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Are You Satisfied With Your Job?

by Rich Lazzara on January 6, 2010

Only 45% of workers are satisfied with their jobs according to a recent study. That’s the lowest number in the last 22 years!  This is down from 48% last year and in fact each year over the past two decades has continued in a steady downward trend.

Sign Of The Times

While I can’t say this is a surprise I am saddened that in 2010 this is the case.   If you’ve followed this blog for awhile you know that I believe Everyone’s an Entrepreneur and that the coming years will be the decade for entrepreneurs.  You know that I’ve preached the fact that the days of working for a company for 40+ years and then retiring are a thing of the past.  There has never been a better time to start a business then today.

The Future Is The Entrepreneur, Not The Corporation

Will large corporations die? No. However over the next several decades the future of the world economy will continue to thrive and flourish on the backs of individual entrepreneurs and small business.  As the channels of creation, production and distribution become increasingly open to everyone there suddenly are opportunities abound.  Outside of hugely capital intensive industries, (i.e. bio-tech) nearly any business idea can become a profitable venture.

Don’t Quit Your Job, Yet

I’m not one of those crazy people that believes in leveraging all your assets and betting the farm on an idea. That’s crazy and its not wise.  Obviously you need to pay the bills and perhaps now is not the time to cut yourself free from your job and dive into the entrepreneurial waters.  However you can start working on your idea today.  The Interent is a wealth of knowledge and no matter what your idea is you will need to do a ton of research.  Get started today. Also regardless of the topic you should get involved in forums, blog commenting or even start your own blog.  There is no reason why you cant start communicating with others that share a similar passion or idea.

How about you? Are you satisfied at your job or working towards something else?

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Tagged as: business, easier, entrepreneur, focus, personal brand, small business, you

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Why Now is the Best Time

  • Enterprising is the future for sure. Or maybe it is already the present, well that's how I feel. And good advice on not quitting your job yet Mostly coz of 2 reasons:
    1. You need ter pay ur bills (as you mentioned)
    2. and entrepreneurs start where they are be it a job or homeless' shelter.

    Cheers to the awesome entrepreneurs we are!
  • Yes, you have to be realistic about achieving your goals. Entrepreneurs have been around forever in fact commerce was started by them. Look for that trend to continue and indeed grow over the coming decades. thanks for the comments
  • Hey Rich,

    Your thoughts on this were probably the most useful thing I got out of our conversation. I do now have a job as a social media strategist at a travel company. What's interesting however is that it's 30 hrs a week, and gives me enough money to live, and the rest of the time to focus on entrepreneurship. So, I'm in a really fortunate position that I like my job, because I'm doing the things I do in my personal ventures in a corporate setting and I get to keep surfing just as much. Like you said, 2 steps back and 20 steps forward.
  • Srini, Wow! Thats awesome. Really happy for you. Great that you can do what you love and work on the other projects you have going as well. Looking for big things in 2010 from you...I appreciate the comments.
  • I wish there was an ungated version of the research paper, because I am not going to shell out $395 to read it. Happiness research is highly suspect in my book. None of their stories as to why job satisfaction has declined strike me as convincing.

    Either way, I would think some of the people who are currently satisfied at their job, might also be the ones most likely to succeed as entrepreneurs. Perhaps the real challenge is convincing that 45% they could be even happier.
  • Potentially it is suspect and I agree that studies and finding can be manipulated however you want. It's interesting though that they have seen consistently lowering satisfaction ratings.

    As for the ones most happy being the ones most likely to succeed, I would disagree with that point. I believe history clearly shows many of the best entrepreneurs have been ones who weren't content with where they were and had an idea to do something better/different. I think thats the essence of an entrepreneur. Steve Jobs - Apple, Jeff Bezos - Amazon, Phil Knight - Nike.

    If I was tasked with finding the "next great" entrepreneur, Id be looking for someone who was discontent with their current job.

    Thanks for the comments.
  • Point taken. It is probably important to distinguish success and satisfaction. Two examples which immediately pop to mind are Paul Buchheit and Jon Rubinstein.

    An interesting question to ask might be: If Steve Jobs greatest contributions to Apple have already been made, what could he accomplish in he took a position in another industry?
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