Haywood’s story is partly what inspired me to leave my last agency job to pursue the purchase of a roofing company. The skills are practical, the labor builds your physique and your character, office politics are non-existent, the money’s better than most middle management positions, and the word of mouth referrals that come from jobs well done feel a whole lot better than the latest Adobe updates not being compatible with your brand new M-series Mac.
Everyone should do this. And if you can’t, go and work for someone who is and spend the next 5 years figuring it out.
Jack Spirko, who I know you are no stranger to, helped change my career trajectory. He focuses on entrepreneurship, but so much of that is applicable to the corporate world. His experiences in the corporate world are also something he shares. I doubled my income by job hopping in a matter of 24 months (not to sound like an "easy money from home" ad). I do like the idea of pure self employment, or even enough self employment to fall back on if the corporate job disappears.
That sounds a like a decent alternative viewpoint. I like everything Charles said but due to medical issues that have me chained to the healthcare system taking that level of risk and having it not play out would literally kill me most likely (the joys of having a messed up Pancreas). I'd love to go independent and start my own thing but I would have to take the slow build up approach even if its vastly inferior because that's as much risk as I can take on.
Thanks brother. I enjoy your words of wisdom. It helps me knowing that there is someone else who understands the fact that true liberty starts in your heart.
Now if we can just impress on everyone else that there's a fairly high level of self sacrifice that is required to get there, then everyone will move in the right direction. God bless.
Worth noting that the pre-modern system of apprenticeship - the one that worked for all of human history until it was discarded as outdated and regressive - was built on the presumption that once you had achieved a sufficient level of mastery you would either strike out on your own or take over ownership of the master's business when he retired. It was a system designed to create independent, competent participants in society. It turned children into responsible adults.
The system of public education and employment on the other hand was designed with the explicit intention of making you manageable, dependent and incapable of operating on your own. You're to serve indefinitely as a small piece of a much larger machine, specialized in a narrow task and unaware of other skills and roles involved in completing a project.
Very efficient this arrangement, according to technocrats. Lets them pursue their grand schemes without the bother of attracting and retaining the necessary number of participants, since in this situation they're incapable of supporting themselves independently and desperate for any work available. Nevermind those grand schemes might not be something you'd prefer to enable. You need a roof over your head and this is how you obtain it.
If you're still thinking of yourself as a libertarian this is probably a blind spot for you. Austrian economics' only real insight here is "given you have grand designs and ambitions, a firm with a stable of specialized employees is the most effective way to achieve them". It has nothing to say about whether or which grand schemes are desirable, or whether enabling someone else's scheme is the best route to your own personal fulfillment.
But one thing you should know: the education+employment model is never going to give you the tools you need to be independent. It's designed, from preschool onward, specifically to _deprive_ you of those tools. If you find yourself working for a firm, punching a clock and performing your role as a cog in someone else's machine, that means you were not selected to be part of the managerial and entrepreneural classes.
The last thing this system would do is empower you to escape it. Think of the dysfunction a machine would suffer if its cogs were regularly detaching themselves, falling out of the machine, and re-assembling into new machines competing over the same resources and customers.
So if you're looking to get out but you don't know how, do _not_ look for more education and employment. You don't need a new degree, or to achieve some higher rank or title. This is a trap. The skills you need to operate independently can only developed through action.
If you can apprentice yourself to someone eager to teach you those skills so much the better, but otherwise you're going to have to learn the hard way and let the pain of failure be your teacher. Don't be afraid of failure. That's a fear the managerial system put in you. You're not going to _die_. You're just going to struggle. Struggle is healthy. It makes you stronger, and leads to less struggle in the future.
Haywood’s story is partly what inspired me to leave my last agency job to pursue the purchase of a roofing company. The skills are practical, the labor builds your physique and your character, office politics are non-existent, the money’s better than most middle management positions, and the word of mouth referrals that come from jobs well done feel a whole lot better than the latest Adobe updates not being compatible with your brand new M-series Mac.
Everyone should do this. And if you can’t, go and work for someone who is and spend the next 5 years figuring it out.
Love what you’re doing, Pete.
Keep it up!
Congratulations, and wise advice.
Jack Spirko, who I know you are no stranger to, helped change my career trajectory. He focuses on entrepreneurship, but so much of that is applicable to the corporate world. His experiences in the corporate world are also something he shares. I doubled my income by job hopping in a matter of 24 months (not to sound like an "easy money from home" ad). I do like the idea of pure self employment, or even enough self employment to fall back on if the corporate job disappears.
That sounds a like a decent alternative viewpoint. I like everything Charles said but due to medical issues that have me chained to the healthcare system taking that level of risk and having it not play out would literally kill me most likely (the joys of having a messed up Pancreas). I'd love to go independent and start my own thing but I would have to take the slow build up approach even if its vastly inferior because that's as much risk as I can take on.
The genuineness and passion of your words (and wisdom) are greatly appreciated. Your humanity is what strands out. Thank you.
Thanks brother. I enjoy your words of wisdom. It helps me knowing that there is someone else who understands the fact that true liberty starts in your heart.
Now if we can just impress on everyone else that there's a fairly high level of self sacrifice that is required to get there, then everyone will move in the right direction. God bless.
To you as well!
Worth noting that the pre-modern system of apprenticeship - the one that worked for all of human history until it was discarded as outdated and regressive - was built on the presumption that once you had achieved a sufficient level of mastery you would either strike out on your own or take over ownership of the master's business when he retired. It was a system designed to create independent, competent participants in society. It turned children into responsible adults.
The system of public education and employment on the other hand was designed with the explicit intention of making you manageable, dependent and incapable of operating on your own. You're to serve indefinitely as a small piece of a much larger machine, specialized in a narrow task and unaware of other skills and roles involved in completing a project.
Very efficient this arrangement, according to technocrats. Lets them pursue their grand schemes without the bother of attracting and retaining the necessary number of participants, since in this situation they're incapable of supporting themselves independently and desperate for any work available. Nevermind those grand schemes might not be something you'd prefer to enable. You need a roof over your head and this is how you obtain it.
If you're still thinking of yourself as a libertarian this is probably a blind spot for you. Austrian economics' only real insight here is "given you have grand designs and ambitions, a firm with a stable of specialized employees is the most effective way to achieve them". It has nothing to say about whether or which grand schemes are desirable, or whether enabling someone else's scheme is the best route to your own personal fulfillment.
But one thing you should know: the education+employment model is never going to give you the tools you need to be independent. It's designed, from preschool onward, specifically to _deprive_ you of those tools. If you find yourself working for a firm, punching a clock and performing your role as a cog in someone else's machine, that means you were not selected to be part of the managerial and entrepreneural classes.
The last thing this system would do is empower you to escape it. Think of the dysfunction a machine would suffer if its cogs were regularly detaching themselves, falling out of the machine, and re-assembling into new machines competing over the same resources and customers.
So if you're looking to get out but you don't know how, do _not_ look for more education and employment. You don't need a new degree, or to achieve some higher rank or title. This is a trap. The skills you need to operate independently can only developed through action.
If you can apprentice yourself to someone eager to teach you those skills so much the better, but otherwise you're going to have to learn the hard way and let the pain of failure be your teacher. Don't be afraid of failure. That's a fear the managerial system put in you. You're not going to _die_. You're just going to struggle. Struggle is healthy. It makes you stronger, and leads to less struggle in the future.