A Thousand Tiny Bosses

Everyone needs a dose of entrepreneurialism to navigate these modern times.

I know what you’re thinking: “I’m not an entrepreneur. I enjoy the security of a stable job.”

But let me break this down for you:

First, you don’t have as much security as you might think. All it takes to lose your job is a temperamental boss, a health crisis, an economic downturn, a mistake on your part, or someone better to come along.

And second, you actually are an entrepreneur. You pitched your skills to a company, and they signed up for your services, which is exactly what every entrepreneur does. The only difference is that you stopped with one client while the entrepreneur kept going.

As an employee, you have one big boss. He or she sets your schedule, your rate of pay, your required deliverables, and which day of the week you’re supposed to bring donuts to work.

Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you don’t have a boss. You have a thousand tiny bosses. Each one is important. You have to please them. But you can stand to lose a few bad ones every now and then.

I love what the character Daisy Mason said on my wife’s favorite TV show Downton Abbey: “No farmer is his own boss. He takes his orders from the sun and the snow and the wind and the rain.” 

We can’t escape bosses. We can only determine how many there are.

- BEN ARMENT