I’ve been referring to myself as “unemployable for many years now, and it’s a common joke among entrepreneurs and freelancers. For me, I’m not sure I’m joking at all.
Of course, the literal meaning of the word “unemployable” is no laughing matter. There are way too many people in the world who have been left behind without basic skills and opportunities for meaning employment and the ability to earn a living wage. So let me acknowledge that upfront.
But that leads us to a bigger issue that will become one of our themes for this show and the free webinars and other training that I’ll be delivering to Unemployable members. We’ll call it becoming technologically unemployable.
In this episode I discuss:
- The coming perils of robots and automation
- Why having a job makes some more miserable than most
- What “psychologically unemployable” means
- Why I felt flawed for not appreciating my job
- The fundamental skill you need to avoid a J.O.B.
Show Notes
Transcript
Voiceover: This is Rainmaker.FM, the digital marketing podcast network. It’s built on the Rainmaker Platform, which empowers you to build your own digital marketing and sales platform. Start your free 14-day trial at Rainmaker.FM/Platform.
Welcome to Unemployable … the show for people who can get a job … they’re just not inclined to accept one (and that’s putting it nicely).
If you’re a freelancer or solopreneur, this is the place to get actionable advice for growing your business, improving your processes, and enjoying greater freedom in your life. To get the full experience, make sure you’re registered at unemployable.com for access to upcoming webinars and more. That’s unemployable.com.
Brian Clark: Hey everyone, Brian Clark here. Thanks for joining me for the very first episode of Unemployable. We’re going to draw on lessons from my 17 years of entrepreneurial activity, plus a collection of smart guests, to bring you tips, tactics, and strategies that you can implement in your business right away.
So, first of all … the title. I’ve been referring to myself as “unemployable for many years now, and it’s a common joke among entrepreneurs and freelancers. For me, I’m not sure I’m joking at all … and to illustrate that point, let me tell you an actual joke.
This is one that my CFO, Sean Jackson, loves to tell. It’s complete fiction, but it’s his attempt to humorously explain my attitude about working for someone else. This is how Sean tells it:
So, Brian Clark goes in to interview for the CMO position at a Fortune 500 company. He’s meeting with the CEO for the final hurdle to the job.
The CEO says “Brian, tell me … what’s your biggest fault. Brian replies, “I think it’s that I’m too honest.
The CEO pauses for a second to contemplate, and then says, “Well, I don’t think that’s a fault at all. To which Brian responds, “Well, I don’t give a f*ck what you think.
Sean Jackson, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week, every week.
What’s truly funny about the joke is that it implies I already sat though a series of interviews before meeting the CEO. Not going to happen, trust me.
Of course, the literal meaning of the word “unemployable is no laughing matter. There are way too many people in the world who have been left behind without basic skills and opportunities for meaning employment and the ability to earn a living wage. So let me acknowledge that upfront.
But that leads me to a bigger issue that will become one of our themes for this show and the free webinars and other training that’s I’ll be delivering to Unemployable members. We’ll call it becoming technologically unemployable.
The Coming Perils of Robots and Automation
Look around. An article on Vice entitled How to Keep a Piece of the Pie After the Robots Take Our Jobs. The Atlantic’s got a piece called A World Without Work, talking about machines eliminating human labor. The cover of the June 2015 issue of The Harvard Business Review proclaims “Meet Your New Employee over a picture of a robot.
It used to be the stuff of science fiction. Now, robots, automation, and intelligent algorithms are at the center of a discussion about the future of human employment. Some estimates project that 47 percent of US jobs alone are at risk of computerization, and it will happen world wide.
It’s happening, and we’ll start to see it happen in real-time over the next five years. Let’s not let it happen to you.
What “Psychologically Unemployable Means
For now, let’s get back to the kind of unemployability I suffer from, so to speak. I can’t really call it suffering now, but that’s not always been the case.
We’ll call this being psychologically unemployable. You’re effectively miserable working for someone else. Everyone is unhappy with their job from time to time … that’s not what I’m talking about. It’s simply not doable.
And it’s not really about money, it’s about freedom. The freedom to do things your way, to pursue work that adds meaning to your life, the freedom to control how and when you spend your time working so you can do the other things in life that matter a lot too.
Why I Felt Flawed for Not Appreciating My Job
Going back to 1998 when I quit my job as an attorney in a prestigious law firm, I didn’t feel empowered or like I was a special breed of person. I was miserable about my job, but it was worse than that … I thought I was damaged, flawed, and unworthy. You have no idea how bad I felt about myself.
Why couldn’t I appreciate the great gig I had? Why couldn’t I just do what needed to be done like my fellow associates who dutifully worked toward the promise of partnership? What the hell was wrong with me?
The Fundamental Skill You Need to Avoid A J.O.B.
Sitting here today, as the CEO of a company with annual revenue in the eight figures, it’s easy to look back and smile. But it was really a bad time for me, and I’m betting many of you out there felt similar.
These days, I don’t really fear things going terribly wrong and having to get a job, because no matter how bad things might go, I know how to spot opportunity and act on it to support myself and my family. And that’s the fundamental skill we all need to protect ourselves from the dreaded J.O.B.
Okay, I think that’s a good break point. Next time, I want to talk about my evolution over these last 17 years, effectively from a solo practitioner, to an entrepreneur who succeeded despite myself, to getting it much more right.
Don’t worry, this show is not going to be all about me and my stories. But I think the next episode will illustrate that the only thing that changed in each stage of my evolution was the way I thought … my mindset. I think this will help you quite a bit in your own journey.
That’s all for now. Remember, future episodes will feature your questions and an answer, either from me or a guest expert … or both. This is available to all registered members of the free Unemployable community, which will also score you access to upcoming intensive webinars that go above and beyond the audio episodes.
Head over to Unemployable.com to register. Quick, easy, and free.
Talk soon … in the meantime, keep going.