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There are three ways to escape from middle management: you can go up to the higher echelons; you can go down to sales or the factory floor; or you can get out.
John Rampton managing editor of Search Engine Journal says, “If you dread waking up every morning, then you’re probably unfulfilled. A promotion or another job might abate the problem, but deep within you the prospect of an ordinary 9-to-5 gig just doesn’t excite you. Figure out whether you need to be your own boss or if you just need to do something different.”
Going Up
Most people choose this route. I think it comes from our evolutionary ancestors. The higher you can climb the safer you are, much like in the movies when innocent people are being chased by bad guys they always go higher in the building instead of trying to exit and get away.
Going up can generate a lot of security. The financial rewards are usually greater; the compensation packages can be magnificent; there’s even a strong element of social status to stimulate the climb.
Going Down
Orthodoxy, formality, increased pressure, and the sense by some that they are not actually accomplishing anything except, perhaps, sustaining the barrier between the rich and the ultra-rich. This kind of individual who is used to achieving things on a daily basis could be dissatisfied with life of the upper levels.
Case in point, Chance Buckman, as portrayed by John Wayne, was based on the real-life character Red Adair, who from 1959 to 1991 spent his career putting out oil well fires. This included the oil well fires in Kuwait after the Gulf War, which he helped to extinguish at age 75.
Chance Buckman was so famous and well-known (like the real Adair) in the movie that he was elected to the board of executives for an oil company. His frustration with his job on the board reached the boiling point when the executives were debating colors to be used in all their gas station washrooms. Normal colors made everybody feel happy, they observed, but using dragon’s blood red would make them leave the washrooms quicker and make them available for other customers. Buckman quit and went back out to the field to do real work.
Getting Out
If you’re good at your job, but it is not challenging enough, you might be tempted to set up your own company. Good for you! Entrepreneurs are what make capitalism great. But unless you possess a whole heap of money and you are willing to spend six months to a year reinvesting any profits you make back into the company to help it grow (having virtually no income for yourself), it could be a troublesome affair.
Michelle Schroder-Gardner, blogger of Making Sense of Cents says, “As a business owner, your income isn’t usually stable. An emergency fund can help you get through months when your income isn’t as high as it normally is. This way you can still focus on the business and not be (as) stressed.”
But wait a minute. If you’re good at your job, have you considered that your company might like to keep you on as a consultant? Many people have done this; it benefits both parties. You could work from home, accomplishing necessary tasks by telepresence, and have sufficient free time to get your own business rolling.
Even at half salary you’d be well ahead of the game. I know from personal experience that driving to an office and doing work and then driving home takes more effort and time than logging on to a computer and doing the same work.
You may think that’s logical, and it is, to an extent. But the simple fact of the matter is: two hours work on the computer is the same as eight hours wasted at the office. You get to skip all the stupid meetings, ridiculous paperwork and continuous distractions and actually get things done.
The ultimate benefit of such a plan however, is that you spend two hours a day working for your old company and six hours a day building your new company. It seems like a surefire method for success!
Let’s get to work!
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