Escaping Wage Slavery

[svnzrs]

Just re-watched Leo's "How to Escape Wage Slavery". It feels particularly relevant now in my life because I just started a new job. This job is by far the best job I've ever had: It pays well, the hours are flexible, a lot of it is remote, and I have a lot of creative autonomy. Yet, it still doesn't fulfill me. Why? Because I don't care about the industry, I don't feel like the work is moving humanity forward in any way, and I still have someone telling me what to do (controlling my life to some extent) and I can't really say "no" without jeopardizing the gig.

So I wonder: Am I ungrateful? Or am I justified in still desiring something better? Don't get me wrong. The job isn't all sunshine and rainbows. It has its downsides. But it is a lot better than jobs I've had in the past like busing tables or Uber driving. In other words, as always, it could be better and it could be worse.

This experience has always inspired me to wonder: Is there really any way to escape wage slavery? Is there any way to escape the rat race for money? Yes, you can refuse to take a job and refuse to chase money and live a life of homelessness and poverty. In fact, I've tried it. Is it freeing? Yes, in some ways. Is it an adventure? Yes, absolutely. Is it good? Well... I don't know. It's a really hard life, in some ways. It's definitely nice to wake up and have no schedule, no responsibilities, no one telling you what to do and when to do it. But it's not nice to eat canned beans and raw peanuts everyday. It's not nice to worry about spending more than $3 on food and water in a day. It's not nice to have no fridge, no bathroom, no power source. It's not nice to be cold and uncomfortable and alone at night.

So what do we do? Sell our time for some comfort? Or live in absolute integrity, our "ultimate truth"? At my current job, I look at my boss. He's an entrepreneur, he owns the company. But I don't see him as much less of a wage slave than I am. He works 12 to 16 hour days, he spends all his time thinking about his business. Sure, he has no one telling him what to do, but his life is still a massive grind, with very little time for self-improvement and self-care. And why does he do it? Same reason I work for him: money.

Of course, some folks, like Leo, have managed to make money doing what they truly love. But still, Leo probably has days where he wakes up and doesn't want to make a video or manage his website or coach a client or whatever. He's even mentioned in videos that he's not always sure if continuing Actualized.org is the right decision for him. And yet he still creates content, he still promotes Patreon, he still sells his book-list and courses. Why? Money. Sure, he loves his work, but in a perfect world wouldn't he just give everything for free and never ask for money simply because he loves it so much? Sure, but he needs money to survive, so he can't really do that.

To conclude, my main question is this: Is it really possible to escape wage slavery? Unless you're a high-ranking "Illuminati" member (assuming something like that even exists) who can literally just print money, or someone who has so much money they can just toss it in an index fund and never work again... how does one escape wage slavery and is it even possible?

[Parththakkar12]

8 hours ago, svnzrs said:

I don't care about the industry

This right here is a bit of a red flag. You will not feel 100% fulfilled with this job. You are absolutely right to desire something better!

The question is though : What do you want to offer the world? If I were in your place, I'd do some soul-searching into:

• which industry do I care about
• how can I create something that is really of value to them
• what change I'd like to see in the world, what would I want to contribute to the world
• what kind of social power do I want, where do I want to take the lead. This I'd do according to my strengths.
• taking ownership of professional relationships and stepping into my power in the professional context.

You get wage-slavery when you have a boss telling you what to do, and you blindly follow their orders, i.e. the kind of relationship is a slave-master relationship. I'd really work on shifting that, stepping into professional autonomy and being the one who takes the lead. Taking the lead means striking up the deal yourself, i.e. saying : 'Hi! This is what I'm offering. If you want it, sign on the cross here.' For this, you will have to get into their shoes and understand what they need from you. If you're willing to meet their need out of your own volition, then you're not in wage-slavery and you're in the right job! If you're not, then it's an incompatible relationship and you may need to find yourself in the context of professional relationships. This is what searching for a life purpose actually means.

[Chives99]

If your only concern in life is making money then thats no life at all, even if you are poor you should gain some other benefits from your work. Social bonding with your colleagues and customer and business clients ( something ive always loved); creating flow states in your work, where you feel like you're contributing to society and are mastering other skills, having work taking you on a personal adventure, growing you to new levels and explore new aspects of reality. Work for me is about creating beauty in the world regardless of what the job is, I want to explore all life has to offer and the money is just another bonus ( I can't work for free, but if i was rich enough id volunteer to do something that covered all these points).

[GodDesireOnlyLove]

How I escaped : never worked LOL

Happy if you find your place good luck ???

