Summary: Never Get a “Real” Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business, and Not Go Broke by Scott Gerber

Key Takeaways

• Ditch the conventional career playbook and explore the liberating world of entrepreneurship with Scott Gerber’s “Never Get a ‘Real’ Job.”
• Ready to break free from the traditional job mold and build a business on your terms? Delve into the full article to uncover key insights and actionable advice from “Never Get a ‘Real’ Job” by Scott Gerber.

Generation Y is the most entrepreneurial generation — and the most entitled. If you’ve ever wanted to leave your “real” job and be your own boss, get ready to let go of your ego and put in the hard work. In “Never Get a “Real” Job,” you’ll learn the practical steps and attitudes it takes to be an entrepreneur in the real world.

READ THIS BOOK SUMMARY IF YOU:

• Have a soul-sucking job
• Always dreamed of a better career than the one you have
• Are ready to do the hard work of entrepreneurship

Introduction

If you’re anything like most millennials, you probably expected to be handed you dream job. Then, when you got your real job, it turned out to be a disappointment — and it killed your entrepreneurial spirit, at that.

But it’s not too late to turn around! Being an entrepreneur is incredibly hard work, and it’ll demand more of you than any “real” job ever has. However, it will also afford you the freedom, power, and fulfillment that your nine-to-five never will.

Keep in mind these key aspects of entrepreneurship:

1. Entitlement: You’re not entitled to anything, including opting out of hard work.
2. Realism: Being an entrepreneur is really, really hard so expect that going into it.
3. First steps: Your first steps should be to get your finances straight and analyze your ideas realistically.
4. Business plan: Keep your business plan as simple as possible. It’s going to change anyway.
5. Frugality: Be as cheap as you can with your startup and make your money efficient.
6. Selling: Get your hands dirty and understand what you have to offer your customer when it comes to selling.
7. Marketing: No matter what anyone tries to sell you, it’s possible to market your business cheaply.

Everyone Poops. Yours Isn’t Special

The problem with the millennial generation started with their parents: baby boomers who wanted more for their kids than they’d had. They wanted their kids to thrive, so they adored and coddled them, until the whole family was convinced that the kid was special. College taught millennials to prize their individuality and freedom of expression over anything else, leaving them woefully unprepared for the drudge work of real life. When they graduated, the real world didn’t hand them the dream job they’d been promised. And now, they’re living with their parents and working a job they hate.

Your “real” job probably isn’t what you envisioned it would be during an extended childhood spent dreaming big. And “real” jobs come with a host of problems: The security they promise is fragile, you likely have no real power, you’re overworked and underpaid, you’re not going to be rewarded for great work, and your entrepreneurism is dead.

It’s time to take your life back and get to work as your own boss.

No One Cares About You — Unless You Make Them Care

Millennials are both the most entrepreneurial generation and the most entitled generation. The only way to get past that problem is to admit that you have it in the first place. So here: You aren’t entitled to have it easy. You must work hard. No one is going to care about your ideas or products unless they actually stand out from the millions of other ideas and products that are in the market. And making them stand out is your responsibility and yours alone. You’re not better than anyone else, and no one is going to think that you’re special unless you can prove it. Stop looking for instant validation and gratification.

Instead of claiming you’re a winner before you actually win at anything, you have to hustle. Instead of exaggerating, you have to show that your enthusiasm for your ideas is merited. Being authentic — as a person, in your track record, in your finances, and in your evaluation of yourself — is a better strategy than lying your way into someone’s good graces. Let go of your ego.

Darwin + Murphy = Reality

There are a number of entrepreneurial myths you need to bust if you want to make it. Scott Gerber knows this from personal experience. His first startup crashed and burned because he couldn’t see all its problems: from a name no one could pronounce to a failure to find new clients to being willfully strung along by a potential partner who never came through.

You should first be aware that being an entrepreneur is incredibly hard. It comes with a lot of freedom and perks, but you earn them by sweating for them. Also, there’s no perfect plan for a startup. Whatever plan you make, don’t get too attached to it because it’s going to fly out the window faster than you’d imagine.

Additionally, you must actively sell your product. You can’t just make it and expect it to be so glorious that other people will find it on their own. And you can’t make money fast as an entrepreneur. You want to create sustainable growth, which is incompatible with rocketing to success as soon as you launch. It’s not a gamble.

Finally, your entrepreneurial endeavors will not go as planned. They never do. You’re going to make assumptions that turn out to be wrong, and you’re going to need to be flexible and adaptable to make the right decisions and plan for the fallout if (and when) they fail.

Get Off Your Ass and Start Up!

One of your first steps needs to be getting a clear view of your finances. First, you need to know how much money you have to use as startup funds. This is going to require a very honest inventory of your assets and liabilities. Furthermore, you need to know what your spending habits are like and where you can use your money more efficiently.

A few tips:

• If you’re a beginning entrepreneur, your best bet is to start a very simple business. If you were learning how to play piano, you’d start with playing “Chopsticks,” until you could move on to something more complicated. That theory goes for everything.
• Revenue generation drives your business. You need to have a plan for it.

Business Plans Suck

When Gerber started his business, he and his partner obsessed over their business plan, ending with a 94-page document that didn’t make a lick of difference. It was too complicated, too rigid, and completely irrelevant to what the business truly needed. It encapsulated what’s wrong with business plans: They’re based on speculation. You’re only going to find out what your business needs once you get your hands dirty.

