Is It Yours? Avoid Loving Your Work Without Equity

I was reminded recently about the risks of loving something that is not mine. Not a person, but an organization. Putting sweat, blood, and tears into a company that does not see the individual and all they bring to the table, but rather the employee number and minimum qualifications to be met, is a recipe for disappointment. When we work for someone else, especially big companies, and we do not have a piece of the pie–i.e. equity in the business–we have no control on our future there and nothing is a given. You could think you are a top performer and the most deserving of a promotion, but you still did not get it this year. You could be slaying all your projects, but the managers decide to shut your department down, laying you off, and pivot in a different direction.

So it’s understandable why so many workers are re-evaluating their level of effort in their current position. If there is no upside or control over one’s situation, what it the motivation to go above and beyond? Especially if you happen to be in a “safer” job, like a government position, if there are no prospects of getting ahead, why do more than what is necessary? Coined “quiet quitting” this dynamic has been brought to the forefront of the conversation about what is reasonable to expect between an employee and an employer. Gone are the days where a company took care of its loyal employees for their whole careers. So too must workers decide where their best opportunity lies. Often it actually benefits the employee to move companies to achieve higher compensation, further putting employer-employee loyalty in the rearview mirror.

Ultimately there are near boundless opportunity out there, but the point of all this is to encourage you all from not only a wealth standpoint, but a personal well-being one to grow something that is yours and for you. Don’t only slave away building someone else’s dream where all your investment–time away from family, friends, hobbies, other opportunities–could be laid to waste.

If you are not interested in starting a business from scratch, consider whether you could negotiate equity in your current company based on performance benchmarks or you could even buy (into) a business that is already up and running. But if you are tired about the employee rollercoaster, swinging from one bad manager to another, being passed up for promotion, and generally not feeling like you are appreciated for all the effort you are putting in to your work, there is a whole world out there of other possibilities wherein you can be in the (co-)pilot seat. Go find that plane that will take you to prosperity and invest in you! Don’t know where to start? Check out our Resources page!