Awful article with some good points. As @mk points out dispensers of for profit self-help can only profit on someone who has a deficiency they can provide a remedy for. What better way then to create that deficiency in the ready? I'd like to run through the points one at a time. I'm going to ignore the hyperbole and abrasive tone of the language, to the best of my tolerance, in favor of the core idea of each point. 1 - Truth about time vs value assuming your skill scales. As What's a $4,000 Suite Worth? illustrates you can be a master in a field that just doesn't scale. The author dismisses any non-scalable skill set as 'dummie'. 2 - Gaining experience from a job generally means two things when people use this phrase: apprenticeship and/or resume building. Apprenticeship is valuable. If you are in a skilled profession the upper level of knowledge advancement may seem to not exist. The "learn a lot then stagnate" doesn't apply. If you are writing self help the ceiling may be lower. On the other hand resume building is valuable primarily within the context of at-will employment. 3 - Complete nonsense. Just an attack on the reader's emotions. 4 - A good point few consider. In essence you are paid for your time/value by an employer and you pay the employer to provide all it's services to you. However, these are services that have value. Aside the obvious value in benefits, accounting, equipment, and such there is less obvious "tribe" value. Not everyone does sales, yet a company sells to clients. Not everyone produces widgets, yet there are widgets to sell. And so forth. Even seemingly non-contributing cost sinks like investors provide value: would the employer even exist otherwise? 5 - No arguing that multiple passive income streams is more secure than a single income stream from at-will employment. Establishing those streams now... that's where the "too risky" meme comes from. It comes from the reality most people face: continue at-will employment or 'take the leap'. Trade one casino game for another. 6 - No time to delve into the complex topic of the military hierarchy that most companies operate with. I'll just say that it's not inherently evil and even provides a service (see analysis paralysis. 7 - Complete nonsense. Just an attack on the reader's emotions. 8 - Complete nonsense. Just an attack on the reader's emotions. 9 - Amazing, a valid non-economic point! Some jobs have more freedom than others. Some jobs have more freedom than self employment (via access), but most don't. 10 - Complete nonsense. Just an attack on the reader's emotions. Now that 6 one sided, but valid, considerations and 4 nonsensical emotional pot stirrers have been provided the reader is in the perfect emotional state for the sale. edit: One of my Father's best advice to me is to work for myself. I'm fairly anti-employment. This article still is garbage. :)
Thank you for having the patience to do this. I didn't.
Thanks for taking the time to pick apart his article like that! I see now how he can accomplish this through writing his articles like that (e.g. playing with your emotions). I have to admit, he is pretty successful at this. Or perhaps I'm just a gullible soul that needs a crash course in critical reading x_x I'll be keeping this in mind if I ever decide to read similar stuff. At least he did convince me that I want to (at least eventually) work for myself. Though probably not with that article alone.dispensers of for profit self-help can only profit on someone who has a deficiency they can provide a remedy for. What better way then to create that deficiency in the ready?
No doubt he is successful at this. A good demonstration of the power in persuasive writing. Don't feel too gullible. I own upwards of 30 books which would perhaps be classified as self-help spanning spiritual to psychological to motivational. For years I found myself thrown in different directions depending on what I was currently reading. Gullible doesn't begin to describe it. Luckily I have good friends who enjoy good discussions and are secure enough to challenge and be challenged. Slowly I'm learning to be less naive. :) But if something is compelling, like this article, that's a sign that there are useful nutrients which to be extracted. Even something that is 100% hand-wavy nonsense; if it is getting an emotional response that's a very valuable thing. That allows you to ask yourself, "How is this making me feel? Why?" For example I assert 3, 7, 8, and 10 all lack logical basis, but 3 and 10 were emotional push buttons for me; a way for my subconscious to speak. I do feel overly comfortable/lazy and irrationally cautious about making changes. Ignoring this does me no good. On the other hand 7 and 8 didn't evoke any response. I must be satisfied with my compensation and social life. Thanks for submitting this article, I've had a lot of fun in this discussion today.
Ahh yes, naive is the word. So you've read quite a bit of material already! Yeah discussions are very valuable, as I'm currently discovering. For me, many of Steve's articles evoke emotional responses. Next time I will pay attention to those emotions more closely, in stead of sucking in his every word like a sponge. My emotional push buttons from that list were 3, 9 and 10. No problem! I'm enjoying the discussion as well. And becoming slightly less naive in the process!