The Collar Individual Champing At The Bits
-
- 31 December 2022
WHY BEING A WHITE COLLAR WAS HELD MORE VALUABLE IN TÜRKİYE?
As someone who lived in the 80s as a child, I believe that the reason why entrepreneurship has not been paid attention to much until today is that our parents have firmly placed the words “657” or “SSI member” beyond our consciousness. These two magic words meant trust, or guarantee. Say salary guarantee, insurance payment guarantee, pension, and so on. The 2000s were the years when the use of the internet became widespread. The ability to easily access the stories of local or foreign entrepreneurs who achieved great success at a young age began to attract the attention of creative individuals with a high drive to succeed, and fond of freedom. In addition, the fact that the opportunities offered by the corporate world are getting worse day by day brought individuals who believe in their own potential to change their intentions and challenge the mentality they picked up from their families.
WHEN DO A WHITE-COLLAR INDIVIDUAL CHAMPS AT THE BIT?
No one suddenly decides to establish their own business and become an entrepreneur. Something must be forcing them to do so, I call this phenomenon “itching”.
Employees in today’s business world actually feel very trapped. A certain part of this is caused by external factors, while partially deriving from internal factors as well. External factors mostly include mobbing, intense working hours, excessive workload, low salary and social opportunities and internal factors consist of questions that people ask themselves in a deeper sense.
- Do I worth as much as my job?
- How can I bring out more?
- Is my purpose in this world just to do this job?
- What kind of “spiritual and material” returns can I get if I dedicate the time and effort I spend for this job to my own business?
WHAT ARE THE STEPS TO BE TAKEN BY A COLLAR INDIVIDUAL WHO CHAMPS AT THE BIT WHILE TRANSITIONING FROM CORPORATE TO OWN BUSINESS OR ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
The following six concepts should be followed and managed with awareness during such a transition period.
Dissatisfaction: In other words, being white collar should not be enough for an individual anymore, s/he should be complaining about it and even feel the pain of losing time.
Vision/Big Picture: It is crucial to visualize the destination in mind. The biggest reason for not taking action today derives from not knowing where people want to go, what they want to do, and more importantly, who they want to be.
Meaning: Humans are creatures that search a meaning. The vision or the meaning behind the big picture is indispensable for the individual. The fact that the found meaning creates a benefit for society or the world causes the individual to cling to such a vision.
Take Action: Have as many visions as you want, if you do not take a step, you will not go beyond a delusion. Action is the only condition for getting results. Regardless of whether they are small or big when required, the steps you take will pave the way to success.
Flexibility-Adaptation: Knowing how to flex against the situations and changes encountered in the process and adapting to the process is the most significant step in easily managing the changes encountered.
Change of Identity: White collar and entrepreneurship are two different identities. They have different values, beliefs, skill sets, and behavioural patterns. For instance, while working with concepts such as white collar salary guarantee at the end of the month, weekend vacation, and working hours stability, none of these concepts applies to entrepreneurs (especially in the first couple of years of entrepreneurship). Instead of a salary, there is a revenue model. Leave the weekend break, sometimes an entrepreneur is after 24/7 business generation, solution generation, and the creation of customers. Perhaps forgetting about being a white collar and starting from scratch is the most critical issue.
HOW DOES A WHITE COLLAR SUCCEED WHEN TRANSITIONING INTO HIS OWN BUSINESS OR ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
The success of a white collar in his/her own business or entrepreneurship depends on forming an alliance with the following three concepts.
Focus: Knowing the desire and feeling excited from the heart when thinking about this desire.
Intention: Being able to dream of achieving the desire, feeling the satisfaction of success and gratitude.
Courage: Having the determination to overcome whatever obstacles are on the way to achieve a goal, and also the vulnerability to accept things as they are. In fact, these three concepts are also the most critical words to ignite one’s own potential.
WHAT CAN A WHITE-COLLAR INDIVIDUAL DO TO MANAGE THE PROCESS CORRECTLY WHEN TRANSITIONING TO HIS/HER OWN BUSINESS OR ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
I believe that it is important for such individuals to support themselves professionally before the transition process be- gins. I describe myself as a collar individual who champs at the bit, and today I support those who are like me on their journeys. I believe that the following basic supports are very valuable in the success of this process that I have also experienced.
Coaching: It is the journey of dialogues of professional coaches, who push their own limits based on their own internal resources, and coachees, who are, the collar indi- viduals champing at the bits, in which coachees discover their own power. Igniting their potential with the awareness of their internal resources, individuals create their own new limits. The focus, intention, and courage of the individuals expand the boundaries of their vessel every day.
Mentoring: Refers to the process of giving advice to people who have previous experience in the field that the person wants to enter and who have experienced this journey. The critical aspect here is that the mentor must have experienced the process. 50% of the responsibility in this process belongs to the mentor and the other 50% belongs to the collar individual.
Training: Refers to the process in which the required technical (hard skills) or human (soft-skills) knkowledge (know-how) related to the relevant process is obtained.
WELL, WHY A WHITE COLLAR INDIVIDUAL IS NOT ABLE CORPORATE WORLD?
The status, fixed salary guarantee, social opportunities offered by the corporation (such as cars, healthcare, pension insurance, trips abroad, etc.), inability to abandon the habits or not believing in themselves, not knowing how to reveal their hidden and implicit potential have imprisoned many white-collar individuals in their environment today.
Kemal Başaranoğlu, MSc, MCC / Professional Coach