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I have a recurring dream.
Unsolicited job and business offers are pouring in from everywhere. Each
day brings a new flood of mail and phone calls requesting my services.
"I appreciate your interest," I
reply to each and everyone, "but I’m very happy doing what I’m
doing."
But they won’t go away. They want me,
badly, and they’ll do anything to get me. The money and perks they offer
are doubled, then tripled, on the spot. I tell them no.
It becomes a frenzy. Others hear about
it and join the bidding. No, no, no, I tell them. I don’t like to fly,
so why would I want a private jet? $6 million a year in salary? Very
generous, but no thanks.
The phones ring louder, the mail piles
higher, and just as I am about to be smothered by a wild band of business
executives shoving contracts down my throat, I wake up.
And darn it if I don’t have a smile
on my face.
A quick analysis of this dream would
unfortunately show that I am fraught with insecurities, that I am begging
for acceptance, that I hunger for approval.
Hogwash, I say. All I want is someone, just
once before I die, to come out of the blue and offer me a job or a no-risk
business opportunity with no strings attached.
I know this happens to people. The
papers are full of movie stars, athletes or top business executives
turning down offers left and right for a variety of reasons. It’s not
right for their image or they want to spend more time with their family or
they want to think about it for a year or two.
I want to turn down an offer, too, but
no one has ever given me a chance.
My point, of course, is that there are
a very select few who are in demand. The rest of us schmucks have to
scrounge for everything we get.
There are other exceptions besides the
rich and famous. As a business owner, I have the opportunity to hire quite
a few people who apply, but occasionally I hear of someone, or know
someone, that I think would be perfect for the position.
So, out of the blue, I call and offer
them an exciting employment opportunity. And every time I do it, and it’s
not often, I wonder why no one has ever done the same for me.
I have begged and pleaded for every job
I’ve ever had. I have had to scrounge to find investors for every
business I’ve ever owned. No one has ever come to me coveting my talents
and services, whatever they might be.
For most people, that’s the way of
the world. There are no free rides. To be sold, you have to do your own
selling. Wait around for someone to come to you and you’re likely to
wait forever.
It’s a simple lesson, but one I
fortunately learned long ago. If you want to hear the phone ring, make
phone calls. If you want to receive mail, write letters.
And it you want a job or a promotion, you do
the offering.
When you get to the point of complete
job satisfaction, then you can sit back and wait for the unsolicited
offers to pour in.
I would like to announce to the world that I
am now at that point. So go ahead, let the offers roll.
Considering that I have not, to my knowledge,
entertained one unsolicited offer in my 20 years of employability, I feel
I’m ready to handle the boost to my ego. (In fact, now that I think
about it, I never even got drafted.)
I am now completely prepared to
entertain offers. Remember, I have complete job satisfaction so it’s
highly unlikely I’ll even consider the income and perks with which you’ll
want to shower me. That should make it easier for you to up the ante.
Those of you who do not have complete
job satisfaction should continue to aggressively pursue your goals, as I
once did (before I achieved complete job satisfaction).
Doing so requires networking and
sales skills. If I didn’t have complete job satisfaction (CJS), I’d be
out there selling myself, letting people know that I am available for
change, for improvement, for more income.
Fortunately, I don’t have to do that
anymore. With CJS, I am stress free, knowing there is no way anyone could
come up with an offer that would entice me to change my life.
Unless, of course, it was something
really spectacular.
Or something legitimate. Or something.
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