siteman Garland, Scott indicated that at the age of 20 he had "the most colossal failure of all time, it almost went bankrupt." But, learning from the lessons "from that hard knocks, reality-check situation," he tool "the remaining couple of hundred dollars" in his bank account that "turned" into his business called Sizzle It, which made tens of thousands of dollars a month within months of launching it.
The key here is to note that it took both failure, a lesson in risk mitigation and some "secret sauce" to turn a few dollars into a lot of dollars after several months of hard work. The secret sauce is more than courage and hard work, however. It is team work.
There is no way Scott could have reached success with Sizzle It and beyond that alone. There are no successful lone eagles in the entrepreneurial heavens. Community empowers the individual to execute repeatedly. Quarterbacks without a team make lousy passes that never score.
It is far more useful to tone down the "You can do" rhetoric and raise the practical flag of effective entrepreneurship through disciplined team building. That's the means of execution.
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