Dear Entrepreneur… Keep Your Day Job It’s REALLY Important

For the longest time, I thought the enemy was a day job. Having tasted the freedom of entrepreneurship the thought of a day job made me twitch.

Before we get going too far this is probably a good time to put a basic definition on the term day job.

It’s simply a job where you trade time for money. It doesn’t matter the industry or niche, full-time or part-time. You show up, someone else tells you what to do, you do it, and if you do it on schedule you get paid on schedule. For full-time work, it often comes with extras like health insurance and various other benefits.

And herein lies the problem.

Watch enough clips from your favorite “thought leader” (I’ve yet to understand what the hell a “thought leader” really is) or guru and you’ll be convinced either immediately or through saturation that the day job is the enemy and you should chart your own course. Cubicles be damned!

It’s an “ALL IN” style message that is sexy, alluring, and for most people, completely impractical.

I was recently reading a book that recounted how Daymond John (Shark Tank and founder of FUBU) worked at a Red Lobster while he was launching his business.