Job Security? (You've got to be kidding!)

I wanted to relate a story to you about organizational thought. Although it is rather funny and deals with a governmental institution this issue is at the very serious heart of why companies view employees as Liabilities rather than Assets.

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, someone may steal from it at night. So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress said, How does the watchman do his job without instruction? So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress said, How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly? So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports.

Then Congress said, How are these people going to get paid? So they created the following positions, a timekeeper, and a payroll officer, then hired two people to fill these positions.

Then Congress said, Who will be accountable for all of these people? So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost. So, they laid off the night watchman.

The night watchman was hired to accomplish a task and was viewed to begin with as an Asset and then over time the value of the night watchman became hidden by a lot of other issues. He then became a Liability rather than an Asset and was released from employment.

Every other day there is news of another 25,000 jobs being cut here and 10,000 over there. The stock of these companies would indicate that it was just GOOD SOUND BUSINESS! What is to be said about the fellow or gal who spent 25 years working for that company? You never hear about them on the 5 oclock news only a number. Where has all the humanity gone?

In an article called The Four Greatest Fears of Starting Your Own Business by Leonard Clements, CEO of MarketWaveInc.com. He talks about the 4 basic reasons people give for not starting their own business.

 1- It takes too much money. They didn't have tens-of-thousands, or hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to invest in a business (and they didn't know anyone else who did).

 2- It takes too much time. They didn't want to work 80 hours a weeks for the first year or two to get their business going.

 3- There's too much risk. Over 56% of all businesses fail in the first two years, and they'd have to quit their job, so there was no safety net.

 4- They didn't know how. They'd never taken any business courses. They had no business experience. They don't know anything about taxes, accounting, marketing, and the myriad of other skills a good entrepreneur must possess.

 And then there comes the Internet and a Network Marketing Opportunity and he continues:

 Would you ever consider going into business for yourself if; the total start up costs were under $500, the total time investment could be as little as 5-15 hours a week, you could continue to work in your present job until the income from your business was sufficient to earn you at least an equal income, so there is little risk, and best of all, there were numerous consultants available to you who are experts at running this business, who would train and advise you personally, for an unlimited number of hours, for the entire life of your business, absolutely free Not only that, but there is another company that will take care of all your research and development, labeling, inventory, shipping, payroll, payroll and sales taxes, most legal questions, and so on. And, this company will do this for you every month, for the life of your business, for around, oh, $25.00 a year?

Time and time again I get reminded why I have focused my career in this Industry. The concept of a J.O.B. that the Boomer generation considered Security has turned into a stress-ridden risk. We are now seeing that more and more of the world population are realizing that only through owning their own business can they truly control their financial stability.

Good Luck on your Journey,
Mel Atwood