Who Is the Real Boss?
My last two articles caused quite a stir. A friend jokingly commented that I am a villain, crafting provocative headlines that encourage my readers to fire their boss. I have decided to accept the title. It pays better than being a financial consultant. 😂
Then another friend, a business owner, texted me. He said he wants to retire after reading my posts. That stopped me. Here is a man who is already his own boss, asking me to retire him.
So the question we all have to sit with is this. Who is our real boss?
Finding Your Jack Sparrow Compass
I have always been amazed at Captain Jack Sparrow's compass in Pirates of the Caribbean. His compass does not point to the north. It points in the direction of his deepest desires. When he is conflicted, the arrow spins wildly.
"It's up to you now, Jack. This compass points towards what you want most. Never betray it."
There cannot be a better line to explain why we should get clear and honest about what we truly want. Because our real boss is our goals and aspirations. However, many of us are conflicted because we are not honest with ourselves. We walk around with a spinning compass and calling it ambition. So, before you can pay yourself first, or build anything, you have to steady the needle. That means sitting with a few honest questions.
Who do you actually want to work for? What do you stand for, and what would you not do for money? What gives you peace? What are your real constraints, your circumstances, and your current financial standing? These are questions that could help us find our direction.
Take the question of what gives you peace. For me, the answer goes back to my childhood. I grew up in a single income family of five, and I never once felt we were struggling. Not because we could afford everything, but because my parents were happy with a simple life. As long as there was food on the table, we were content. I only understood recently what that gave me. We do not need a luxurious life to be happy.
These are not comfortable questions. But they point you to your own true north. Skip them, and you will spend years working very hard for a boss you never chose.
Pay Yourself First
Once the needle steadies and you know what you are working toward, paying yourself first stops being a savings tip and becomes the whole point.
For an employee, it is simpler than it sounds. You may never own shares in the company you work for, but you can always own a piece of many companies. Paying yourself means saving and investing enough that you fund your own goals before you fund everyone else's.
For the boss like my friend, the same rule applies. Building the company should not be the only route you trust to guarantee your freedom. Pay yourself first. Get your first pot of gold. Divest some of it, so that your future does not depend entirely on the one thing you built.
Thinking like a boss means putting your own long term interest first. This is not being selfish. Paying yourself is what gives you the capacity to keep showing up for others.
Build Something That Runs Without You
This is the one that answers the problem we started with. My friend is trapped because his business cannot run without him at the door every morning. The boss move is to build things that keep working when you are not in the room.
For an employee, that is your investments. Money you have put to work that compounds whether you are at your desk or asleep. You own a piece of many companies, and they keep running without you.
For the boss like my friend, it is building a firm that does not need him standing there for it to breathe. Systems, people, ownership that is more than his own two hands. These are moves that takes massive effort and commitment.
The test is simple. If you disappeared for a month, what would still be standing. If the answer is nothing, then you do not own it. It owns you.
Who's Really in Charge?
You can be a business owner and still carry the mindset of an employee, waiting for the business to hand you a life. You can be an employee and still think like a boss, treating your own goals as the thing you answer to. The difference is not the title on your name card. It is who you have decided is in charge.
So who is your real boss. I am of the opinion that your real boss is not your employer or your company. Your real boss is the life you are trying to build. Report to that.
Originally published on LinkedIn.
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