[svnzrs]

@Parththakkar12 Well said, thank you friend

[svnzrs]

@Chives99 I don't care much about money either, but gotta make at least some of it to pay rent

[svnzrs]

@GodDesireOnlyLove You've never worked???  

[svnzrs]

@GodDesireOnlyLove Wow! USA is not so generous  

[GodDesireOnlyLove]

I removed détails for privacy.

Indeed being french is gold. Full healthcare réduce insécurity and more equality makes people more happy. I feel stable would give back.

Welfare is enough if you have very low matérial needs.

And if society removed it. That's  instant War révolution lol.

Usa have really social problem and corruption inside médecine.

It's not about being generous.

I m sure it réduce criminality. Most people not working don't do it by laziness but mostly probably mental illness and no job. People are ok having low but safe but want to work.

I would sell drug if there was none cause I hate 8-17 job. I work only on art. And there is no job in that. I m too much adhd for it.

A lot of social shaming when not working. And jealousy for wanting to be rich. Weird blue green.

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2020 by GodDesireOnlyLove

[SerpaeTetra]

23 hours ago, svnzrs said:

Just re-watched Leo's "How to Escape Wage Slavery". It feels particularly relevant now in my life because I just started a new job. This job is by far the best job I've ever had: It pays well, the hours are flexible, a lot of it is remote, and I have a lot of creative autonomy. Yet, it still doesn't fulfill me. Why? Because I don't care about the industry, I don't feel like the work is moving humanity forward in any way, and I still have someone telling me what to do (controlling my life to some extent) and I can't really say "no" without jeopardizing the gig.

So I wonder: Am I ungrateful? Or am I justified in still desiring something better? Don't get me wrong. The job isn't all sunshine and rainbows. It has its downsides. But it is a lot better than jobs I've had in the past like busing tables or Uber driving. In other words, as always, it could be better and it could be worse.

This experience has always inspired me to wonder: Is there really any way to escape wage slavery? Is there any way to escape the rat race for money? Yes, you can refuse to take a job and refuse to chase money and live a life of homelessness and poverty. In fact, I've tried it. Is it freeing? Yes, in some ways. Is it an adventure? Yes, absolutely. Is it good? Well... I don't know. It's a really hard life, in some ways. It's definitely nice to wake up and have no schedule, no responsibilities, no one telling you what to do and when to do it. But it's not nice to eat canned beans and raw peanuts everyday. It's not nice to worry about spending more than $3 on food and water in a day. It's not nice to have no fridge, no bathroom, no power source. It's not nice to be cold and uncomfortable and alone at night.

So what do we do? Sell our time for some comfort? Or live in absolute integrity, our "ultimate truth"? At my current job, I look at my boss. He's an entrepreneur, he owns the company. But I don't see him as much less of a wage slave than I am. He works 12 to 16 hour days, he spends all his time thinking about his business. Sure, he has no one telling him what to do, but his life is still a massive grind, with very little time for self-improvement and self-care. And why does he do it? Same reason I work for him: money.

Of course, some folks, like Leo, have managed to make money doing what they truly love. But still, Leo probably has days where he wakes up and doesn't want to make a video or manage his website or coach a client or whatever. He's even mentioned in videos that he's not always sure if continuing Actualized.org is the right decision for him. And yet he still creates content, he still promotes Patreon, he still sells his book-list and courses. Why? Money. Sure, he loves his work, but in a perfect world wouldn't he just give everything for free and never ask for money simply because he loves it so much? Sure, but he needs money to survive, so he can't really do that.

To conclude, my main question is this: Is it really possible to escape wage slavery? Unless you're a high-ranking "Illuminati" member (assuming something like that even exists) who can literally just print money, or someone who has so much money they can just toss it in an index fund and never work again... how does one escape wage slavery and is it even possible?

Leo or many other professionals could work for themselves doing something they love at $50 - $100+ hr  at 20 hours a week if they really wanted to, which can't be much of a grind at all.  Thats $1k-2k a week.  Most of those people though have a desire to work more/achieve something greater, and to achieve something great you'll through some patches of "suffering" that will produce greater rewards.  

[svnzrs]

@SerpaeTetra Well said

[Roy]

It just depends on the kind of lifestyle you want to live. Really narrow that down and know the details, know exactly how much that is gonna cost, how much free time do you want for yourself, or how much autonomy do you want at your job so you don't have that feeling of being a "work slave".

If you have the classic desire to have 2000sqft house in the suburbs, raise 2-3 children, drive new vehicles, and go on 2 week vacations to the tropics every year. You are gonna need a lot of money for that in this day and age, and the only way most people know how to do that is get a classic job and grind and grind away so you can afford all that stuff, or get lucky enough to become a supervisor or boss in that pyramid scheme lol.

