What I didn't learn in college.

Being your own boss is what it’s about in 2011 and most likely for the rest of the decade in my opinion. The idea of working for a company or somebody else seems a bit out of touch given today’s environment. Last month when I was in LA I was talking with my nephew in-law. He’s a junior at UC Irvine getting a degree in the computer sciences. He knows how to write code but wants the formal education. He’s really smart and has no problem speaking his mind.  I asked him how it’s going and he mostly complained that his  teachers were this and that and blah, blah, blah. I really stopped listening after the first complaint and just nodded. I then asked him about what happens when he graduates and his response was to go to Graduate School.  Not even a blink or a breath in between the end of my sentence and his. Graduate School.  So I follow up with AFTER Grad School then what? So I’m waiting to hear how he’s going to support himself and when we finally get to that point in the conversation he just pauses for a moment and says, “Not a problem.”  Not a problem! I had to sit with that one for a while. Here’s a very bright and intelligent 24 year old saying “Not a problem. ” In today’s world. I was shocked and intrigued at the same time. What is going on in that school I’m thinking that has created a bubble around my nephew and all the other apparently doe eyed undergrads?  Has he not been reading the newspapers and blogs and such to find out that his fantasy and the fantasy of millions of others isn’t likely to happen anytime soon? Haven't his teachers been reading either and don't they feel the need to impart this knowledge onto their students?  I don’t know which is worse. College Grads have one of the worst unemployment situations today and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon. If ever there was a time to strike out of your own it’s now. It’s almost like the perfect storm of crap is happening:  Recession, tight credit, companies aren’t hiring, overall bad vibe. That’s the true state of our economy.  His response brought me back to my college days and how little has changed. Where really the entire world is blocked out as if in a total eclipse and all that is seen is SCHOOL! I went to an acting school where the idea of the real world never came up in conversation real or imagined. There wasn’t a single class on what to do after graduation. I even had a teacher say, "If you're not in it for the art get out of the business." I swear he actually said that. Nothing on Agents. Nothing on Unions. Nothing on the BUSINESS of acting. What happened after I graduated was I had to learn for myself the business side of acting. Some might say that firsthand knowledge is best and I would agree however a little heads up would have been nice thank you. After much trial and error and much more time wasted on something that should have been taught in school it started to make some sense. We however will not be a part of that society that expects a ‘JOB’ to be handed to us. We are the Entrepreneurs of the world. We are Salespeople and Business owners. We win clients by selling our products and services. We win clients by treating them with respect and giving them the highest level of service possible.  That’s how we’ll succeed in this economy. That’s how I will succeed. My businesses and yours rise and fall on the backs of our own work. Did I get a new client today?  Did I follow up with a former client today?  What did I do today to further my dreams? I will go out and make my own job opportunities. That’s the way we think.  Being in business for myself has been the best and the worst thing I’ve ever done. I’m solely responsible for EVERYTHING that happens in both re-dress and Faster Pants. It’s pretty overwhelming and satisfying in a very strange almost tortuous way, but at the end of the day I'll always have a job.