If English is not your first language, you might look in your dictionary to see what "Boot Camp" means and find one of the following definitions:
- A training camp for military recruits.
- A correctional facility that uses the training techniques applied to military recruits to teach usually youthful offenders socially acceptable patterns of behavior.
You may be wondering why wannabe "Millionaires" may need to attend "Boot Camps". Well, if you have ever attended a Tony Robbins seminar, or seminars based on the same model, you will know that the audience is controlled & manipulated by a set of regular "Simon says" type of commands eg. stand up! sit down! raise your fist! shout "I'm a millionaire!", louder! jump! shout "I'm a millionaire!"
When you get 12,000 people in an auditoriam with Tony Robbins, people will even walk over burning coal shouting "Cool Moss! Cool Moss" after a whole day of being asked to jump, shout and gesticulate. What the controlled mind is capable of!?
So, the title "Boot Camp" is quite apt for the Millionaire Mindset weekend where we were treated to the wisdom of self-professed multi-millionaires flown in all the way from Australia and Europe.
One of the most interesting statistics I heard over the weekend is that immigrants in any country are 4 times more likely to be successful in business than the indigeneous folk. The reason given for this is that immigrants are much more aware of the opportunities available to them and much more in gratitude (which is supposedly an essential character trait of the rich and wealthy...must be hard! :) :))
On the other hand, when I have met successful immigrant business people, they have usually given their prime reason for starting a business as the fact that they had no other choice...that it was a case of survival. Racism and discrimination in the workplace pushed the intelligent to restore their self-esteem and take control of their own capacity for success.
Perhaps it makes no real difference whether the cause was an attempt to escape pain or to gain pleasure. What matters is the end result?
Actually, it's not quite as simple as that.
One of my second-generation Indian friends gave up her professional career as a Lawyer and bought a large hotel in the centre of London instead. This roused the disappointment and despair of her parents who have been successful business people ever since they migrated to England from East Africa.
"We had no choice but to go into business" they admonished their reckless daughter. "We have worked hard all our lives so that our offspring could enjoy doing something professional instead!"
What do you think? If you were advising a younger friend about choosing a careerpath in business vs a profession, what would you say?
2 comments:
Parents on the whole want the best for their children and try to offer guidance. They get upset if this is taken up and then rejected later on. Perhaps they take it personally. I don't know for sure.
Like your friend I also took the professional route in my early career and now I have left it to start my own business.
There's no right or wrong career advice. Advice is just advice. It is up to individuals to consider carefully any advice as suggestions only and realise their career choices are entirely up to themselves and their responsibility.
Not all people leave school knowing what they want to do. Learning a profession can been seen as a springboard for other possible careers. People develop skills and attributes which are transferrable, while they build up capital either in the form of a nest egg or home ownership Meanwhile, people's personalities mature and they discover their weaknesses and strengths and other personal traits they want to build up on.
So what would I advise a younger friend leaving school. Learn a skill or profession that will pay for food, shelter, and other bills,and enable you to explore life's possibilities. Realise there is no job or career for life, that people change throughout life,that goals and aspirations change too.
Thanks for that Linda...yes, I agree that "people change throughout life,that goals and aspirations change too".
Isn't it ironic though that professionals who have studied for years and years to acquire their skills find it much harder to make money in business than someone with a greater willingness to unquestioningly imitate the proven success of others?!
Sometimes our professional scruples and pride in our own creative uniqueness can stand in the way of our success.....we want to invent our "own" wheel, even if that becomes a lifetime project...any professionals out there know what I mean? :) :)
Jesvir Mahil
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