Business

Taking any paid job is risky in the present day Nigeria 

We are in a changing world where paid up or salaried jobs are becoming elusive in Nigeria. The reality dawn on us with the debilitating recession we are currently going through. Since we are in a changing world, young Nigerians have to face this reality and embrace the new change.

Mr Wole  Ogunniyi submitted this
We, as a generation of young people in this country live in very unique and different era from that of our fathers.

Our great grandfathers lived in a time where there was no freedom. And even if they worked hard, someone could just take it away – and there was no way to even put up a fight about it.
Though most of our parents were not in the British era, they had parents who lived pre-independence; and they knew what it was like. Our grand parents encouraged our parents to look for stability in life – and take “safe, secure jobs” and not take risks in life.
Our parents grew up in a time where – if you had a stable job, with a stable income, paid your taxes and didn’t question authority, you could live a pretty decent life. And that was a huge improvement over the unpredictable lives of our grand parents.
I’m sure we all have parents who worked for 10+ years in the same organization. My dad worked for 33 years in a government Job. Day in and day out he worked hard, had a stable salary and he was able to provide for the family, raise me and my siblings.
They lived in a very different time.
The times have changed now. Today we don’t have government jobs ready available for you and me to take up.
Gone are the days where you could have one job for life and then chill out for the rest of your life. Our grandfathers and our sometimes fathers would have pensions coming in until the rest of their lives. They worked hard for that and they deserve it.
Unfortunately, things are very different today.
Since our parents grew up in a very different time, they have different beliefs and they are trying to make us take the same path – get a safe – stable and a secure job. And they have raised us telling the same thing.
Our reality is different.
There are no safe, secure and stable jobs anymore.
It’s a myth and somehow our parents and some of us still believe that it exists.

I know you will agree with me when I say that – the most riskiest thing you can do in today’s world is to have a job that pays a monthly salary.
You might want to believe that it is long term. Your parents may be in temporary comfort that their kids are “settled”, but the reality is that you can get laid off any time.

It is highly risky to just have one single source of income.

The safe secure job, that our parents think it exists, is a very recent phenomenon.
In fact, even my grandfather was an entrepreneur. No one offered him a job. He started with agriculture. He invested his time, energy and some money he earned in plots of land, then made some money, which he used to built house and take care of his family.

Think about it – there is a very high chance that your grandfather – or their parents were entrepreneurs.
There was no employment opportunities pre-independence era. The British looted out wealth and our politicians are still looting so much more.
We are in fear, and this makes the concept of  job stability look so appealing to us, that our parents and most of us were ready to give away most of their lives to a government or a private organization.
Now it is time to do something bold.
It is time to embrace entrepreneurship.
At least start experimenting with it.
Entrepreneurship is the safest way to make an income because the results are under your control.
You are not giving the control to someone else.
You are not wasting your life building other people’s dream.
When you are in a job, you get a stable monthly income but suddenly one day you will be laid off. It is a false sense of security.
In business, your income goes up and down. It’s unstable. But it is under your control. And you have multiple sources of income.
For example, I run an online Shop which has multiple clients. I run a blog and Website design Training which brings in revenue. And I also run a physical Shop where i sell stuffs with help of sales representatives.

If one stops working, I won’t be left with no income. I can re-focus on other things and scale up my income again.
So what should you do now.
I think you should start working on practicing entrepreneurship.
Start embracing unpredictability.
The most beautiful thing is that you have all the time to yourself and there is always room for improvement.

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