Who’s the Boss? Switch Your Mindset: You Are
That’s right. Even if you are employed full-time, you are the boss of your career. Shifting your mindset to you are the boss, allows you to view yourself through a different lens to empower yourself, take control of your career, even your life. Thinking of yourself as the CEO of your own company allows you a different perspective of being in control even as an employee of another company. Your main responsibility is to sell your time or job for-profit and benefits.
Ultimately, you’re responsible for your career progression and salary. Many people believe that these items are out of their control. In fact, you are the one in control of your career and where you want to go. Think of your manager as just one of your clients. They hired you for a certain amount of work or time each week in exchange for your services. Remember, when you quit a position, you’re just telling that manager that you’re not keeping them as a client, and they need to find another supplier.
Look at your career as a business and ask yourself:
- How is your return on your investment? Is your salary increasing at an acceptable rate?
- Are you making suitable investments in yourself for training? When was the last time you took a refresher course or management training?
- How is morale? Are you overall happy when you go to work?
- How does the competition look? Is your customer/manager happy with your performance?
- Are you investing in your future? How does your 401K look?
Next, break down how you think of your business into the following categories:
- Marketing / Sales. Are the right people seeing what you have to offer? Are others besides your employer aware of you? Do you have any other job offers to consider? Are you networking inside and outside of your employer?
- Finance. Are you satisfied with your salary? What about your benefits package? What is your retirement looking like?
- Training. Are you getting the training you need to maintain your position? Are you proactively looking for opportunities?
- Safety. How’s your health? Are you getting enough sleep? What kinds of stress are part of or produced by your work life?
- Human Resources. How well do you get along with your manager? How do you feel about your job and company? Are you content?
Assessing your career like a business brings all the power back to you. You are the one in charge of you, not your employer. If you work for someone else, you are a “company” of one employee with one customer. Be sure that single customer is meeting your needs in a satisfactory fashion and you are providing great performance along with great customer service. If not, it might be time to look for another customer/employer.
If you would like help reframing your career as a business, please reach out!