Preface

This book is not about starting your own business. On the other hand it is. Its intent is to challenge and influence your work beliefs––the ways you think about and do your work. “We are all self-employed” is an empowering belief that you can use to steer your direction and influence your quality of life. “We are all self-employed,” whether you work in an organization––CEO, vice-president, manager, staff member––or outside an organization––consultant, supplier, entrepreneur. This might sound crazy at first but in today’s world knowing yourself, collaborating with a team, and producing are more important than ever. Doing your job and going beyond it, beyond blind loyalty to any one organization or customer, is perhaps a new concept to some of you but it can reap enormous rewards––personally and professionally.

Individuals and organizations are undergoing constant and extraordinary change. People are losing their jobs, questioning their work-life choices, redefining their identities, consolidating their debt, simplifying their lifestyles, expanding their options, and shifting their loyalties. Organizations are laying off, doing more with fewer employees, building self-directed work teams, and buying services from a growing, contingent, part-time, workforce. Many workers, regardless of their level or industry, are learning that they must begin to think and act carefully and openly as they grow personally and the world restructures around them. The old “security” or foundation is gone People are looking for a new anchor, a “personal anchor,” in a transformed marketplace. We Are All Self-Employed explores what it means to practice a self-employed attitude and how to make it work for you.

Thinking of yourself as self-employed is an attitude that says, “I am a business partner with integrity and a responsibility for working with the organization and the customer, and attending to my own personal and professional development.” The idea––we are all self-employed––is the truth about us and a statement about our changing and challenging world of work. It is not a selfish truth but a liberating one––a philosophy for success and satisfaction.

This book is designed to allow you to be your best, authentic self and allow you to use your skills and aptitudes, express your values, and feel you are making a worthwhile contribution. I encourage you to be creative and to take action––to deepen and expand your way of thinking and pursuing your goals. We Are All Self-Employed supports your passion, purpose, and productivity. Together, these elements are your power and security in a less predictable, more competitive world. Understanding who you are and what you believe is the source from which your passion and purpose flow. Passion and purpose are your spirit––your deep interests and values––your inner core. From here spring ideas and the energy to commit to productivity––meaningful action. I hope this book will help you build the bridge between managing practical tasks like paying the bills and living your dreams.

Why This Revision?

I revised this book primarily to take people from merely surviving (adapting) to succeeding (creating). Surviving, continually making adjustments to a shifting culture, downsizing organization, or demand- xi ing customer can turn us into androids––robotic, unfulfilled, angry human beings who make mechanistic, routine changes simply to adapt to environmental conditions. You don’t have to give up your uniqueness and the treasure chest of tools that you have for problem solving. Instead you can act courageously and contribute your ideas and actions rather than accepting others’, and even mine, at face value.

Surviving = Adapting

Succeeding = Creating

In my practice as a career and executive counselor, I have worked with many professionals at all levels in the fields of sales and marketing, human resources, engineering, health care, teaching, finance, and others. I revised this book to reach a broad audience and support many of you who have already begun your journey to make sense of personal and global changes. As you reconcile and determine what strengths you bring––skills, values, purpose, passion––and what you want to bring, you will undoubtedly add value to your worklife, workplace, and a marketplace of dynamic change.

Since the First Edition

Since the original writing of We Are All Self-Employed, the world has aged 10 years. I have, too. Now more than ever I’m concerned and adamant about living life fully and want to urge you to do the same. At midlife mornings blend with and fold quickly into evenings, and 10 years––3,650 days––seems but a moment.

Since the original writing, it’s been confirmed: employment is temporary, downsizing and restructuring are the norm, and guaranteed job security is dead. Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz, captured the astonishment of many. She astutely noted, “My, people come and go so quickly here!”

These conditions leave a precarious void or, depending on your view, a vast and illuminating space for learning and possibility. If you choose challenge over capitulation, you’ll take charge of your worklife and fill the void with new beliefs, behaviors, and what you want. In fact, in today’s world, you are given one guarantee: You will eventually lose or leave your job, no matter how good your performance. The project you’re working on will finish or the contract you signed up for will have a deadline––whether you do a good or a bad job––it will end. You’ll become bored, your desire to grow will kick in, and you’ll look to make a job or career change. Your full-time job, the one that seems so secure, will run its course or become obsolete. Change ––individual, organizational, and societal––will continue, and increasingly will become your responsibility.

The purpose of revising We Are All Self-Employed is to further encourage you to face these issues, to adopt a more entrepreneurial and responsible attitude toward worklife.

This Book Asks

How will you take control of your time going beyond survival, to thrive––working and living, joyfully and productively? What choices will you make to further express who you are? How will you make the most of this moment? Will you let go of what no longer feels good to you? What will you add that feels better? Is what you’re doing right now advancing you toward your goal? What are you waiting for before you act?

My Hope

My hope is that We Are All Self-Employed will give you the optimism needed during this time in your life to do your magic. I hope it will xiii draw you closer to your heart’s desires and guide you to become more conscious of the fact that the life you have and what you have to offer is a gift. In addition, I’d like this book to augment your courage as you pursue the unknown, explore possibilities, and move toward your goals. And as you form your own impression of a self-employed attitude, I encourage you to walk away with one thought, idea, or tool that guides and lightens your steps and clears and deepens your path.

Cliff Hakim, August 2003

Arlington, Massachusetts