I Need a Job, but I’m an Entrepreneur and Don’t Want One

The struggle of thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs and what you should do

An entrepreneur, a person who starts, builds and grows a business from the ground up. Typically someone who doesn’t conform to normal jobs or flat out doesn’t want a job. Entrepreneurs have their own passions and want to fulfill these passions without being stuck in a job.

My Dad is a successful entrepreneur, I always tell people my Dad hasn’t had a job in over 20 years. People look at me and wonder how I am financially supported. I continue to explain that he is a serial entrepreneur. Then they can kind of understand.

So my upbringing didn’t exactly promote the conventional route. However, I have taken a different path. I moved to America at 18 to play soccer for a College in little Erie, PA. I have been here for almost 5 years now and in May, I will have successfully completed my MBA. My undergraduate degree was in Entrepreneurship.

I am now in the process of finding a job, or a career path in which I want to pursue. With all this education in should be fairly easy to get a job right? Wrong. Not only is it extra hard for me because I am a foreigner in the U.S. but jobs aren’t just going to pop up because I have x amount of education.

All of those problems are overcome able. For me the major problem in my job hunt is.

I don’t want a job

Yes, all of my education, all of my experiences with great internships, should lead me to get a job. But I don’t really know if I want one.

This is a battle I’m sure thousands of college students all over the world face. We want to explore our passions, build a business, help others, everything else but actually get a job. It is kind of counterintuitive because we all went to school to get a job, have a good career etc.

But that plan never factored in us finding things we are passionate about and wanting to explore that.

I have been fighting a battle in my head for months now. The battle is something I never really understood. I always had an excuse for not applying for jobs or not contacting a company to ask for a job. These excuses were “they don’t hire foreigners” or things like “I don’t have enough experience”. It’s funny because I am so good at making these excuses, people actually accept them as valid answers.

I am quite self-aware and I only just realized that all these excuses are really a front for the real reason I am not getting anywhere in my job search.
I want to build something myself. I want to be able to say I have accomplished this and that, not I am employee of the F***ing month.
Entrepreneurship is not just the process of building a business, it’s a disease. I have a hard case of it.

It actually keeps me awake for hours every night, I wake up way too early every morning because I am so infected by this disease. I don’t even have a business to talk about or that keeps me awake. But the idea of building one and creating a legacy is something that I can’t shake.

Every action I take, every thought I have is directed towards building a business one day.

This “problem” is starting to become quite hard because it is getting to crunch time for me to find a job. I really should have several interviews lined up and been in contact with prospective employers. But I simply don’t want to.

So what do I want to do

Honestly, this is something that I have never said to anyone. I want to drop out of school. I have for about a year now. I don’t really see the point in it anymore. It isn’t providing me with any value and having an MBA, is it really even worth it anymore?

I want to then grow my podcast, blog, and website. Start collaborating with some incredible people and build this thing. I want to work with startups and help them grow. I want to go to high schools and speak with kids about entrepreneurship and their futures.

I want to work relentlessly to build a brand and eventually monetize everything that I am doing.

I want to be with passionate people and grow together to make something incredible. I want to build a legacy.

I don’t want a job at all because that is 8–10 hours a day where I can’t do what I truly love and what I am truly passionate about. I don’t want a job because it is just a distraction from what I believe is my true calling. I don’t even want to consider a job.

But what am I going to do?

With minimal financial stability and minimal experience with the real world, my decision of getting a job vs. not getting a job is obvious.

I am sure people will say, you can do it without money, you don’t need experience etc. But honestly, I think I need to do it.

I love my work and the things I do now but I have 24 hours each day to do them, so it’s kind of easy.

I want to be flat out busy and be constantly on the go, it’s where I get the most done. I also know that I figure things out while doing them. I hated education until I came over here, I fell in love with business and entrepreneurship. Maybe that will happen with a job.

I know that my passion and drive for entrepreneurship will continue. And as far as I am concerned this project will continue if I get a job or not. It is far more practical for me to build some income, get some experience and continue what I am doing.

Plus the added benefit is that I will be working in companies that align with what I want to be doing. I will still be entrepreneurial in the job I choose. That’s for sure.

This is the dilemma a lot of entrepreneurs probably face. For me, it is getting a job giving it my all, while still continue my side hustle.

Having not done any of this yet, I don’t have any grand conclusions or bits of advice. The only thing I would suggest is to follow your heart. If that means you don’t get a job then you better fail quick or at least prove yourself quickly. So you can either determine it’s not right or it is right.

I would also say if you don’t want a job because you’re too entrepreneurial minded but you need one, then get one with a company that is similar to you.

I love social media marketing, advertising, helping small businesses etc. Therefore, I am going to get a job with a company who does similar things. I think this is a great plan, it gives me time to nurture my skills, grow my income and build my side hustle.

I realize I am giving up a lot of my time to devote to work, but I am young and time is something I have in abundance. I also don’t see this as a major problem. I see all of this as a huge opportunity to learn. There is no downside. I either love my job or realize I hate it and then go back to my venture. I win either way.

I hope this personal story, can help you figure out your own destination.

Jason C Fox. What Did I learn Today — 010

Every single day I want to share one little bit of knowledge that I learned. There may be simple little tips or extremely helpful bites of knowledge. I also want to use this for myself. I can look back at these little bites of knowledge and safely say well this day wasn’t wasted. Also how often do we read something that blows us away only to forget it later? This gives me the chance to capture everything I learn and put it in a concise format, so it sticks with me. I hope this series brings you great value and for more content visit: jasoncfox.com