Instead of a business plan, you should create a one-paragraph startup plan that boils your business down to its essential elements. It should summarize the following:

• Your product or service
• How your business provides the product or service
• How customers will use the product or service
• How your business will generate revenue
• Who your clients are
• How you’ll market the business
• How you’re different than your competitors
• What client bases you’ll target once you’re established.

Act Like a Startup, Stupid

Your business needs a solid foundation — protocols, systems, and processes that will guide your decisions and workflow. Scheduling is crucial. In the early life of your startup, you should determine your work schedule (which will not be nine-tofive); break work into strategic planning, internal operations, and revenue generation; analyze where your schedule has succeeded and failed; and consider your schedule absolutely non-negotiable.

But part of your schedule should include time for yourself, too. If you’re not taking care of yourself, you won’t be able to give your business your all.

To motivate yourself to work, you’re also going to have to plan for your mindset. Getting distracted by a variety of tasks will be tempting, but you need to put all your energy into one thing at a time. Don’t make excuses — “I can’t” and “no” aren’t good enough answers when you’re facing a challenge. Boredom will set in, and you’ll need a backup plan when it does. And nothing should ever be good enough; you should always be working to optimize your business.

Shoestrapping (Because the Boot is Too Damn Expensive)

When it comes to finances, above all, your startup should be cheap. Your bank account fuels your business, so every dollar must be spent as efficiently as possible. First, reduce your overhead as drastically as you can. Get a cheap website through any number of do-it-yourself hosting services. Get an easy-to-remember domain name, preferably one ending in “.com.” For your phone service, get a small business plan for $50 a month from a virtual phone system. Work remotely to eliminate your biggest source of overhead: an overpriced office.

You can also outsource your work. Hiring dependable freelancers frees you from having to pay for benefits. Just make sure you hire the right team — unreliable or low-quality work can sink your business. And take as much responsibility as you reasonably can on your own. You’re ultimately the most efficient labor you can get, at least at the beginning of your enterprise. When you do hire a staff, make sure that your decision is deliberate, thoughtful, and extremely well-reasoned. Whoever you hire needs to be a serious value-add.

Those Phones Won’t Ring Themselves

When it comes to sales, remember, just because you know how great your product or service is, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be obvious to anyone else. You need to sell it, and you need the right messaging and strategies to do so.

Lead generation is your first step. Your goal is to find a niche market; you cannot be all things to all people and still have a high-quality offering. Instead, fill the needs of a very specific, targeted audience who will be enthusiastic about what you have to sell. Don’t try to buy easy solutions to lead generation. Put in the work and do research into the kinds of people who might be interested in your product. For instance, Gerber’s sizzle reel startup targeted press release distribution websites to find contact information for public relations reps.

When you sell, know what you’re really selling: not the product itself, but what it does for the people who are going to buy it. Keep your pitch as simple as possible. Target small clients who can form a large and diverse customer base rather than pinning your business on one big client who could dump you at any time. Listen to your customers about what they want; that information should drive your sales strategy. Customize your customer service to each individual customer and make it exceedingly easy to do business with your company.

Facebook Isn’t a Marketing Strategy

Do not ignore marketing. It’s one of the sturdiest legs on which you will be building your client base. Just because your product or service has a market doesn’t mean that your market will be able to find your offering.

Start with messaging: Create a very specific, targeted message that communicates exactly what your product or service offers to the people who will buy it. Your brand message should communicate your market position and tell your customers what your company values. You’ll also need to get creative in your marketing efforts to find ways to reach customers without spending your money inefficiently. Contests, sample giveaways, special offers, online videos, referral bonuses, testimonials, cross-marketing with other local businesses, and publicity stunts are prime examples of this.

Conclusion

You have the information and attitude you need to put in the hard work it takes to be successful as an entrepreneur. Now comes the hard part: actually going out and doing it.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, you can’t just talk about it. You have to take steps toward your goal. So, what are you waiting for?

About the author

Scott Gerber is the CEO of The Community Company and author of Superconnector. He has worked in media entrepreneurship his entire career, and his work has been honored by NASDAQ and the White House.

Genres

Entrepreneurship, Business, Career Development, Self-Help, Personal Finance, Startups, Non-fiction, Success, Innovation, Motivational.

Review

In “Never Get a ‘Real’ Job,” Scott Gerber challenges the conventional wisdom of pursuing a traditional 9-to-5 career and advocates for entrepreneurship as a pathway to success. Drawing on his own experiences and those of successful entrepreneurs, Gerber provides practical advice on starting and sustaining a business without succumbing to financial instability. The book covers essential topics such as identifying opportunities, building a personal brand, managing finances, and navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship. Gerber’s no-nonsense approach, combined with real-world examples, makes this a valuable resource for anyone aspiring to break free from the traditional employment paradigm.

Scott Gerber’s “Never Get a ‘Real’ Job” is a refreshing and pragmatic guide for individuals seeking an alternative to the traditional career path. Gerber’s writing is direct, motivating, and filled with actionable insights. The book not only challenges the status quo but also provides a roadmap for those eager to venture into the entrepreneurial world. Gerber’s emphasis on practical strategies, coupled with his candid exploration of the pitfalls and triumphs of entrepreneurship, makes this a compelling and accessible read for anyone with the ambition to chart their own professional course.