Steve Jobs said "Its better to be a pirate than to join the navy".
Jobs of course is the founder of Apple Computers. Apple topped Fortune 500s 2011 list of most respected companies, but I suspect if you spoke with Apple's competitors they would tell you he was a bloodthirsty businessman, however I don't think that is what he meant. What Jobs was referring to was freedom.
- Freedom v. indoctrination
- Doing what you want to do to serve your own purpose v. doing what someone else wants you to do that serves their purpose
"Its better to be a pirate than to join the navy" - this statement is full of such rich imagery.
A gray battleship with sailors in denim and tee shirts, getting their rations, stowing their kits and being given their orders that are part of a larger plan conceived thousands of miles away by leaders that they have never met.
Contrast that image with the imagery associated with pirates:
Wind in the sails, red silk shirts, debauchery in port of call, chasing gold with the possibility of retiring to an estate in the Caribbean or going down in flames and glory. Now that is excitement and this is what Steve Jobs was talking about - compare it to our careers.
Often times when a worker joins a company they are shown to their 5x7 square foot of real estate. They get a chair, a florescent light, a pay check, vacation pay and maybe a parking spot. Its safe. But to start your own business is to throw caution to the wind. Its taking your fate into your own hands.
Taking your own fate into your hands.
Has anyone ever thought that their boss was...hmm, how should I say it...”not making the best decisions”? Well, if you have, you're saying more than just that. First you're saying that YOU have placed the responsibility for your livelihood into the hands of someone who doesn’t "make the best decisions”. Get it? You're also saying that you believe you could do it better. If that is true, than prove it. Take the responsibility to do it the right way - imagine living in a world where people take responsibility for themselves instead of handing responsibility over to others - sounds like value was created and the world was made a bit better.
Making the world better is big business these days. There are lots of green company startups, and social entrepreneurship is HOT. Investors are looking for new ventures to fund - after all, if you can convince the market to spend and extra $2 on an energy efficient light bulb, that's just good business, good business that does good in the world.
The opportunity to do good in the world by starting a business is greater than ever. With public sector budgets being slashed, important and necessary services are no longer being offered. All of those displaced workers have the chance to start their own venture that meets a critical need. Doing good in the world and creating jobs at the same time!
Finally, its less expensive starting a business now that it ever has been. Forward thinking, driven individuals can harness today's technology to lower their new business's operating expenses to almost nothing. In the old days starting a business meant buying or renting an office, building it out with infrastructure, contracting a phone service, etc. But today we wouldn't do that. Today we take advantage of all the free/low-cost services available on the web to create virtual work environments that displace most of the expenses businesses typically faced in their early stages.
What I hope you’ll take away is that by taking your fate into your own hands you can achieve freedom that allows you to do good in the world and that investment is not the barrier it once was. Piracy isn’t for the faint of heart, but in the immortal words of Captain Jack Sparrow, “Drink up me hearties, Yo Ho!”
