Sometimes a helping of “de-motivating humor” can really cheer up your day.
Yesterday, I received a catalog (a real one!) from Despair, Inc. Despair’s premise is that motivation only comes from within and all those motivation speakers and posters do diddly-squat to motivate employees and small business owners. So they’ve come up with their own line of posters and notecards which are hilarious!
They have ones like:
“CHANGE: When the winds of change blow hard enough, the most trivial things can turn into deadly projectiles.”
and
“ACHIEVEMENT: You can do anything you set your mind to when you have vision, determination, and an endless supply of expendable labor.”
Some of these are so funny, I was laughing out loud in the waiting room of the car repair center, reading the catalog. It helps, sometimes, to see the darkly humorous side of the motivation industry! As a small business coach, I can definitely appreciate a laugh at my own expense.
Their website is www.despair.com. Go have a giggle on me. 🙂
Compass Round-Up
I just ran across this blog going from point A to B to C…you get the picture, looking for info and getting side tracked by the vast array of info onthe net. Anyhow, I figured I send off a comment about being self employed….wait I mean working full time at a day job and running my illustration business in the evenings which is turning into a full time job. Are there people like me burning the candle at both ends? I assume so. I gotta say I had no delusions of granduer being that I grew up in a family that runs a couple of small town grocery stores. I’m pretty much in this with my eyes wide open and the stark reality is this double life is taking it’s toll. After I get done at my day job about 4pm I am literally busy until at least 10 or 11 pm. Why don’t I make the jump if I am so busy? Insurance, or better yet the lack of affordable insurance if I quit my day job and do my illustration gig full time. Sure it’s out there but like every story I read, after a few years the premiums and deductibles are so high everyone seems to drop whomever they are with and start over with someone else and repeat the cycle. If it seems like I’m rambling it’s probably because I am. I guess what I’m looking for is a bit of advice for those who deal with the pressures of trying to keep a business going on the side so one day you can make the jump, thoughts on insurance, and generally trying to keep what you love to do from becoming the same thing you are trying to get away from? Some days I think I’m turning into exactly what I cant stand…an over worked, crabby, tired s.o.b. Any thoughts on this are appreciated, whether they are good or bad.
Jon
Hi, Jon,
Yes, there are thousands of people like you, burning the candle at both ends between a day job and running their own small business on evenings and weekends. I did it for years!
And lack of affordable insurance is a major concern for most self-employed people unless they’re fortunate enough to have a spouse that can get it as a benefit where the spouse works. I often think, what a shame it is that so many good business ideas go up in smoke because the small business owner can’t afford insurance and therefore can’t devote all of his or her time to growing their business.
Obviously I’m big advocate of humor in business.
I think people take business too seriously. Fun is big business. That’s why I dig up the world’s most unusual businesses that actually worked to prove you can have fun and earn a living