Working Creatively Doesn't Have to Look Like Entrepreneurship
I've been giving this idea a lot of thought lately. When I first launched Creating Your Own Path as an interview series, I recalled being given a very narrow set of career options in my high school counselor's office. I was a junior at the time and that was when you were supposed to start picking out the path you might want to take in life.
So many of the jobs and career options that exist today simply didn't back then — and it hasn't been that long since high school. Even in college, I felt as though my options were limited, but times are changing and that's a good thing.
However, I have been stumbling along my path of entrepreneurship for seven years now and, over the last year or so, I've begun realize why certain discussions in this space haven't completely resonated with me.
You see, there's this idea that working creatively means you have to run your own company. Going into business for yourself has become synonymous with success and freedom and all of those values we love to love.
But guess what? You can still work creatively for any number of super rad companies and still be successful and — wait for it — free. Want to know something else? Some of those creative jobs with organizations and companies around the world pay really well and they come with benefits and other perks like never having to use QuickBooks again, allowing the word "hustle" to fall away from your vocabulary, and going to the dentist with some regularity.
What I'm getting at, here, is that I want to urge all of us (myself included) to stop glamorizing the path of the entrepreneur. It's not glamorous. It's really hard work. Being your own boss can be awesome — that's true — but it's not the only way to create your own path.
In fact, I've met dozens and dozens of people over the years whose jobs I didn't even know existed — and the jobs they hold within their companies are SO COOL. I'm betting current high school juniors and college freshmen don't know those jobs exist either. I propose we change that.
Who's with me?
