Bad employees make great entrepreneurs

Honestly, it’s true: I was a bad employee.

I’ve worked at everything from design agencies to startups to F500s, and the truth is that I just never fit in.

Every day at those jobs felt like I was pushing an increasingly big rock uphill. I was just never on the same page as the rest of the company, and I got more exhausted and defeated with every year.

And if you’ve been beaten down by life as an employee like I was, you may have started to think there’s something wrong with you.

But here’s the thing to understand:

The things that make you a “bad” employee are exactly what will make you a great entrepreneur.

Let’s get specific:

1. Your weird, unique background is your greatest asset

Employees have a job, and the boss wants them to do that job. No more, and no less. Just stay in your lane and do as you’re told.

(and in your annual review, make sure to rate yourself 5/5 in every category except one, to show that you’re humble)

This was always a HUGE problem for me, because I’ve done a lot of sht over the years.

I've been a designer, a YouTuber, a marketer, and I wrote code for a living back in the LAMP days-- which makes me almost unemployable, because I don’t even come close to fitting into any existing job.

And I talk to a lot of other people with other really cool, unique backgrounds— for example one of my clients is a former cop who got a PHD in cognitive psych and now does product research.

(you should follow him)

No company will ever fully appreciate or utilize people like him (or probably you), because we don’t fit neatly into one of their job descriptions.

But that’s exactly what makes you great as an entrepreneur:

Entrepreneurs have to do it all (at least in the beginning). Create the product, do the marketing, handle support, do the taxes, hiring and firing, etc etc.

This is where corporate types who just show up and do as they’re told will fall flat on their faces, and YOU will shine.

2. Being “difficult” is a required skill for entrepreneurs

I almost got fired about 10 years ago for being “difficult".

That’s what they called it anyway, but I thought I was just pushing someone to actually do their job.

(I was so naive, I thought results actually mattered)

Of course, you can’t do that stuff as an employee. You have to play nice and kiss the right butts so everyone likes you, even if that means accepting incompetence and inefficiency.

But as an entrepreneur, you HAVE TO be a little tough. You have to push for what you want, insist on the highest standard, and maybe even be sharp-elbowed at times.

The “nice” corporate employees just don’t have what it takes.

Why am I telling you this?

Because I want you to know if any of the above sounds familiar— it’s not you, it’s them.

(probably… or you might just be an a**hole 😅)

Entrepreneurs are not normal— we can’t be. Nobody normal would take on this kind of risk and challenge, right?

But don’t let anyone sand off your rough edges, because the world needs people like you:

People who won't take no for an answer, and who will push and push and push to make sht happen no matter what.

YOU are the ones who innovate, fight for important ideas that need to be heard, and create the things everyone else consumes.

And when it comes to your content, don’t hide who you are.

The world is NOT asking for more bland, vanilla people saying the same weak, inoffensive sht.

Be your authentic self and I PROMISE you’ll be rewarded for it.

You don’t have to be “professional.” You don’t have to censor and sanitize everything you say. You can and should keep it 💯.

And the best part is it won’t hurt your business, it will GROW your business.

The world is craving real people saying real sht, and you should be one of them.

PS - Here’s the part where I try to sell you something. If you want to talk about how you can use LinkedIn or YouTube to grow your business, reply to this email or just set up a call here!