The Corporate Exodus Chronicles
233: Charting Your Path to Freedom
With the holidays fast approaching I thought a follow up piece on breaking free from the corporate world could’ve fitting — especially because motivation usually drops towards the end of the year near the holidays, layoffs have ramped up in a number of industries, and many people begin to re-evaluate their goals as close up the old year.
This is meant to expand upon themes touched on in our first post in this series:
How to Become Sovereign & Ungovernable
Many corporate insitutions and organizations — like universities, have become afflicted with the woke mind virus n the last 5-7 years. They are no longer focused solely on the best results or the best outcomes — instead it’s become one large advertisement for things like diversity, inclusivity, and constantly changing virtues.
Ambitious, hard working, and determined people are oftentimes underutilized, punished for their work ethic and vision, or worse — nudged out when they don’t drink the corporate kool aid and act like everything is tip top and fine when it’s not. In this day and age as politics and social issues bleed their way into the way offices and companies are run — there isn’t any escaping this forced new reality. I see it everyday now especially with the younger generations.
I’ve had the chance to work at a handful of different companies — everything from start ups to larger older global organizations and I can reliably say they don’t change much. They are rampant with bureaucracy, inefficiencies, incompetent management, and, as to be expected, waste.
There are excellent moments of upside at good companies and people can turn their time at these places into great careers that pay very well — but these are exceedingly rare and generally don’t serve the founders, board, or executives. The reality in the US now is that fewer and fewer people are getting a shot at real upward mobility from a financial perspective.
The response you should take? Go build king.
Today’s guide is an outline of the tips and strategies I have used to ween my dependance on a full time day job and get closer to working for myself full time. More specifically we will cover the followings areas:
The drawbacks/benefits of traditional/corporate jobs
Why strive for more? Benefits of a life outside a 9-5 job
Tips, strategies to start working towards an exit
Some of the benefits of working to escape the corporate rat race are the following, which we will expand on today so you can implement them in your own journey:
More time to do what you want
No micromanaging in your life from others
More money
No set schedule
Less stress (If you do it correctly)
A higher sense of purpose and fulfillment
Approximately 53% of Americans are currently unhappy at work according to a recent poll and nearly half of employed Americans are bored most of the workweek (46%), according to new research (OnePoll for CSU Global). Another 2,000 employed U.S. adults found that 46% are bored at work for at least three days in the workweek.
Today’s post is for a wide range of readers — you don’t need to be completely set on leaving corporate America, though this will help if that’s your goal. You could, like many, simply want to diversify your options and choices long term so that you aren’t trapped or stuck in what some call a dead end job.
Hell, you may just want to take some precautions in the event you are laid off or become the surprising recipient of corporate bullshit like PIPS or political elbows to get you to leave — which is common these days as firms look to either downsize or root out non non believers.
Most people hold normal day jobs and the truth is most people will continue to work one up until their old age — especially in this day and age when inflation and the economic situation in. People are struggling to get by and employers are paying just what they need to retain the people they need to function at an acceptable level.
Today we’ll cover all the reasons it make sense to hedge your day job or corporate gig — and review the steps necessary to break free if that’s something that interests you. I am about 85% done with this journey and can speak to it firsthand through my experiences and efforts working day jobs and building Andy and Arb Letter over the years.
We’ll start by talking about the downsides of a long life in corporate/normal day jobs.
“We are creating a world in which what nourishes the soul rarely makes people employable, and what makes them employable often crushes the soul. A nourished mind and soul are the core of what makes us human, and we really can’t continue to ignore our minds and souls with impunity.”
― Louis Yako
“Opportunities will come and go, but if you do nothing about them, so will you.”
― Richie Norton, The Power of Starting Something Stupid