If you have really low standards like you mentioned though your example was the most extreme, then it's more and more affordable to escape the wage slavery.

Personally I'd be happy with $50,000-$60,000 a year (in Canada), enough to live sparsely but comfortably, to build a tiny sustainable home, adopt 1 kid, and work as a life coach 20-30 hours a week so I have more time to be with my girlfriend and to pursue my hobbies and travel.

It really depends on your standards to be honest. I don't think there is necessarily anything "wrong" with most wage slave jobs. Working normal jobs this day and age is definitely easier than it was in the past.

The problem is most people in the West are culturally conditioned with bullshit ideas about what it takes to live the "American Dream" and they never question those standards. They just throw themselves into the meat grinder that is the modern capitalist system. Go into debt to get a nice car, go into debt to get a nice house, go into debt to pay for child care because parents can't afford to not work.

It's becoming less and less affordable for not only our health but the planet.

 

[Leo Gura]

It's certainly possible to escape, but you'll have to be very ambitious and hard working.

It will also require the passion of a Life Purpose.

You can become such a creative and productive person that you generate millions of dollars of value within a 10 year period, thus buying your freedom. But most people just aren't serious enough to be that creative and productive. They don't have a compelling enough vision.

[Roy]

@Leo Gura I'm kind of curious, when planning and starting Actualized.Org, how "all-in" were you with the idea of YouTube and videos being income generators (and a career) for you? Was it something you were extremely committed to making work or did you just start slow and kept pushing once you realized it was gaining momentum?

Of course it's a great free marketing platform. But there is a lot of luck involved as well, the algorithms sometimes just don't work out for people despite how much effort they put in. So many great quality channels and content creators get buried under the saturation of the market.

Just interested in what your experience was in this regard, would your Actualized.Org project have changed radically if YouTube didn't become a big thing for you? Thanks in advance.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Roy

[RawJudah]

It’s harder to escape wage slavery than it is to reach enlightenment. You need to be thinking about life purpose in school...
 

I’m not trying to deflate anyone, but It takes a strong vision from an early age and you have to give something of value to people that hasn’t been thought of already. A rare talent that is outstanding from anyone else. 

[Leo Gura]

2 hours ago, Roy said:

@Leo Gura I'm kind of curious, when planning and starting Actualized.Org, how "all-in" were you with the idea of YouTube and videos being income generators (and a career) for you? Was it something you were extremely committed to making work or did you just start slow and kept pushing once you realized it was gaining momentum?

At first I was more committed to life coaching and blogging. But then once I saw the potential of YouTube I went all-in on that and got very committed about that.

Quote

Of course it's a great free marketing platform. But there is a lot of luck involved as well, the algorithms sometimes just don't work out for people despite how much effort they put in. So many great quality channels and content creators get buried under the saturation of the market.

It wasn't luck. It was serious marketing work beyond what people understand.

Saturation was much less of a problem in 2013 when I started. Today is harder. But then again, I see new channels succeeding even now. You just need a great idea, passion for it, and some marketing savvy.

Keep in mind I use to be an online marketer, so that background helped me a lot.

I remember back in 2013 when I told myself, "If I can just get 10,000 subscribers, that would be my dream come true and I would be happy." Lol

Quote

Just interested in what your experience was in this regard, would your Actualized.Org project have changed radically if YouTube didn't become a big thing for you? Thanks in advance.

Well, things would obvious have unfolded very differently. No way to know. In business you have to be very opportunistic and ferret out the stuff that works. It's not hypothetical. Whatever works you work with. If one thing fails you try another, and another, and another, and another, and another, until finally you strike gold.

[GodDesireOnlyLove]

@Leo Gura did you paid follower in early stages to look peacock ? don't lie about it  

PS : not answering = " yes I did " 

Edited April 25, 2020 by GodDesireOnlyLove

[Eren Eeager]

@Leo Gura what marketing strategies did you use? I don't notice you used a lot of marketing other than commitment to releasing quality content.

[Thewritersunion]

@Eren Eeager did you hear the sales quip at the end of his videos ? 

[Girzo]

@Eren Eeager The whole way of choosing and presenting the content is marketing. I have found Leo by searching for how to get better grades at school. If he hasn't made that video I don't think I would be here writing this on the forum today.

A chunk of YT marketing is also choosing the right keywords and description, so your videos appear in recommended on other videos, you know this bar on the right side and when the video ends. This I remember was generating the most views when I was earning on YT.

Also, quality links from other websites linking to the video. Having this website probably helped a lot to boost the new videos and at the same time, old videos were boosting this website in search results.