Growing up, my parents gave me two career choices; I could become a doctor or lawyer. Since I hated the sight of blood, I set out to become a lawyer. But after I took my LSATs in college, my interest wavered, and I turned to a career in business with IBM. Ten years later, I started my first company. I now realized that in the long run, this was a more difficult career choice.
Because it was harder, I congratulate all of you that did not become a doctor, lawyer or accountant. Let me explain.
Now don’t get me wrong; it takes a lot of hard work especially early in your career to become one of these professionals. There is a lot of graduate schooling, perhaps residencies and state or federal exams. But then, from my view, the career becomes easier.
As a doctor, lawyer and accountant, patients and clients use you because the state and federal laws say they must. You can’t practice any of these professions without a license and patient or client must use a licensed practitioner if they typically want to be treated medically, defended in a lawsuit or file complicated or business tax returns.
As a businessperson, no one forces a client to use someone like me. I can’t succeed based on where I went to school, the degrees I have or because the government licenses me. No school or government agency tells you I have been tested and certified in my profession to boost my credibility. While my Northwestern MBA maybe of interest to a prospective client, it never gets me hired.
Instead, I succeed based on my skill, experience, referrals and outright hustle without help from any government agency that says you must use me. I succeed because I must listen to what my clients want and reinvent myself when things shift in the marketplace.
This makes it a harder career. Becoming a doctor, lawyer or accountants are well worn paths. You go to a great undergraduate school, get accepted into a graduate program, pass a licensing test (maybe do residencies) and then you earn money based on what you studied. An career income is almost guaranteed.
Becoming a businessperson does not give you that. There is no playbook to success. You must work hard and pave your own way. H0wever, unlike these other careers, it does give you the freedom to create something new and has unlimited financial upside.
So if I had to do it over again, would have I become a doctor, lawyer or accountant? Maybe but probably not. What about you?
