To be or not to be an employee or entrepreneur? Admittedly these are goofy times out there in the macro economy!
Employment
First - a fresh look at those seeking a J O B. Ya’ gotta do what ya gotta do. There was a fantastic LinkedIn news piece late last week called “The Great Freeze” and is that basis for my post up here. Basically the goofy employment market is like an unkind Goldilocks. Employers don’t want to hire but they don’t want to fire. Existing employees are “frozen” and hangin’ in there. This analysis is close to the mark.
Second - does posting an “Open To Work” logo on your LinkedIn profile hurt or help.
Personally I wouldn’t do it as I think the personal brand damage outweighs the responses (or lack of). By analogy, it’s like dating online v. dating by referral.
Third - the power of networking. Lemme go anti geek on ya. MSPs are a community of introverts at the core of their being. So it’s not a natural act to go out to business events, shake hands and kiss babies. But that strategy worked yesterday, today and tomorrow. It’s how the game is played. Worked for me building that SMB Nation community and typically free food ta’ boot!!!
Entrepreneurship. Admittedly I am biased that entrepreneurs are in the cat bird seat right now. Tolerate the economic assumption that there are no jobs for you. So ya’ gotta go invent your own job. I write extensively about this in my recent book “The Pocket MBA.” As the old joke goes, if you wanna survive a recession, ask an entrepreneur. We know how to rub two nickels together LOL.
Finally, My heart goes out to technology brethren who have been caught up in the popular wave of layoffs at the enterprise-level. Many of my dear corporate drone friends at AMZN, MSFT and DELL are really struggling and don’t have the tools to start a company. Maybe its best if they raid retirement and buy a franchise for overhead doors and windows.